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National Quality Award for Solicitor
GAZKTTK
DECEMBER 1995
The National Quality Awards, awarded annually to the top ten performers in the IQA's
Quality Mark audit, were presented to winners at a reception in Dublin, by President Mary
Robinson. Award winners typically score highest above the national average in their industrial
sector and show a marked improvement in quality over their previous year's performance.
Pictured at the presentations
were l-r: Eddie O'Connor, President IQA; President
Mary
Robinson; Patrick O'Connor, O'Connor & Sons, Solicitors, Swinford, IQA National
Quality
Award winner and Sean Conlon, Chief Executive, IQA.
At a presentation
ceremony of National
Quality Awards in
Dublin on November
28 last, Swinford firm
P. O'Connor & Son was presented
with the National Irish Quality
j
Association (IQA) Quality Award in
the service sector section by the
President, Mrs. Mary Robinson. This
is the first time a National Quality
j
Award has been made to the legal
j
profession. In 1993 the firm was
j
awarded the Quality Mark for service j
by the Irish Quality Association and
has increased its percentage rating
following the IQA audit in each year
1
since then.
P. O'Connor & Son has its principal
office situated at Market Street,
Swinford, Co. Mayo and sub-offices
in the town of Kiltimagh and
Belmullet. The firm has seven
solicitors working in its offices
complemented by law clerks and
secretaries. Patrick O'Connor is the
principal of the firm. He was admitted
to the Roll of Solicitors in 1974 and
has been a member of the Council of
the Law Society since 1978 where he
is currently Chairman of the
Education Committee. He served as
Junior Vice President in 1993. He is
an associate member of the Chartered
: Institute of Arbitrators (Irish branch)
I and in recent years was admitted as a
solicitor to the Roll of Solicitors in
Northern Ireland, England and Wales.
The National Quality Awards are
presented annually to the top ten
performers in the IQA's Quality Mark
(Q-Mark) audit as rated by the audit
scores. Award winners typically score
highest above the national average in
their sector.
On receiving his award, Pat O'Connor
said: "The provision of a quality legal
service is of prime importance to the
; solicitors and staff of the firm and to
myself. Solicitors are now competing
with other professions, firms and
bodies in the provision of services. It
is the quality of that service which
| always has in the past and
| increasingly in the future will ensure
| that the public are better served by an
independent highly qualified and
efficient profession of solicitors who
; give a quality service to their clients".
He urged his colleagues in the
I profession to join the Irish Quality
| Association and that they should seek
to obtain the "Q" mark for their firms.
"It is a worthwhile exercise for the
j solicitors involved and their staff
which gives substantial satisfaction
for the achievement attained", he said.
Í In his address, Sean Conlon, chief
j
executive of the IQA said: "The
leaders of Ireland Inc. must realise
that people power i.e. the quality of
| people employed, will be the
j
powerhouse of the future. No matter
how good the product or service is
today, it is ultimately the quality of
the people employed, and how well
they are managed, which will make or
break the organisation in the future.
Therefore, top management must
effect a radical and real change of
attitude to the concepts of employee
| involvement."
Sean Conlon continued: "The total
quality movement has shifted the
emphasis on product/process quality
assurance to improving people
management i.e. employee
involvement for improvement. The
challenge lies in being able to show
employees that they are valued and
thereby add value to the process.
Throughout the world, it is recognised
a
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