The Gazette 1995

GAZETTE

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1995

'Solicitors - Perhaps the Best Regulated

of all Professions'

Election of New Officers

The election of President

Patrick

Glynn,

Senior Vice

Andrew Smyth

and

Junior Vice

Tony Ensor

was covered

in the

Irish Times, Irish Press

and

Cork Examiner, Sunday Business Post

and

Sunday Tribune.

The

Limerick

Leader

published an interview with

Paddy Glynn on 3 December 1994. In

the article he dealt with the three roles

of the Society: discipline, education

and representation on behalf of the

country's solicitors. As regards

complaints, he said that the number of

complaints had to be seen in light of

the millions of cases that solicitors

; undertake. He also said "we are a

trade union type organisation

representing our members, looking for

better conditions on their behalf, and

as such we make representations, as in

the case of the recently passed

Solicitors Bill". The appointment of

Paddy Glynn was also featured in the

Clare Champion

and he did an

interview with Clare FM. The

appointment of Tony Ensor, Junior

Vice was covered in the

Wexford

People

, the

Gorey Guardian

and the

Enniscorthy Echo.

| Conference on Professional

Negligence

A conference on professional

negligence organised by Matheson

Ormsby Prentice attracted a lot of

media coverage. The

Irish Times

published an article headed

"Professional Negligence Claims

Revive Limited Liability Debate" on 3

December 1994. The article stated

"solicitors, accountants and other

professionals will have to consider

seriously operating with some form of

limited liability because of rising

professional negligence claims against

them, an international expert in

professional negligence law told a

conference in Dublin yesterday." The

conference was addressed by

Mr. Ian

Jenkins,

Senior Partner with London

Solicitors, Baslow Lyde & Gilbert. It

was reported that since 1988, the Law

Society of England and Wales has

experienced an average rise of 14 per

cent in the number of claims against

i solicitors firms. Mr. Jenkins stated

that "in the US, it is becoming

commonplace for professional

partnerships to change their status to

that of a professional corporation

either a limited liability company or a

limited liability partnership, to protect

the partners assets". The conference

was also covered in the

Irish Press

under the heading "Warning on

accountancy insurability." The

Irish

Independent

coverage on 3 December

' was contained in an article headed

"Soaring Claims of Negligence put

accountants under the cosh". The

article stated "The extraordinary rise

in professional negligence claims will

force leading accountancy

partnerships to form limited liability

companies to protect themselves, a

Dublin seminar was told yesterday."

Solicitors: "perhaps the best

regulated of all professions"

The above statement was made in the

Sunday Tribune

, 4 December 1994 by

: Christopher McKevitt.

The article

examines the safeguards provided

| by the different professions:

! auctioneers, solicitors, accountants,

insurance intermediaries, and

| stockbrokers.

The article states: "Solicitors: These

are perhaps the best regulated of all."

The article referred to the fact that the

Law Society operates a compensation

scheme in the event of fraud and that

although not compulsory, a large

number of solicitors have professional

indemnity insurance. "The article also

states that the Solicitor's Roll can be

examined by any member of the

public and that solicitors must apply

[ each year to renew their Practising

I Certificate and that they must supply

the Law Society with an accountants

certificate to verify that their accounts

have been fully audited."

A similar article was written by

Gail

Seekamp

in the

Sunday Business Post

on 4 December 1994. She referred to

the fact that the IPAV's compensation

fund is limited in scope. It reimburses

people who lose cash as part of a

contract but only if it was paid as part

of a contract for a particular property

purchase. A table outlined different

forms of protection offered by the

different professions. It stated that the

compensation fund for solicitors

parameters are quite broad, and

include dishonesty. It stated that

separate client accounts are mandatory

and that S.26 of the Solicitors

(Amendment) act 1994 empowers the

Law Society to make professional

indemnity insurance mandatory.

Report on the Insurance Industry

The

Sunday Business Post

printed a

report on the insurance industry on 4

December 1994. The article in a

section headed "Damages and Claims"

stated: "in the non-life or general

insurance business there is only one

big problem as far as customers and

insurers are concerned. It is the cost of

insurance (as the customer sees it) or

the cost of claims (as it appears to the

underwriter.)

The article continues "The problem

appears insurmountable, utterly

insoluble. The jury system is gone; the

size of legal teams has been reduced;

the two senior counsels requirement

has disappeared. These, it was said at

the time the measures were

introduced, would prove to be key

reforms and lead to a reduction in

premium. They have not."

Northern Ireland Students Claim

Discrimination

In an article headed "Queen's students

claims bias" on 6 December, the

Irish

Times

stated "law students at Queen's

University, Belfast claimed in the

High Court yesterday that they were