109 / 364
A purchaser's non-legal expenses (i.e. expenses other than
solicitor's fees) on a sale by auction average 76 % of the total
expenses (other than price), at £3,000, 83 % at £10,000, 89%
at £30,000 and so on progressively. Other points which should
be emphasised are :—
The ever increasing burden of overhead expenses (rent,
rates, salaries, etc.) now at least 5O%-6o% of fees earned.
In an important High Court action total costs might amount
to £650. Of this sum £320 is represented by out of pocket
payments by the solicitor for counsel's fees, witnesses'
expenses and other necessary disbursements. This leaves
£330 gross solicitors' fees of which £i5O-£2oo is absorbed
by overhead expenses leaving net fees £ii5-£i3O before
payment of income tax from a total bill of £650.
The additional expenses of solicitors' offices caused by
unsatisfactory service from various Government offices.
An hour's counter delay for routine business is not unknown
and six months' delay is accepted as normal practice in some
departments. Delays of this kind are reflected in wage and
salary bills.
The solicitor, unlike counsel, carries liability for negligence
if the client suffers financial loss through error or omission
in the solicitor's office.
Comparisons with fee scales in England and elsewhere
are misleading without taking account of all the circum
stances. In England, Scotland and Northern Ireland there
is a comprehensive civil legal aid and advice scheme. In
England the annual State subsidy is £5,000,000. The cost
is less in Northern Ireland and Scotland, but the common
feature of the scheme is that solicitors have a State guarantee
of their fees for business done for clients in the lower
income brackets eligible under the scheme. There are also
other differences in the legal system such as the existence of
divorce legislation and a heavy volume of industry and
trade which make simple comparisons misleading.
Conveyancing and property transactions have been made
more difficult in recent years by the revenue stamp duty
provisions and more recently by the restrictions in property
transfers under the Land Act, 1965. These new Acts have
introduced complexity where the law was once simple and
clear and a mistake in interpretation may result in payment
of the price by a purchaser who will get no title under the
deed. Solicitors must also be fully conversant with Town
Planning law which was unknown when the fee scales were
first fixed.
CLOSING REMARKS
At this Summer Meeting, I have dealt rather briefly with
matters of interest to the profession in general. May I close by
informing you that during the remainder of my year of office,
my every effort will be spent in trying to carry out the duties
of that office. I cannot hope to equal the success of my Pre
decessors but if I do, it will be to a great extent due to theloyal
assistance and co operation of the entire Council of the Society
and in a very particular way to the help I will get in every
conceivable way from my Vice Presidents, Mr. Robert
McD. Taylor and Mr. Eunan McCarron.
Mr. Eric Plunkett is as always a tower of strength and his
assistance and guidance over the past half year have been a
wonderful help to me in all the work I have had. I know I can
always rely on him and also on his staff to go out of their way
on any possible occasion if I ask their assistance in any matter
however important or trival.
I thank you for listening to me so patiently and with great
attention.
5. Messrs. Alexander McDonald, Thomas Jack
son, Brendan P. McCormack, Roderick Tierney and
John R. McC. Blakney were appointed scrutineers
for the ballot of the Council for 1965/66 on the
proposition of Mr. Desmond J. Collins seconded by
Mr. Dinnen Gilmore.
6. General discussion followed as a result of the
President's speech in which the following members
took part:—Messrs. A. J. McDonald, F. Armstrong,
T. A. Lynch, J. Carrigan, F. Gannon, P. C. Sweeney,
J. F. Foley, T. C. G. O'Mahony, P. O'Donnell, J.
Jermyn, T. J. O'Keeffe, F. Britain, G. J. Maloney,
T. J. Fitzpatrick, D. J. Collins, P. Noonan, H. J.
Walker, J. J. Nash, J. Griffin, J. F. Glynn.
The meeting which was attended by representatives
from all parts of the country passed a resolution
viewing with concern the views expressed by the
Minister for Justice in his speech to Tuairim at
Cork and supporting the Council of the Society in
any action it might take for the protection of the
independence of the profession.
ADMISSION CEREMONY
Before presenting Parchments to recently qualified
solicitors, the President, Mr. John Maher, spoke as
follows :—
Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my privilege to come
here to-day and to present to you the certificates of
enrollment as newly admitted solicitors and on
behalf of the Council of the Law Society to welcome
you to the solicitors' profession. You have completed
a long and arduous course. To-day marks the end
of that struggle but it does not mean that you can sit
back and cease to strive. The many hours you have
spent in study have more meaning to them than
merely learning for the sake of passing an examin
ation. They had a further purpose and that is to
prepare you to be able to go out and face the world
and help all people, who have recourse to you, to go
on their way with the benefit of proper and correct
legal advice. You are armed with a great theoretical
knowledge of the law but now it behoves you to put
that into practice. How will you do this? Some of
you may be fortunate in having a father or mother
or relative already in practice who is looking forward
to having you join them in their already established
firm. I had the good fortune to join my dear father,
God rest him, who had been in practice at the time
for 34 years and in my early days I could always turn
to him at any moment and get the benefit of his years
of experience and in my later days even up to the
time of his death in 1961 I could still go to him and