The Gazette 1988

GAZETTE

MAY 1 988

The Solicitors Benevolent Association A .G.M. 25 t h Ma r ch 1988

Internat ional Bar Associat ion News As of March 1988 the total individual membership of the International Bar Association has reached 11,263 of whom 114 are Irish. The Bar Association of Liechtenstein has now applied to join the I.B.A. which means that of all Western European countries only Greece and Luxembourg are not represented on the I.B.A. Council. The Association's 22nd Biennial Conference is due to take place in Buenos Aires between the 25th and 30th September 1988 and any member wishing to attend may obtain details of group travel a r r angemen ts f r om Mr. A l an Benson of Easy Travel, 38 Lr. Stephen Street, Dublin 2. Tel. (01) 772057/716714. The Conference will have a very full programme including meetings of each section of the Association dealing wi th matters of interest to practitioners whatever their area of practice or specialisation. The I.B.A. continues to use its influence and that of its 108 member organisations in support of members of the legal profession who are inhibited in their work or subject to threat or harrassment by reason of their support for human rights and in some cases these representations have been followed by the release of lawyers held without trial. The Association and its sec- t i ons are also sponso r i ng scholarships to assist young lawyers from developing countries in studying in the developed world, and are also assisting young lawyers to attend the Association's conference. If you are interested in obtain- ing i n f o rma t i on about t he Association you should contact the Association's Irish Representative, Joseph Dundon, 101 O'Connell Street, Limerick, Tel. (061) 48811, Fax (061) 48392, or the I.B.A.'s London office at 2 Harewood Place, Hanover Sq., London WIR 9HB, who would be happy to provide you wi th any additional information. •

Quiz events, run in venues as far apart as Waterford and Galway, helped us materially — and not least by publicising the S.B.A. and its needs. I do not propose to add further to the comments with the Report and Accounts save for one point — legacies (down a little last year) are most welcome and what better final salute can one give to one's profession than a legacy to t he So l i c i t o rs Benevolent Fund?" The President of the Law Society, Mr. Shaw, seconded the Resolution which was unanimously adopted by the Meeting and stated he wished on behalf of the profession to express appreciation to the As s o c i a t i on 's Comm i t t ee of Directors and Officers for the work they carried out which has the full support of the Society and the Law Society of Northern Ireland. He also stressed the importance of Bar As soc i a t i ons t h r oughout t he country who he suggested could review their efforts to assist the S.B.A. both in relation to the raising of funds and the continued liaison necessary where cases known to practitioners in particular areas are referred to the Association. •

The attendance at the Annual General Meeting of the Association included Mr. Thomas A. Shaw, President of the Law Society, and Mr. James McFarland, President of the Law Society of Northern Ireland. The Chairman of the Association, Mr. John M. O'Connor, proposed the motion to adopt the Report and Accounts for the year to the 30th November 1987 and noted the dramatic growth of the Association's work in the last decade and the all too evident need for the confidential service it provides. In 1977 receipts and d i s t r i bu t i ons were less t han £15,000 — last year both figures exceeded £100 , 000. Present beneficiaries range in age from an infant child of a deserted wife to beneficiaries well over 80 years of age. And present "hard t imes" indicate that the facilities and assistance provided are likely to be needed more rather than less in 1988. The Chairman continued: " The profession has responded most generously to our appeals and your Committee of Directors wi th its most able lieutenant, Clare Leonard, as Secretary, has carefully reviewed the cases coming before us in regular meetings which took place last year in Dublin, Kilkenny and Belfast. Your Association of course covers the entire country and recently we were glad to welcome as a new Director, Mr. Tom Burgess of Belfast — outgoing President of the Law Society of Northern Ireland. Among others who must be referred to in saying " T h a n k Yo u" are t he Bar Associations, firms and individual solicitors, the Society of Young Solicitors who contribute to our f unds, and of course Frank O ' Donne ll and his manager, Brendan Walsh, whose sponsored Maracycle, Dublin to Belfast and back, brought in the remarkable figure of over £10,000. If any of you are toying wi th the idea of some really healthy exercise, there is a plan afoot to repeat the project this year. Again our Younger Members Committee have w i th their Table

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