The Gazette 1988

SEPTEMBER 1 9 88

GAZETTE

From the President . . .

YOUR OWN HOL I DAY HOME IN CONNEMARA FROM £ 9 50 Time-Sharing makas It aasy Tha place-Connemara Country Cottages l oca t ed in an Idyllic se t t i ng just outslda Oughtarard. An Informative get-together Is being organised shortly In Dublin.

legislation, there is little that the practitioner can do to lessen the work. The So c i e ty is ma k i ng s u bm i s s i o ns t o t he r e l evant D e p a r t me n ts as t o h ow t he s i t u a t i on may be i mp r o v e d. Whether there is the will in Govern- ment to respond remains to be seen. In t he me a n t i me, t he profession must continue to suffer under the present system wh i ch is taking longer and longer to close a simple sale. In fact, wh en I think about it, there is no longer such a thing as a simple sale!

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v. il/vflvl i^, A % T H O M AS D. SHAW President Annual Review of Irish Law 1987 Raymond Byrne and William Binchy With a foreword by Mr Justice Brian Walsh This first Annual Review of Irish Law provides practitioners, academics and students with an analytical and perceptive account of work by the courts, by the Oireachtas, scholars and practitioners during 1987. For the first time it will be possible to read a review of the year's judicial decisions and statutory reforms on a subject-by-subject basis. It thus provides an account of the progress of Irish law which cannot be found elsewhere. In his foreword Mr Justice Brian Walsh of the Supreme Court observes that 'the comments upon the various legal developments are both judicious and instructive . . . It is hoped that this volume and succeeding volumes will be found in all law libraries and in libraries dealing with the social sciences . . . and that the success of this first volume will guarantee that in future we shall each year see a new volume presenting us with a conspectus of current developments in Irish law'. Publication date 15 September 1988. Price £55.00 The Round Hall Press Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin. Telephone: 892922 T i l l K O I M )

I have said in a number of speeches that our object as solicitors must be to provide legal services at a pace, cost and standard acceptable to the public. The perception of our politicians is that while all three aims are important, the question of cost is paramount. It is my view that while cost is a very fundamental factor, it is not t h e o v e r r i d i ng one and t he challenge facing us is to find a b a l a n ce b e t w e en all t h r ee requirements while still providing for the practitioner a fair days pay for a fair days work. Should you cut corners to get a job done in a shorter time scale? Should you give less time to a client because the fee does not warrant the detailed explanation of wh a t is happening? The experience in other countries seems to show that the cut price job is as unsatisfactory to the client as it is to the practitioner and is mu ch more likely to give rise to claims at a later stage. If our politicians are really serious in trying to help us to give a better service, then there are a number of imp r ovemen ts wh i ch could be made immediately. The capping of the times for claims under the Family Home Protection Act and Planning Permissions / Bye Law approvals come readily to mind. All of us suffer the frustration and our clients suffer considerable cost of a lot of largely unnecessary work in sales and purchases to-day. However, w i t h the standard of care set in the case of Roche -v- Peilow and the failure to update our

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