The Gazette 1958-61

tions and the time that his business is completed. Nor does he care, provided he gets a result. In my view, that is a very wrong state of affairs. It is pre cisely because of this state of affairs that clients are not aware of what the profession is doing for the public and how well it is doing it and how much money, time and trouble is being saved thereby. But if the client had explained to him by his solicitor each step and the reason for it, for example, why deeds and releases are drawn in certain ways to avoid unneces sary stamp duty and costs and why distributions are made at certain times and for what reasons, then that client will have a proper appreciation of what is being done and why it is being done in that particular way and how every step affects him. The general public are perhaps to blame in that they do not ask but in my view the profession is equally to blame in not explaining. And it is for this reason and other reasons that I say that our profession does not publicise itself sufficiently. I am getting tired indeed of hearing the whole profession damned because of the dishonesty or incompetence of a few and that is something which I will neither subscribe to nor tolerate. It is time that we took our reputations in hand and dealt with it now once and for all. And I hope that every member of this Society must by now realise that not only is he responsible for his own reputation but that the reputation and good name of his colleagues and his fellows equally and most certainly depend on him. As evidence of the desire of the profession to see that no member of the public shall lose by the default of any member of the profession, let is be made clear that it was at the suggestion of the profession that the Compensation Fund was set up under the Act of 1954 and that the Solicitors' Accounts Regulations were brought into existence. I emphasise here that these two matters were raised by the profession itself and were pressed forward by the profession and nobody else. Compensation Fund The Compensation Fund has been in existence since January, 1955 and to this fund every solicitor practising in Ireland is now bound to subscribe a fixed sum every year. While the making of a grant from the Fund, or the amount of any grant made, is now a discretionary matter there will be a statutory obligation on the Society to provide full indemnity to clients out of the Fund in respect of losses arising on and after jth January, 1960. There are two necessary counterparts to the Compensation Fund, firstly adequate disciplinary powers to deal with proved misconduct, and secondly and more important, adequate powers vested in the Society to forestall and prevent defalca tions, in order to safeguard the profession and the

• Council that this, if re-enacted, would give the Dis- ciplinary Committee ample powers which would not : be unconstitutional. At the present moment therefore the position is that the Department are studying the representations made by the Council and as soon as possible, if neces sary, the Council will seek another interview with the Department to press the matter further. As a result of the lack of disciplinary powers a number of cases extending over the past two and a i half years await investigation and decision. The sooner these cases can be dealt with the better. Un fortunately nothing can now be done in any way to deal with these cases and when the Disciplinary Committee obtains new powers there will undoubt edly be some of the heaviest arrears of work to be dealt with that has ever been experienced by this Society. It must not be thought that every case which comes . before the Disciplinary Committee is a bad one and that the solicitor has been guilty of misconduct. It is the experience that in several of the cases investi gated there is no case for the solicitor to meet and the proceedings are discharged either on those grounds or for some other reason. In the other cases, however misconduct may be proved and in such cases, the finding of the Committee will be sent forward to the High Court or to the Chief Justice, as the case may be, for consideration. As a result of the delay during the past two and a half years there will, perhaps in the near future, be a number of cases sent forward and I think it my duty to warn the profes sion and the public that this number, whatever it may be, will be abnormal and will bear no relation what ever to the present state of the profession and will be due solely, as I have said, to the fact that the Disciplinary Committee has been unable to invest- gate any case since the appeal as to the constitutional validity of the Solicitors Act, 1954 was first taken to the Supreme Court in November, 1956. Now a matter that has been causing me some thought for some time past is that the profession as a whole does not pay proper attention to its relations with the public. As matters stand at present the acts of one dishonest man can adversely affect the repu tations of ninety nine honest men and it is my opinion that this profession should publicise itself properly and fully to the public. It goes without say ing that I do not mean that individual solicitors or firms should advertise for business. But I say that we should advertise our profession. We should tell our clients what we do for them and how we do it and why we do it. It is my experience that when a client has business with a solicitor, that client only sees the result. He has little idea of what transpires by and large, between the time he first gives instruc- 63