The Gazette 1977

GAZETTE

MAY-JUNE

permit you to take counsel's opinion, and suggest to him that he contacts you at a date in the future, which, of course, will bear relationship to the urgency of the matter involved Incidentally, if a matter is urgent it is no harm to suggest to a client that he should put you in funds — certainly to the extent of the counsel's fee involved — because counsel, like everybody else, should deal with the work more promptly if they know that they will be paid by return. If you find you have given wrong advice, and believe me you will find this, you should, as a matter of urgency, telephone your client and put him right. He is not going to think any the worse of you because you admit that you were wrong. However, do not make a habit of it. If you are asked to take over a case from a colleague, suggest to the client in the first instance that it could prove quicker and less costly in the long run, if he would go to the solicitor and offer to pay him for work done in return for his papers. If this is not possible, rather than sending a client's authority to hand over the case in the first instance, contact your colleague, tell him that you have been asked to act, and ask him to facilitate you. If you find that you can get nowhere with your colleague then, of course, you must get your client's written authority, and your client's previous solicitor is then obliged to hand over all papers to enable you to look after your client's work without a delay factor arising as a result of the change. In turn, you must obtain your client's irrevocable authority to undertake to pay his ex-solicitor his reasonable costs, or to be taxed in default of agreement. Over the years it has happened that clients have suffered through the unnecessary delay of some solicitors in handing over papers, and some of these cases are eventually referred to one of the statutory Committees of the Law Society, who, before taking any action, must obtain the comment of the client's former solicitor. All this makes for delay and if a client's former solicitor is being unreasonable in refusing to hand over papers, whilst the matter may have to be reported to the Law Society ultimately, the best service that you can give your client is to issue a Petition in the High Court under the Attorneys and Solicitors (Ireland) Act 1849 seeking an Order directing the solicitor to hand over your client's papers. Unless there is considerable justification for your client's former solicitor's attitude, invariably you will find that the papers will be handed over without further delay. Even though your client's former solicitor may have put you and your client to a lot of trouble, if you succeed in getting the papers I suggest that you waive the profit costs involved in such High Court application. Professional Indemnity Insurance: There are now about 1,800 solicitors practising within this jurisdiction, and roughly less than 600 of these are covered by insurance for professional negligence. In these days, where farming land and residential house property are worth more than ever before, it is horrifying to think that roughly two out of every three of our colleagues are un-insured, which means that any one of them could be destroyed overnight by a simple mistake. The Incorporated Law Society have established a scheme for professional indemnity insurance through their brokers —Minet Limited of 27 Upper Fitzwilliam Street, Dublin 2 — and the amount of premium will depend upon the cover which is required, the number employed in the solicitor's office and the solicitor's claims

not give them the faintest idea of what is happening in their case. Before they eventually dismiss you, they will probably take to ringing you up once or twice a day — or at least several times a week —all of which you richly deserve. Even if you do, by some stroke of genius or luck, succeed in getting the case back on to the rails, if you have any sense of shame for the way in which the client is being treated you will either have to take nominal costs, or probably at best, half of what you would have been entitled to be paid if you had given the client and his case the care, attention, common manners and expertise which he and your profession deserve. Do not be ashamed to say to a client "You have no case". Many of our profession have found themselves in serious trouble because they waffled or they had not the heart to tell a client exactly that. They spoke about trying to get him something, and, of course, you may take it that the solicitor went home that night thinking that he had done his good deed for the day, and the client left the office under the delusion that he had the best case in the world. If a client comes to you, and you take on his case, unless you spell out to him that it is highly speculative and you follow this up by recording your conversation in a letter, he will invariably consider, because you have taken on his case, that he has a case. Matters then drift, and eventually the file becomes a black spot on your horizon. Nothing is done. Time runs out and the next thing is that there is an action against you for negligence, not because the client failed to get his damages but because you failed to issue the proceedings within the statutory time. The question now of whether the client has or has not a case is very much of academic interest. Do not blame other solicitors, the Bar, civil servants, or anybody else, for delays. Quite frankly the client is not interested in a litany of complaints concerning your colleague's failure to answer a telephone call or letter — no matter how justified. He probably does not respect you for talking about your colleague in this way. All the client is interested in is that his work is done as fast as possible. The way to be on top of your case is to keep your client fully informed, and it is so simple to do this by instructing your secretary to do a second carbon of any letter of reminder that you are sending to a colleague, die Bar, or anyone else, and then to send this out to the client under a "With Compliments" slip. Not alone does the client see that you are pressing his case but is also appreciative of the fact that you are communicating with him. This enables him to answer any direct approaches should he receive them from the other side, and it also keeps him from contacting you unnecessarily on the telephone or by calling in to enquire what is happening. The small additional cost of postage involved would be gladly met by any normal client. This is also an added safeguard to the profession because it gives the lie to the all too frequently used catch cry that solicitors are slow. If a client receives copies of three or four reminders to a Government department, pleading with them to attend to a case, he cannot blame you for the delay. Never be afraid to say to a client'T don't know". If you did know the answer to every legal problem without having to refer to the statutes or reference books, you wouldn't be advising that client — because he couldn't afford the fees which you would command. Tell the client that there are some matters which you have to check out If the problem is a very complicated one, advise him to 90