The Gazette 1977

GAZETTE

MAY-JUNE

horrific you will wonder why you ever qualified as a solicitor in the first place. Remember that there is no such thing as a simple conveyancing transaction any more, and that with inflation we are shortly approaching, in Registry of Deeds cases, a situation where we have levelled off at a one per cent charge. I will not go into the detail of the number of steps now involved in a conveyancing transaction. I recollect doing this exercise on one occas- sion some years ago, and, since then, there have been three or four new steps added, and coming out at thirty. If you are going to have your client's sale closed on time and avoid additional interest charges, and give an efficient service, you can only work for the scale fee. Some solicitors when they qualify close their books — give a deep sigh of relief — and say I am finished with all that. Anybody who thinks that way should think again, because it is essential for you to keep up-to-date with all the changes in the law, the same way as a doctor has to keep up-to-date with all changes in medicine. Therefore, apart from your own individual activity in reading new Acts of Parliament you should attend the Seminars of the Incorporated Law Society and the Society of Young Solicitors. I strongly advise you, immediately you qualify, to join these societies,and, of course, your local Bar Association, and the Solicitors' Benevolent Association. It is most desirable for you to volunteer, if you are not already involved, to assist the Free Legal Advice Centres, which fulfil the need which is met in most other countries of Western Europe by a free legal aid system. I wish you every happiness and success as solicitors, and I look forward to co-operating with you in practice in the not too distant future.

the public image of the profession. No matter how small or how large an office is, there should be one person in charge of administration, and it should be this person's responsibility to instruct staff how to deal with the public, and particularly on the telephone. How often does one hear at 10.05 a.m. in the morning when one rings a colleague "He's not in yet". Again, at 5 p.m. in the evening "He went home early". It is so easy to have it as a rule of the office that if a person is with a client that they are in consultation, and, therefore, that they should not be disturbed. Some of our colleagues, when they are taking instructions from a client, take phone calls in front of him and discuss other clients' business. All these things give a very bad impression, which is a pity because they are so easy to rectify. Another trap that you can so easily fall into is not to make it clear to the telephonist that anybody who rings must leave their name, and they should as well be asked for their telephone number. This will avoid the senseless statement which a client will make when he says that he called you six times and you never returned his call. He is speaking truthfully but what he does not say — probably does not think about — is he never left his name on any of the occasions, and that is your fault really because your office administration has not been geared properly. Another thing which you should never do is to instruct your secretary to ring a colleague. For some reason some of our colleagues go berserk if one's secretary rings them. The way round this it to get your secretary to ring your colleague's secretary. Honour appears to be satisfied then. Try and keep the office tidy, although with the vast amount of paper that a solicitor has to cope with this is a never-ceasing battle. But picture yourself if you went into a professional adviser outside the law and there were papers everywhere. Two feet of them on the desk. Spread all over the floor. Heaps of them under the carpet. What would you think? Probably "It is time for me to go before I get involved with this mad man". Obligations: Probably the greatest obligation which we have is the confidentiality of our clients business. It is to the redounding crediTof those who work in solicitors' offices that with very few exceptions no breach of a confidential matter ever emanates from a member of a solicitor's staff. That is why it is essential for the solicitor himself to guard against mentioning anything which can identify the business of his client. I regard it as an obligation to do your utmost to stand by your colleagues and to try to keep them right whenever you can. If you make it a point of always being fair to your colleagues they will reciprocate in the same manner to you, and the goodwill of your colleagues can be of enormous help to you in a time of need, so always work with your colleagues and never against them. Don't take on impossible situations — such as acting for a lessor and a lessee. Indeed the golden rule is never to try to work for two masters, because when the trouble starts, or when there is a falling out, it is probably much too late to withdraw with dignity. Do not unfairly attract business by doing cut-price work. In the end you will find that you have many, many clients all expecting you to do the job cheaper than the last time, and because you are working so cheaply the staff you employ will be inferior and you cannot afford to employ assistants, and in the end your last state will be so

LAW EXAMINATION RESULTS (Continued from page 88)

O'Carroll, Seamus P.; O'Connor, Kevin. O'Connor, Michael F.; O'Donovan, Irene; O'Driscoll, Clara; O'Dwyer, Thomas; O'Gara, Yvonne; O'Grady, William F.; O'Leary, Cornelius; O'Mahony, Timothy, O'Neill, John J.; O'Reilly, Niall; O'Reilly, William; O'Shee, J. John; O'Tuama, Cliona; Parkinson, Kenneth; Reilly, Peter. Robinson, Barbara Ann; Roche, Luke; Rooney, Kevin; Ryan-Purcell, Oliver; Scally, James; Shanley, Colman D.; Shannon, Robert; Sheppard, Pamela J.; Sparks, Conor; Twomey, Mary A.; Tynan, Dorothy; Wallace, Patrick A.; Walsh, Anne R.; White, William X. 170 Candidates attended; 107 Candidates passed. By Order James J. Ivers, Director General.

SOLICITORS' GOLFING SOCIETY The next outing, the Captain's (W. R. White) Prize, will be held at the Heath Golf Club, Portlaoise, on Friday, 30th September, 1977. 93