The Gazette 1977

OCTOBER 1977

INTERNATIONAL SECTION

LAWYERS FREE TO PRACTISE IN EUROPE

another Country he may be required to work in conjunction with a Lawyer who practises before the appropriate Courts in that other Country. Such Lawyer will be bound by the Rules of Professional conduct of the other Country but without prejudice to his obligations under his own Profession's Code of Conduct. WHAT THE DIRECTIVE DOES NOT DO The Directive does not entitle a Lawyer established in one of the Member States to set up an office in one of the other States. It does not establish equivalence of qualification between Lawyers in different States and it does not require a Lawyer wishing to exercise his rights under the Directive to register with the professional orgainsation of Lawyers in the Foreign Country. WHAT RESTRICTIONS MAY BE IMPOSED BY MEMBER STATES (1) Member States may reserve to prescribed categories of Lawyers the preparation of formal Documents for obtaining Title to administer Estates and the drafting of formal Documents creating or transferring interests in land. (2) Member States may require that a visiting Lawyer wishing to represent a client in Legal Proceedings may have to be introduced to the presiding Judge or to the President of the relevant Bar. (3) It may exclude Lawyers who are in salaried employment of a public or private undertaking from representing that Undertaking in Legal Proceedings when Lawyers in a similar position in the State would not be permitted to represent the undertaking. (4) The Lawyer proposing to make use of the Directive may be obliged to establish his qualification. In this respect there is a proposal that a recognised form of Document could be issued by the appropriate Authorities in the Member States to Lawyers. In order to promote study and research in European Law and to contribute to its wider dissemination, the Council of Europe will each year award fellowships to persons who have completed a course of studies in law at university level, or who have a similar professional qualification, for studies relating to the Council of Europe. Application forms and further details are available on request from the Secretariat Division (Room 421), Dept. of Justice, 72/76 St. Stephen's Green, Dublin 2. It should be noted that applications for Fellowships must reach the Secretariat of the Council of Europe not later than 15th March, 1978, and that the Selection Committee of the Council have indicated a strong preference for Fellowships to be taken up during the period 1st June to 31st December, 1978. 169 COUNCIL OF EUROPE FELLOWSHIPS FOR LEGAL STUDIES AND RESEARCH

Following a recent decision of the Council of the E.E.C. Lawyers qualified to practise in Member States will now be able to provide services for clients in other Member States of the E.E.C. The Directive on freedom for Lawyers to supply services was adopted on 22nd of March 1977 and while some form of legislation will be required to bring the Directive formally into application in Ireland a note on the historical position with regard to Foreign Lawyers practising in Ireland and on the effect of the Directive may be helpful to Practitioners. THE HISTORICAL POSITION COURT WORK It has been clearly established that only Barristers and Solicitors qualified to practise in the Republic of Ireland are entitled to appear, whether for reward or otherwise, and conduct cases on behalf of parties to any proceedings in a Court in the Republic. NON COURT WORK The only restrictions, contained in Section 58 of the Solicitors Act 1954, relating to acts done by unqualified persons (including persons qualified as Lawyers elsewhere but not in Ireland) cover the drawing or preparation of Documents relating to Real or Personal Estate or any Legal Proceeding, procuring or attempting to procure the execution by an Irish Citizen of Documents relating to Real or Personal Estate outside the State and the U.K. or the making of Applications to the Land Registry or taking instructions leading to or preparing Documents grounding or opposing Grants of Probate or Letters of Administration where such acts were done either directly or indirectly for or in expectation of any fee, gain, or award. The restriction on procuring Documents did not apply to any "purely commercial or mercantile Document". It seems clear therefore that a foreign Lawyer would have been perfectly entitled to give legal advice to a client in Ireland without contravening these restrictions and could certainly have drafted many kinds of Documents in substantial transactions which would have fallen within the description of "purely commercial or mercantile Doctiments". Since the Treaty of Rome prevents a member state from introducing new restrictions based on nationality no further restrictions could be imposed in the Directive. WHAT THE DIRECTIVE DOES The Directive entitles a person who is qualified as a Lawyer in each of the nine Member States of the E.E.C. to provide Professional Services outside the State in which he is established. Such Lawyer must describe himself by the description which he uses in his Home Country and while he may represent clients in Legal Proceedings in