The Gazette 1977

! THE INCORPORATED LAW SOCIETY OF IRELAND GAZETTE MAY/JUNE 1977 VOL. 71 NO. 4 Incorporated Law Society's Ordinary General Meeting, Wexford, 7th May, 1977

thereon. In June, 1975 the Society indicated to the Prices Commission that it would welcome a study of Solicitors' Remu n e r a t i on and on the a p p o i n tme nt by the Commission of its Consultant the Society arranged to co- operate fully in the very considerable task which he undertook in his terms of reference. At that time the remuneration of solicitors was under considerable criticism in the media, notwithstanding the Society's c omme nt t h at r emu n e r a t i on was not only not unreasonable, but in many instances in fact inadequate. This criticism appeared to be based on a lack of understanding of the functions of, and the services provided by, a solicitor and of the cost of providing that service, which was understandable, in the absence of any independent reliable source of information as to the true position. Hence, the announcement of the Independent Inquiry was welcomed by the Profession. The Council of the Society has certain reservations on some of the details of the Consultant's Report and on some of his recommendations, but it nevertheless takes the view, that, by and large, the Report is both fair and reasonable and has reflected the thoroughness with which the Commission's Consultant and his colleagues pursued their investigations, not just in Dublin, but throughout the country where I would like to emphasise they were facilitated in every possible way by the profession, both at Council, Bar Association and individual level. It must be said that the Council of the Society on behalf of the Profession is gravely disappointed with the approach of the National Prices Commission in its conclusions and recommendations which the Society considers to be unreasonable, unrealistic and unfair. The National Prices Commission has in effect disowned many of the reasonable recommendations of its own Consultant and has chosen to disregard many of the reasonable proposals made by the Society which were accepted by the Consultant and recommended to the Commission in his Report. In its very thorough and detailed approach to the Inquiry the Society endeavoured to improve the situation of those solicitors practising in the country areas and, in particular, in the undeveloped and consequently much less affluent areas and also to improve the terms of practice in the lower Courts jurisdictions in the hope that solicitors would be encouraged to work, especially in the District Court, which, at the moment, is completely

The President, Mr. Bruce St. John Blake, took the chair on the occasion of the half-yearly meeting which was held in White's Hotel, Wexford, on Saturday, 7th May, 1977, at 10.00 a.m. The Notice convening the meeting was read by the Director General, Mr. J. Ivers. The Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on 25th November, 1976, having been circulated in advance, were taken as read and signed by the President. Mr. Fintan O'Connor, President, Wexford Bar Association, welcomed the President, the members of the Council, Official Guests and members of the Society and wished them an enjoyable time in Wexford and a successful meeting. The appointment of the following as Scrutineers of the Ballot of the Council to be held on 17th November, 1977 was proposed by Mr. J. Dundon, seconded, and passed unanimously. Scrutineers: R. J. Branigan, E. McCarron, A. J. McDonald, B. P. McCormack, R. J. Tierney. The President, Mr. Bruce St. J. Blake, then delivered his Presidential address. President's Address Ladies and Gentlemen, Fellow Members and Colleagues, my first duty is to welcome you all here and in particular to welcome our very distinguished guests from overseas, the Presidents and Secretaries of the Law Society, London, and the Law Society of Northern Ireland. In addressing you this morning, on the occasion of the Society's half yearly General Meeting, I propose to deal with events which have occurred since I was elected President last December and then comment on the developments which are likely to occur or, through action by the Society, might be caused to occur in the period ahead. The major event from the point of view of the Solicitors' Profession was the publication by the National Prices Commission of its Occasional Paper No. 22 containing the report of the Commission's Consultant, Profession Denis Lees of the University of Nottingham, on Solicitors' Remuneration in Ireland and the Conclusions and Recommendations of the Commission