The Gazette 1964/67

We will maintain our attitude towards any provisions which do not appear to be in the public interest. Irishmen and women seldom if ever make inofficious Wills if they make a Will at all. I have heard from a reliable source that the number of Grants of Probate and Grants of Administration Intestate are more or less equal in number. I, personally feel that if a man wants his family to share his assets, he can refrain from making a will and achieve the desired effect. If he wants to change this, he can make a will but his power and right to leave his property as he wishes should not be curtailed. If wives or husbands have fixed rights, it really means that every married man or woman must compulsorily die intestate as to part of his estate and this I feel is altogether wrong. My predecessor mentioned in his address that 8.77 of the Old Bill dealing with witnessing of wills was being kept. Since then, I believe better counsels have prevailed and I note that the old law in this respect has remained unchanged. The time has been too short for the Council to make a thorough examination of the New Bill. I only succeeded in getting it last Thursday. I would welcome the views of any solicitors or Bar Associations on the provisions contained in it. EXCEPTED BODY STATUS For a long time, agitation was rife among solicitors employed by Corporate Bodies, Local Government authorities and analogous bodies. They had no body which could represent them in any claim or dispute concerning salaries or conditions of employment. They approached the Law Society to help them and I am glad to be able to say that after negotiations had taken place between the Department of Industry & Commerce and ourselves with strong support from Local Government Solicitors' Association that the Minister made an Order on zgth March, 1965 giving the Law Society "exempted body" status under S.6 (6) of Trade Union Act, 1941. This means that if ever a dispute does arise that we can sally forth for the protection of our brethren who may need our help in this matter. We are grateful to the Minister for acceding to our application which we feel in justice was well founded. COMPENSATION FUND The Committee dealing with this fund have worked very hard. They have examined every case that came before them and are not in the slightest degree in arrears. All proven cases have been disposed of and the Claimants paid. We have achieved the desired effect proposed by the Solicitors Act. No person who has been defrauded by a Solicitor has been unpaid if he, the applicant, has proved his claim and as well as this we have succeeded in building up a substantial reserve. There is a possibility that the question of reducing the annual contribution may come up for consideration by the Council after the Summer Recess but such reduction might not be possible till next year. I personally feel but I do not now speak for the Council that it might be reduced as the effect of the Solicitors Act and particularly of the Accounts Regulations made under it are now beginning to be felt. There has not been in the last year any really serious defalcation by any solicitor in the entire country and I am proud to be able to say this. The Council as ever are taking an active interest in the educ ation of apprentices and with the help and co-operation of the Lecturers and Examiners are doing their utmost to keep the curriculum up to date and to ensure that the utmost we can do to help to educate our apprentices is being done all the time. As you have heard, we did submit a Memorandum to the Commission on Higher Education and a deputation attended on the Commission. We await their report eagerly. The number of apprentices seems to have increased this year and we await future developments to see if this continues. Not all qualified solicitors practice as such. The qualification

of a solicitor does now seem to be a form of "Open Sesame" to many careers in industry and public life. I could name many persons holding high offices in Public and Semi-State Bodies who are in fact qualified solicitors. This is pleasing and does help to ensure that our profession is not overcrowded. There can only be room for a limited number of solicitors in a small country like ours and despite very common misconceptions to the contrary taken as a whole, solicitors are not a wealthy class of persons unless their incomes are supplemented by other private means. Mr. Desmond Collins in his address last December said that the Council had obtained a draft Standard Form of Contract for sales by Public Auction and Private Treaty. Many meetings were held by a selected Sub Committee to go into this matter in great detail and the draft was settled, resubmitted to Counsel and reconsidered by the Committee. This Committee had a final special interview with Counsel and all outstanding matters were dealt with and the Council directed publication. In the meantime, the Land Act, 1965 became law and certain extra clauses were considered necessary. As soon as these are settled we will proceed to have the forms printed and made available to the profession in general. If general use is made of them, it should help to ease the negotiation stage a little but it must be borne in mind that the real work is done in preparing the special conditions, space for which will be provided by way of Schedules. The contracts will not have the effect of making conveyancing any easier or less exacting or make for any real simplification of the important and arduous work carried out by solicitors in investigation of title. It will enable them to be relieved of niggling details and allow them to concentrate on the heart of the matter and in this way make for more accurate conveyancing and the general improvement as far as may be possible of the high standard of work already carried out by the solicitors' profession in this field of their activity. The provision of £225,270 in an estimate for the Land Registry and Registry of Deeds is said to be mainly due to increased remuneration. This may be so but the fact still remains that considerable delays do exist in the services which are being rendered by both places, especially the Land Registry. The Minister hoped he might bring the Registration of Tide Act, 1964 into operation before the end of the year. If he does, he must do it in a very limited way unless he creates further space for staff and documents and succeeds in getting the necessary extra staff. I feel that the failure to get staff up to this was due to the remuneration offered not being attractive enough to induce practising lawyers to forego the glamour, if I may use the word, of private practice for the possibly rather monotonous routine of a Government job. As against this, the Minister has said that he intended to improve the Land Registry by adding two storeys to the office and sought to attract twice the number of staff by increased rates of pay. I hope he will be successful and that his target of having the extension in operation next year will be achieved but I feel I must voice my doubts in the matter ; the arrears must be cleared first. This question of arrears and lack of sufficient staffin Govern ment offices, particularly in the High Court is a constant source of worry to the Council. Complaints come in regularly to us and representations made to the Department of Justice seem to have little effect. The Accounts Office in the High Court has come in for particular mention recently. There seems no reason why copies of accounts could not be obtained quickly. Banks and Building Societies and Insurance Companies can give out copy account with ease and celerity. Photo copying is the rule everywhere to-day and machines are available in the Courts. Other offices have merited mention but improvements have been made. It is something however that the Departments of Justice and Finance should look into as the work in many