The Gazette 1964/67

and that a copy executed by the vendor should be exchanged for a copy executed by the purchaser, the latter being accompanied by a cheque for the deposit in favour of the vendor's solicitor, where appropriate accordingly to the terms of the contract." The Council attaches great importance to this recommendation and urges all members of the profession to adopt it. It is pointed out that a solicitor who pays the deposit on a contract without obtaining in exchange a copy of the contract signed by the vendor may be held personally responsible if for any reason the vendor does not sign the contract. If the amount of the deposit paid over by the purchaser's solicitor is not recoverable the purchaser will be a simple not a secured creditor. The Society has been informed that in the course of recent proceedings in the Central Criminal Court counsel for the State informed the Judge that he wished to raise a matter concerning the conduct of the solicitor for the accused who had been seen on a number of occasions speaking to two of the principal witnesses for the prosecution. Counsel stated that no notice of any kind had been given to the State about these interviews and no request had been made to the State authorities for the interviews and that he thought that the conduct of the solicitor was improper. Counsel for the accused then informed the Judge that he had specifically requested the solicitor to enquire from one of these witnesses about a certain matter which was of importance to the accused and that he made no apology for it as State witnesses were not sacrosanct. The Judge having asked the solicitor for the accused for information about the matter stated that in his view nothing improper had occurred. Having regard to the importance of this matter the following extracts from the Society's GAZETTE are reprinted : "The Times, of 15th July last, published an extract from the remarks of Lewis, J. in the course of a criminal prosecution before him during which it transpired that a woman, who had been summoned as a witness by the prosecution, went at the request of the solicitor for the accused, to his office, and was taken through her statement by his clerk. The judge was reported as having said that for a solicitor, or for his clerk, when instructed by a prisoner, to interview a witness for the prosecution was most reprehensible, and he proposed to obtain a transcript of the evidence and send it to the Law Society. His Lordship took a serious view of the girl's evidence if true, and if it INTERVIEWING OPPONENT'S WITNESS

ation fee as well as the commission scale fee. On report of a committee who had taken, counsel's advice the committee stated that the negotiation fee, where payable, is payable by the lessor, and cannot be charged against the lessee as part of the lessor's costs. Retainer in criminal matter The Council adopted a report from a committee which had considered whether a solicitor who undertakes to appear for a defendant on the pre liminary investigation of an indictable offence impliedly accepts a retainer which obliges him to act until the end of the trial if the client is returned for trial. The committee took the view that a solicitor who accepts a retainer to appear on the preliminary investigation does not accept an entire retainer to continue until the end of the trial on indictment and that the retainer extends to the preliminary investig ation only. He is entitled to decline the retainer for the trial unless he is put in funds or for any other valid reason. NUMBER OF APPRENTICES The Court of Examiners, in view of the consider able number of applications made to them recently by members, wish to draw the attention of solicitors to the provisions of Section 36 of the Solicitors Act, 1954, which reads as follows :— "(i) A solicitor shall not have more than one apprentice at the same time. (2) Notwithstanding sub-section (i) of this Section a solicitor may have two apprentices at the same time under a written consent of the Society, but the Society shall not grant any such consent except in special circumstances. Such consent shall not be withheld where the two apprentices are the children of the solicitor or where the second apprentice is the child of the solicitor and the first appren tice has been apprenticed with the solicitor for not less than two years." EXCHANGE OF CONTRACTS The opinion of the Council on the matter is expressed at page 249 of the Society's Handbook, which reads as follows :— "The Council advised members that contracts for sale of property should be engrossed in duplicate 26