The Gazette 1964/67

passed by the Dail. The Report stage was started yester day but reading the accounts of the earlier stages only lead one to expect very minor changes. The Commission on the Courts is sitting and a request was made to the Council early in the Summer to indicate its reactions and opinions on the suggested increase in jurisdiction in the District and Circuit Courts. A special committee dealt with this. This committee had before them details of suggested increases prepared by the Department of Justice. They were fully analysed and the committee which was composed of the most expert practitioners available for this class of work drew a report which was submitted to the Commission. Broadly speaking, the recommended jurisdiction of the District Court was placed at £100 and the Circuit Court at £1,500. A report in the newspapers earlier this month suggested much higher figures but I feel they were too high. If they were adopted, the recruitment of extra judges and District Justices would have to be very large if the work was to be done. Even with the present jurisdiction arrears in the Dublin Circuit are altogether out of hand. This report whether it was inspired officially or not I cannot say did also suggest that the Minister for Justice was anxious not so much that there should be a fusion of the professions of barristers and solicitors but that each should have the power to act as one or the other. I cannot speak for the bar but as a conservative solicitor so called in the Article, I am completely opposed to the idea. There may be nothing in these reports and I am led to this belief by the fact that the Council has no official notice of any contemplated steps or proposals nor have they been consulted in any way as to their views on the matter. In this and in all matters affecting the public first and second professional interests I feel that we should be consulted on every conceivable occasion. The Minister and his predecessors cannot but admit that over the years the Society has always sought improvement in the lot of everybody and we feel that we are the people who have the practical experience to give such advice. Theoretical lawyers are all very well but in any matter that comes down to real hard facts, it is the practising lawyer of either branch of the profession who is best equipped to give the final touch to any question of importance. Such contact and consultation did take place in con nection with the new Criminal Justice Bill or rather its objects. Time has been a bit too short to enable us to comment in detail but we hope that the general tenor of our recommendations has to a large extent been followed. To get back to the District and Circuit jurisdictions if and when these changes are made, new costs rules will have to be made to meet the changed circumstances. This end of the matter will receive the most urgent and active attention from the Council as we do not want a repetition of what has happened in the past when all applications were blocked or sidetracked with the result that the new rules never came into being or took so long to do so that the profession suffered to an unwar ranted extent. I said last May that the Council were taking an ever increasing interest in the education of apprentices. This is still true. The numbers entering into apprenticeship is growing. Perhaps as I said before the qualification of a solicitor is regarded as a step to other positions. It does seem true very often. Our primary concern is to see that the solicitor who practises is able to do so in the most proficient way. Our lectures and instructions are geared

with the terms of the Act before any interest in the property vests in him. This entails a special attendance on the mortgagee as well as drawing up and preparation of the appropriate certificate. The Booklet prepared by the Council was unfortunately delayed by the printing strike but even though it has appeared I must again warm all practitioners to study the Act itself thoroughly so that we can advise our clients in all detail. LEGAL AID The Minister for Justice made an Order bringing in Legal Aid in criminal cases commencing on April 1st. The Law Society made strenuous efforts to have what we consider were proper fees fixed for work done by the solicitor's profession under the Act. We failed in that but despite this we felt we did not advise the profession not to assist the scheme in so far as they could as a social measure. It is time now to consider if the Scheme is working or will work. District Justices in the course of conversation have told me that it is seldom applied for and I have heard of a case in which a successful applicant for legal aid and a successful defendant to boot came to the solicitor afterwards and asked what fees he owed saying at the time that he, the defendant, and a fair representative of public feeling knew what fees were allowed and realised that they were hopelessly inadequate. One might even risk saying that the public do not avail of it because they feel that if they take legal aid that their case cannot be properly presented for such small fees and if a Solicitor takes on the case he will not give it his whole-hearted attention. The public, are completely wrong in the latter assumption. If a solicitor has gone on the legal aid panel, every prospective defendant can rest assured that he or she will get 100 per cent attention from that solicitor, who will regard it as his absolute duty to give of his best. He has joined the panel with open eyes and as a measure of public spirit and he will not, I repeat not default in his duty. This is merely an extension of the enormous amount of unpaid service to the public by solicitors in every city, town and village in Ireland. The image created at times in the Press of solicitors being grabbers is utterly false. Every solicitor in the country meets cases where the person consulting him cannot pay the usual fees and is sometimes unable to pay the fees. Might I instance the case of a poor widow who is forced to extract a Grant of Probate or Administration because her deceased hus band had over the minimum amount payable out of a Bank or the Post Office Savings Bank without represen tation being raised. In the case of intestacy, the solicitor often has to arrange for a bond through an Insurance Company and when this and the other outlay for Com missioners fees and Court fees are paid, it is not easy to charge the full and proper fees to a poor widow possibly with no or hardly any means of support. SUCCESSION BILL The first Succession Bill was one of the items which caused the Council great concern for a long time. A statement was prepared and issued to the Press shortly after I took office. This statement was based on Society's view on the social aspect of the bill and its possible effects on family affairs. As you will see from the Council's report other statements were prepared and had the result of improving the Bill but not as entirely as we had hoped. The Bill is before the Senate but I doubt if they will be able effectively to alter the Bill as