Legal profession
EU Commission Recommendations and Legal Costs
The EU Commission published its assessment and recommendations for Ireland yesterday. Here’s the recommendation regarding legal services. Reduce the cost of legal proceedings and services and foster competition, including by enacting the Legal Services Regulation Bill by the end of 2014, including its provision allowing the establishment of multi-disciplinary practices, and by seeking to remove the solicitor’s lien. Monitor its impact, including on the costs of legal services. Take executive steps to ensure that the Legal Services Regulatory Authority is operational without delay and that […]
Legal Education
When Eoin O’Dell was free to publish his blog “cearta”, one of his perennial topics was that of legal education. He was notable for this; he was writing in a desert. There is probably no perfect or ideal education for a lawyer. In fact, we may need more than one type of person to deliver legal services to the nation and that implies more than one type of education. There is a strong case for having the lawyer-to-be well grounded in […]
Law Society submissions on Tobacco Plain Packaging to the Oireachtas Health Committee
Vice Chair: We are considering the heads of the Bill dealing with tobacco plain packaging. As members are aware, the general scheme of the Public Health (Standardised Packaging of Tobacco) Bill 2013 was referred to the joint committee for consideration shortly before Christmas. We will now hear from witnesses from the Law Society of Ireland regarding their views on the proposed legislation in this regard. I welcome Mr. Ken Murphy, director general, and Mr. John P. Shaw, president of the […]
Request for clarification from Law Society on Plain Packaging
Arising from the Law Society’s presentation to the Oireachtas Joint Commission on Health and Children regarding proposed plain packaging for Tobacco products, a number of solicitors have written to the President of the Law Society, the Director General and the IP Committee. Amongst other issues, we have requested that the following questions be addressed. whether the role and functions of committees (other than those performing regulatory functions) have been specified by the Society; whether the Society has a policy on […]
Smoke and Mirrors
The Minister for Health is planning to restrict the advertising of cigarettes. There are good reasons to think he is not moving fast enough. Read this letter of September last from the Association of Attorney Generals (of the USA) asking the Food and Drug Administration to control the promotion of e-cigarettes. This is reminiscent of the great tobacco litigation of the USA beautifully represented by the Statement of Claim of the Minnesota Attorney General. See the documents in that case […]
In Praise of Cearta.ie
Had we but world enough and time… To peer-review our works and rhyme ‘Twould serve us well in private state But publick matters are not so fine To let us leave the readers wait Who pay us time for their estate And not the purchase of our pine – With apologies to Andrew Marvell The news that the Cearta.ie blog, written and maintained by Dr. Eoin O’Dell of Trinity College Dublin has gone offline was received in this office with […]
What do lawyers do?
Yes, you will need a lawyer or even lawyers, if you find yourself in this kind of trouble. Lawyers, regardless of what they are doing, are doing it to earn their living, among other things. Get ready to pay for the service and remember why you needed the service in the first place.
The Paperless Court
That will become more difficult without ready access, without quibble, to all the prosecution material, particularly the stuff the prosecutor deems not relevant or necessary to his/her case.