Solicitors (Amendment) Act, 1994
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Incorporated practices. |
70.—(1) Notwithstanding section 64 of the Principal Act, the Society, with the concurrence of the Minister given after consultation with the Minister for Enterprise and Employment, may make regulations providing for any one or more of the following matters, namely— | |
(a) the management and control by solicitors of bodies corporate (in this section referred to as “incorporated practices”) carrying on business consisting of the provision of legal services such as are provided by individuals practising as solicitors; | ||
(b) the circumstances in which incorporated practices may be recognised by the Society as suitable to undertake the provision of any such legal services, and the revocation of such recognition on the grounds that it was granted improperly as a result of any error or fraud; | ||
(c) the conditions which (subject to any exceptions provided by the regulations) shall be satisfied at all times by incorporated practices so recognised if they are to remain so recognised; | ||
(d) the manner and form in which applications for recognition under this section are to be made, and for the payment of fees in connection with such applications; | ||
(e) the regulating of the names that may be used by incorporated practices; | ||
(f) the period for which any recognition of incorporated practices remains in force; | ||
(g) the keeping by the Society of a list containing the names and places of business of all incorporated practices and for the information contained in any such list to be available for inspection; | ||
(h) the empowering of the Society to take such steps as they consider necessary or expedient to ascertain whether or not any regulations applicable to incorporated practices are being complied with; | ||
(i) regulating the conduct of the affairs of incorporated practices. | ||
(2) Regulations made by the Society under the Solicitors Acts, 1954 to 1994, shall apply and have effect in relation to incorporated practices recognised by the Society pursuant to regulations made under subsection (1) of this section with such additions, omissions or other modifications as appear to the Society to be necessary or expedient. | ||
(3) The Minister may by order provide that any enactment or statutory instrument (within the meaning of the Statutory Instruments Act, 1947 ), passed or made before the commencement of this section and having effect in relation to solicitors shall have effect in relation to incorporated practices recognised by the Society pursuant to regulations made under subsection (1) of this section, with such additions, omissions or other modifications as appear to the Minister to be necessary for the purposes of enabling such provisions to have effect. | ||
(4) Any order made by the Minister under subsection (3) of this section may make provision for the application, subject to any necessary adaptations, of any of the provisions of the Solicitors Acts, 1954 to 1994, to incorporated practices recognised by the Society pursuant to regulations made under subsection (1) of this section. | ||
(5) (a) Every regulation made under subsection (1) of this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the regulation is passed by either such House within the next 21 days on which that House has sat after the regulation is laid before it, the regulation shall be annulled accordingly but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder. | ||
(b) A draft of every order proposed to be made under subsection (3) of this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas and the order shall not be made until a resolution approving of the draft has been passed by each such House. |