ADVICE TO LAWYERS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1007, 23 December 1910, Page 4

ADVICE TO LAWYERS.

-4 PRESERVATION OF RECORDS. . A professional habit which is said to b4 not unknown in legal offices was ically deprecated by Sir. Justice Cooper in his judgment in the case .ag Hill v. Beere yesterday afternoon. The defendant, Mr.. 0. Be-ere, a well-known local solicitor, had drawn the will whick' .was the subject of litigation, and iS transpired during the hearing that ho had not kept .his rough .draft of th# document, nor--his notes of instructions. He stated that it was not his practic« to keep such papers.--"The sooner Mr. Beere alters his' system the bettor," said his Honour at tho close of his judgment. He went on to ' say that it was in his opinion essential ■ to keep instructions. and drafts of all important documents and especially of wills. Such things ought to be kept-in such a way that there would be 110 risk of having, them seen by strangers. A solicitor should be- exceedingly careful to keep every bit of material that might be needed to prove a will. Twice due* ing the last fe\v months he had seen cases where wills were lost, and the only means of sotting them up i were tliß drafts. If the will in this case had been lost, there would have been no means of establishing it. He was not making thes» remarks with any idea of censuring Mr. Beere, but simply by way of advice to him and to the.profession.