Lawyers Aim to Protect Public

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 352, 12 May 1928, Page 13

Lawyers Aim to Protect Public

GUARANTEE FUND MOOTED HANDLING OF TRUST MONEY Members of the New Zealand Law Society are considering proposals to institute a guarantee fund for the protection of the people against dishonest lawyers who handle trust moneys. A more efficient system of audit, also has been proposed as a means of protection. The proposals have been inspired by recent cases of defalcations in trusi moneys handled by solicitors, and legislation calculated to give district councils of the Law Society power to scrutinise books closely has been drafted. In a commentary upon the proposals, the president of the society, Mr. A. Gray, K.C., Wellington, says*. — “Naturally the proposals have met with some opposition, especially from some of the older practitioners, who not unreasonably dislike the notion that the honest many should be required in a sense to guarantee the possibly dishonest few. “At the recent conference of lawyers held at Christchurch, however, the subject was fully discussed, and a resolution was adopted approving the principle of establishing a solicitors’ guarantee fund. It was also resolved to set* up a committee representative of the New Zealand Law Society and all the district law societies for the purpose of considering the various schemes, and formulating a scheme which should become practicable by the force of legislative authority. “Steps are now being taken to carry these resolutions into effect, and it is hoped that a scheme may be evolved for incorporation in a Bill to be submitted to Parliament which, if passed into law, will insure clients against such losses as have recently been brought under public notice, and which have generally been associated with the doings of youpg practitioners lacking in experience r»,nd judgment.”