INTEGRITY OF LAWYERS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 756, 31 August 1929, Page 8

INTEGRITY OF LAWYERS

GUARANTEED PROTECTION OF CLIENTS FIDELITY BILL READ (THE 8 UN’S Pa-lirrmentary Reporter) WELLINGTON, Friday. A Bill providing for the establishment of a solicitors’ fidelity guarantee fund by amending the Lav* Practitioners Amendment Act was read a second time in the Legislative Council today. The Bill provides that the fund is i to be the property of the New Zealand Law Society and moneys are to be paid into the bank to the credit of a separate account. Solicitors are to paj* Into the fund not less than £5 or more than £lO a year, contributions ceasing so long as the fund stands above :he sum of £IOO,OOO. If at any time the fund is not sufficient to sat-i-fy the liabilities of the Law Society the council is authorised to pass a resolution imposing on solicitor contributors a lew of such amount as it thinks fit, not exceeding £lO, for payment into the fund. USES OF FUND The fund is to be applied mainly for the purpose of reimbursing persons who may suffer pecuniary loss by reason of theft by a solicitor, or by his servant, or agent, of money or other valuable property entrusted to him. It is to be administered by a committee of management consisting of not less than three nor more than five members of the Law Society. Moneys may be used to satisfy claims, including coats, allowed or established against the fund, legal expenses incurred in defending claims upon the fund, all refunds made to solicitors or their personal representatives of the contributions paid into the fund, and administration expenses, including travelling expenses. Accounts must be audited annually, and power is given for the investment of the funds. No solicitor is required to pay more than £lO in any one year or more than £SO during the whole period of his practice. NO CLAIM IF WARNED No action may lie against the fund in respect of any loss suffered by a theft committed by a solicitor after the claimant has received notification from the council or committee of management issuing a warning against the r nployment of the solicitor concerned. At its discretion the council may enter into insurance contracts Indemnifying the fund against liability to pay claims. The council may also repay contribution# in the event of the death or retirement from practice of the solicitor, the total refunded being limited to his aggregate contributions. Supplementary provision is made that the council of the Law Society, or of any district society, may appoint a registered accountant to investigate the affairs of any solicitor and furnish a confidential report of irregularities in the solicitor’s accounts, the report to be considered in committee and no account, of proceedings to be disclosed or published, subject to a fine of £lO. Tn moving the second reading of the Bill the Leader of the Council, the Hon. T. K. Sldey, Sciid it was not a Government measure of compulsion, but purely voluntary* on the part of members of the legal profession, who were prepared to tax themselves against the contingency. The Bill was not open to the same objections as had been raised last sesion against a similar measure. The measure had the unanimous support of the New Zealand Law Society and district societies.

The Bill was read a second time