Judge criticises solicitors who fail to appear in court

A District Court judge has questioned the professionalism of solicitors after several legal representatives failed to appear at his court to act for their clients.

At Athy District Court Judge Desmond Zaidan said it is unsatisfactory that solicitors sometimes failed to appear and that others fail to give full instructions to colleagues asked to stand in for them.

He said no barrister or solicitor goes to the High Court unprepared and asks the court what their case is about.

In some District Court cases local solicitors acting as agents for colleagues are not even told what the charges are, he said after several local solicitors were unable to answer his questions because their colleagues hadn’t given them full instructions.

When one Dublin solicitor didn’t turn up to represent his client, local solicitor Tony Hanahoe volunteered to step in to oblige the court.

Unsatisfactory
However, the judge said it was unsatisfactory that Mr Hanahoe had been placed in that position, particularly when the missing solicitor was employed under the Legal Aid scheme at taxpayers' expense.

Judge Séamus Hughes, who sits in Longford and Westmeath, has repeatedly voiced his concern at city solicitors who leave local agents acting on their behalf without necessary information. He has also been critical of solicitors sending young barristers without an attending solicitor and without full instructions.

The Director General of the Law Society, Ken Murphy, said he could make no comment on any specific cases but said complaints would be investigated.