The Institute's 2007 Conference was held at the Lyrath Estate Hotel in Kilkenny on the 21st/22nd September 2007.
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Chairman -Mike O'Reilly reviewed the Conference as follows:
The Institute held its 21st Annual Conference on 21st and 22nd of September at the Lyrath Estate on the outskirts of Kilkenny city. Those of you who couldn’t make it really missed an excellent week-end. I recommend that you should look this hotel up on the web (www.lyrath.com) as it is really spectacular.
We tried to put together a varied programme for the event. I review below some of the speakers and topics.
The conference was officially opened by Tom Murran, a member of the Council of the Law Society who spoke on behalf of the President. Tom spoke about his own personal experiences with bookkeeping, bookkeepers, Accounting systems and computers over the years. He pointed out that a system he played a role in developing is now a major market player on the Irish Software Scene.
He told us of the great interest the Law Society had in the welfare and support of our own institute and pledged that they would not be found wanting if we ever needed their support.
Immediately after Tom’s speech Bart Mooney, the Conference Moderator introduced Dr. Sharon Sheehan who is a Senior Lecturer at DBS. She opened the Conference proper for us. She spoke on the rights and duties of employers when employees are leaving or being dismissed. In what proved to be a very entertaining talk, she dealt with proper procedures, disciplinary codes and how to address the problems of difficult employees.
Over lunch, members guests and exhibitors chatted about various aspects of the topic and other matters of mutual interest.
The afternoon commenced with Sergeant Clodagh White who is a member of the Gardaí Síochána Money Laundering Investigation Unit. She spoke to us about the obligations imposed on Solicitors by various regulations, and in particular, money-laundering regulations. She gave us a detailed analysis of the background to these regulations. She explained how the Gardaí seek to enforce those regulations both from the point of view of Solicitors being obliged to report and obtaining identification.
After a break for refreshment which included some remarkable ice-cream, Seamus McGrath who is a Chartered Accountant resumed the afternoons programme. Séamus works for the Law Society as Senior Investigating Accountant. He had spoken to the Institute before and this was an expanded version of that talk. In his session, Seamus went through the Solicitors Accounts Regulations and using his wide experience, he identified the most common breaches of the regulations and told us how to avoid those breaches. In particular, he highlighted problems such as old Client account Balances, The absence of letters in accordance with S68(1) and the re-dating of deeds to avoid stamp duty penalties.
All sessions on the day led to interesting bouts of questions and answers. Old friendships were renewed by those who went to the Bar and all reassembled later in the evening in a dining room with two specially fitted out large screen TV’s so that we could watch the Irish team take on the mighty French. The match did not live up to the promise of the meal which was excellent. More recent events have shown that the glimmers of hope identified in the small hours of the following morning were but figments of the imaginations of those who had hoped and confirmed the worst fears of those who did not.
The following morning saw a ten o’clock start with a lively and extremely well attended forum on team building. These forums which run with a chairman only have proved to be very popular. Several members gave interesting insights into their ideas and beliefs about teams, the role of leaders and the informal organisation. Exciting as it was coffee was welcomed by most when the forum broke up.
Michael Ryan who is an associate of the association of legal costs draftsmen closed the conference with a wonderfully well-informed session on billing; how to charge; what to charge; your obligations and you opportunities. Again this session gave way to very perceptive questions and equally insightful answers.
Before the conference broke up, I indicated that I would not be seeking re-election to the Chairmanship of the Institute. It was pointed out that the committee will now seek nominations for our next meeting in January. These can be sent to me or to any member of the committee. I urge you to consider putting yourself forward. I will let you know how nominations are going before Christmas.
I would like to extend a particular word of thanks to the Conference co-ordinator and our Honorary Treasurer Kay Webberley for all her hard wok in organising this Conference. I would also like to assure her that her many kindnesses to me during my tenure were deeply appreciated and will not be soon forgotten. I also wish to thank our fellow committee members Alice Leddy, Bart Mooney and Paul O’Connell for all their work in organising this event and over the last two years. I would like to especially thank Bart for again agreeing to be the conference convenor. A special word of thanks is due to Cillian MacDomhnaill and his colleague, Gayle in the Law Society for their work in promoting this year’s event. My thanks also go to Frank Lanigan for his help in publicising the conference in the region. I would also like to thank our exhibitors for their continued support and welcome exhibitors who are here for the first time this year.
All sessions were suitable for CPD points for the Law Society. The CPD certificates were sent out after the conference.
Membership information is available here.
Our Thanks to all who will support the conference.
For details of the previous year's conference please click here
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8:11 pm on Wednesday, 22 February 2012