The Rotary Club of Edinburgh
Bulletin 2154 - 12th April 2007
REVIEW
Review - Last Week’s Meeting – 7th June 07
Having greeted an assembly of 63 members, two guests and one visiting
Rotarian, President Fred gave a special welcome to John Wheeldon and to
Alex Currie who was none the worse of an alarming syncopal episode which
had necessitated his emergency admission to the Royal Infirmary.
At the President’s invitation Vernon Williamson briefly commended
to members the St Columba’s Hospice / Border Toyota 30th Anniversary
Raffle for which there was a book of ten tickets at each table-place for
a draw on 22 June.
The President’s grace in the Doric, although unfamiliar to most members
and perhaps a trifle canine in spirit, was warmly appreciated and deserves
to be recorded in full:
“Doon wi’ yer heid and up wi’ yer paws
Thank the guid Lord for the use o’ yer jaws.”
More volunteers were called for to help with the Great Scottish Walk
on Sunday 10 June and with KidsOut on Wednesday 13 June which would be
attended by 206 disabled children from special schools.
Hon Sec Bill Barr reminded members of the Rotary Roadshow at the Royal
Highland Show 21-24 June which is an important public relations exercise
and which requires help from members with the staffing of the Rotary Marketing
Tent.
President Fred gave a hearty welcome to Judge Jonah Trierwasser, Vice-President
of the Rotary Club of Red Hook New York, and to his wife Ellen. V-P Tierwasser
spoke briefly about the Red Hook R.C. and expressed the hope that he might
have opportunities of welcoming Edinburgh Rotarians to its weekly breakfast
meetings. After thanking our Club for its hospitality he presented President
Fred with a Red Hook R.C. banner and received as mementoes of his visit
a Scotch Malt Whisky miniature and our Club CD of Scottish Songs.
District Membership Services Group.
There will be an open meeting of this group on Tuesday 19 June at 8.0 pm in the Hillcroft Hotel, Whitburn to discuss proposals for the formation of new Rotary Clubs in District 1020. The Whitburn Club is meeting that night at 7 pm and Rotarians attending the D.M.S.G. open meeting who would like to join them for the meal would be most welcome.Contact Bob Stewart, <<removed>>.
Piscatorians in the Trossachs!
Piscator Maximus (George Holmes) reports that he and five fellow-Piscatorians fished Loch Venachar on Friday 25 May in “chilly sunshine”. Three Piscatorians including V-P Robin caught fish and, as always, the fare and the fellowhip were terrific. The next Piscatorian venue is at the North Third Loch in the Touch Hills west of Stirling, on Friday 15 June.Contact George Holmes.
Golfers Victorious.
The President congratulated our Club golfers and their Captain John Hull on their victory over the Newcastle Rotarians at Haddington on 6 June by the gratifying margin of three matches to one. Thereby the Langley-Essen Trophy which had been held by Newcastle R.C. for several years is now back in Edinburgh and was displayed proudly at the meeting.Speaker: Philip Yelland
Philip has been a solicitor since 1985 and involved in the work of the
Law Society of Scotland since 1990. Currently he is the Society’s
Director of Regulation with responsibility for its disciplinary proceedings
and this experience formed the basis of an address on the intriguing subject
of “Naughty Lawyers”.
He started by reminding us of the high standard of conduct that the
public expects of members of the professions and emphasised that only
a tiny fraction of the total number of Scottish lawyers ever fail to maintain
this standard. Disciplinary action by the Law Society against a solicitor
always excites great media interest and this creates a false impression
of the incidence of professional misconduct amongst lawyers.
Solicitors often have to look after their clients’ money and the
opportunities for financial irregularities presented by this situation
are undoubtedly a temptation. Dishonesty in the management of a client’s
funds is a problem which most commonly occurs in relation to executries
but the incidence of mortgage fraud by lawyers is increasing possibly
as a consequence of the continuing upward spiral of the housing market.
Absolute trust was the linchpin of the lawyer-client relationship and
the Law Society takes a very serious view of breaches of that trust associated
with dishonesty or professional negligence.
Professional incompetence is a rather more problematic area in that it
may often be a matter of opinion and it should be remembered that in legal
disputes the loss of his case does not by itself give a client justification
for making a complaint to the Law Society against his solicitor.
With regard to lawyers’ conduct in their private lives the fundamental
principle is that members of the legal profession must not break the law!
Those who do so are subject to professional sanctions in addition to civil
punishment and a solicitor who does anything to bring his profession into
disrepute will lose the right to practise.
Philip Yelland enlivened his account of the Law Society’s disciplinary
function with a number of fascinating and sometimes bizarre illustrative
cases from his own experience and reiterated his conviction that the public
could retain confidence in the ability of the legal profession to regulate
itself.
He ended a highly informative and entertaining discourse with a reassurance
that there were very few “bad apples in the legal barrel” and
was applauded enthusiastically by his audience. So too was Sandra Campbell
who in proposing a vote of thanks to the speaker gave us an amusing comparison
of legal misbehaviour and its punishment with what happens to “naughty
doctors”.
“Better late than never” is not an aphorism favoured by Rotarians
but it came in mind last week when the Loyal Toast was not proposed and
drank until just before the end of the meeting when it was followed immediately
by the final toast to “Rotary world-wide”.