Law society plans on family farm transfer ‘staggering’, says Comer

The Law Society of Ireland’s proposal to prohibit a solicitor from representing both sides in the transfer of a family farm has come in for criticism from the ICMSA.

ICMSA president John Comer, has described as “staggering” a proposal from the Incorporated Law Society that would require families to engage two solicitors in a farm transfer from one generation to the next. He said this would see the next farming generation’s legal costs jump from around €4,000 up to €8,000 overnight.

Mr Comer said: “Not alone is this a completely unwarranted and unnecessary move that will potentially double the already substantial fees around transferring farms within the family, it will also — ironically — attack the historically high levels of trust and esteem with which farm families have regarded their family solicitor.

“ICMSA accepts that there have been incredibly rare occasions where there was conflicts of interest and undue influence being brought to bear on the person transferring the farm; but these are famously rare and it beggars belief that the Incorporated Law Society — of all entities — doesn’t heed the adage that ‘hard cases make for bad law’.”

The ICMSA has written to the Law Society to retain the current law, which permits the same solicitor to act for both parties in transfers. The farmer group said that some small towns have just one firm of solicitors in the local town, which will add inconvenience as well as the extra €4,000 cost.

The Law Society said that the ICMSA’s stance on this proposal is premature, noting that an independent task force set up to review the society’s guidelines will not issue its findings from consultations with the ICMSA and other groups for at least another two months.

A letter sent to the ICMSA by task force chairperson, Catherine Treacy, stated: “Whilst your organisation and ours would have a shared concern as to not introducing unnecessary costs [...] the main concern is to avoid situations of conflict of interest.”

Ms Treacy, former CEO of the Land Registry, is not a solicitor. The Law Society said the ICMSA has yet to reply to that letter of Jan 26.

Law Society president Ken Murphy said: “The task force has not yet reported to the Law Society, so any views expressed now may be premature. That said, a solicitor acting for both sides in any transaction is fraught with risks for both sides.

“The current guidelines recommend against it. We must now whether or not to change from guidelines to rules prohibiting solicitors from acting for both sides.”

Mr Murphy said that, even in the case of a voluntary farm transfer, the rules would have to protect both parties. He said he will wait to see the task force’s view on future best practice .

Mr Murphy added: “Where there has been a necessary increase in the cost of safely producing milk, I have not noticed the ICMSA calling on farmers to absorb the cost themselves rather than pass it on to consumers.”