The Gazette 1996

GAZETTE

JULY 1996

Compensation Tribunal and was a member of the Legal Aid Board for six years. Í The new judge lives in Sandycove, Co. Dublin and is married to Dr. Maeve Maurer and has five children. He has always been actively engaged in sport, particularly rugby and cycling. He plays golf and bridge and also enjoys gardening and sailing. His Honour Judge Michael White I His Honour Judge Michael White lives in Chapelizod, Dublin 20 and was i born in Co. Donegal in 1953. Educated at Carndonagh National School, Carndonagh Boys Secondary School and Franciscan College, Gormanston, he attended UCD and graduated with a BCL degree in 1973. | Qualifying as a solicitor in November ; 1975 he became a partner in the family firm Michael D White &Co., Carndonagh with his father Michael D. White, then President of "The Donegal Bar Association". ! In 1976 Michael White established a practice in Dublin specialising in litigation and criminal law, and concentrated exclusively on those areas when his brother Philip took | over the family firm in 1982. He I developed expertise in family and labour law, tenants rights and constitutional and judicial review litigation. The new judge has maintained an active interest in political, voluntary and community groups, in particular those campaigning for children, students and tenants rights and the provision of legal services to the less j well off. | He is married to Dr. Maud McKee, | and has four sons aged 11,9,5 and ! 1 ] / 2 . In his leisure time he loves soccer, walking and reading, and j trains and manages a childrens football team.

Increase in Recommended Scale of Newly Qualified Solicitors

the solicitor working outside of private practice is the most relevant. Many comments have been made to me and to others to the effect that the salary scale that would be paid outside of the area of private practice would in fact be greater than the basic salary on offer and that without scale it is very difficult to treat newly-qualified solicitors seriously for job applications. The Society invests a great deal of effort in the provision of education to its law students. It is a fourth level college. The fees etc., are expensive and at the end of their apprenticeship nearly all of the students have large personal borrowings as they set out on the job market. Taking all these factors into account the Council approved an upper limit on the band of £18,000. In recommending the motion to Council I suggested that the matter should be reviewed at the first Council meeting in 1998 and annually thereafter. I also suggested to Council that with regard to pricing generally the profession should move away from scale fees and that the Council should attempt to adopt some system of education which would enable the majority of practices to commence time costing. Philip Joyce Chairman, Younger Members Review Committee •

Recommended Scale £15,000 to £18,000 The new recommended scale for newly-qualified solicitors is £15,000 to £18,000. In considering the salary scale for newly-qualified solicitors, opponents of such a scale generally say that the matter should be left to market forces. This is true, and in the last analysis market forces is the dominating feature in relation to all salaries. However, there would be a perception among newly-qualified solicitors that if the matter is dealt with in this way, it can lead to exploitation. In political terms perception is reality. The present recommended level is £13,000. It has been set at that level for a number of years and is now seriously out of line with that which similar people can expect to command in the market generally. The salary for a managing clerk is set by the Law Clerks Joint Labour Committee will be approximately £12,500 later this year. An advertisement for a Law Agent for a County Council with five years' experience recently gave a salary figure of £25,000. A recent survey amongst the Leinster Society of Chartered Accountants showed that the average starting salary was £17,200. Having consulted with various people including the Careers Officer for the Society I felt that the initial starting salary should be a figure of £15,000. On this occasion I was seeking to introduce a band and this was to reflect three particularly important items. 1. Age or maturity/extra qualifications. 2. Place of work. 3. Employment outside of private practice. Of the items concerned the position of

James Hyland & Company Forensic Accountants 26/28 South Terrace, Cork, Ireland.

Phone (021)319 200 Fax: (021) 319 300 E-mail jhyland@indigo.ie

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