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GAZETTE
JULY 1996
Increase in Recommended
Scale of Newly Qualified Solicitors
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.
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
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
•
James Hyland & Company
Forensic Accountants
26/28 South Terrace,
Cork,
Ireland.
Phone (021)319 200
Fax: (021) 319 300
185