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at work level, instruction as to the legal rules which
have to be observed or applied as an operating tool in
the carrying out of business transactions. This instruc-
tion is, however, strictly informative, and is, in the main,
a diluted and abbreviated analysis of what is taught in
greater depth to the professional lawyer as part of his
vocational (as distinct from academic) training.
Law is, however, only a tool of management. Few
problems have a strictly legal aspect only. They embrace,
in varying degree, legal, financial, technical, and human
and ethical considerations. Law is a feature of business
activity, not a compartment.
In applying the law to a business problem the busi-
nessman is reaching a business, not a legal decision.
His objective, and therefore his overall skill, must be
directed to a business result.
Problems arise, however, as a complex of facts, and
depend for their solution upon the right questions being
asked. This is as true of the legal aspect of a problem
as of any other.
Bearing all this in mind, the part which the law and
legal institutions play in the structure and development
of society, the processes whereby law is produced by
social, economic and moral forces and the origin and
working of its institutions would seem to be a necessary
adjunct to the intellectual equipment of every business
executive.
Whilst industry is no doubt primarily concerned with
the development of production techniques and manage-
ment skills and must, of necessity, concentrate upon
scientific development, production engineering, market
research and industrial psychology, nevertheless, one
frequently finds it stressed in books on management and
in management journals that efficient management also
calls for an intellectual cultivation through which men
can develop an imaginative comprehension of the whole
sweep of economic, political and social life. Managers
are warned against the trained incapacity of the narrow
expert, that the specialist cannot function effectively at
top level if all he brings with him is his speciality. It has
been said that the humanities, whilst important to a
man's soul, are good for profits also.
It is remarkable, however, that whilst in recent years
much consideration has been given to the training of
management in the many spheres and at the various
levels in which it operates, little or no thought appears
to have been given to education or training in the legal
field. Whereas training in management extends over
every known aspect of business activity including some
attention to the general principles of sociology and
psychology, there is rarely a mention of the law as a
component element in the decision-making process of
business conduct. In business training, jurisprudence,
the philosophy of law, has secured no recognition.
Such research as has been done in this area emanates
from the United States. A growing concern has been
recently expressed in the United Kingdom but the
problem has not yet received any attention in this
country. To date, however, it is only at work level that
any coherent or comprehensive proposals have been
formulated. At the higher level of legal philosophy, the
method and means still await articulation and speci-
fication. Having regard to the rapidly changing dimen-
sions of the law. a study is long overdue.
Several practical tasks must, I think, be undertaken.
First of all, the education of the lawyer himself requires
up-dating in order to equip him to handle the technical
and socio-economic data necessary for the solution of
the legal problems of contemporary society. His training
should be "problem-centred".
Secondly, there should be channels of communication
between lawyers, business managers and specialists in
other professions and disciplines whereby they can co-
operate and integrate their respective functions and
activities so as to make the best use of the available
resources. The time is not far distant when multi-lateral
and inter disciplinary relationships spreading across
professional boundaries will have to be developed.
Sociological, financial, economic, statistical, actuarial
and technological factors all have their place in dealing
with legal problems appertaining to : the protection of
the environment, taxation, employment, industrial rela-
tions, insurance, property development, consumer pro-
tection, restrictive practices, company and corporation
law, international transport and trade.
Higher degrees of specialisation are called for in all
areas and by all participants with a view to the elim-
ination of unnecessary, inefficient and expensive overlap.
The business manager, the lawyer and other specialists
will have to acquire a deeper appreciation and capacity
to make the fullest use of each other's speciality.
MISCELLANEOUS LEGAL NEWS
SOLICITOR'S PROFITS BY CONVEYANCING
"EXCESSIVE"
For the third time in three years, solicitors have been
told by the Prices and Incomes Board that they are
making excessive profits from conveyancing and that
their fees for buying and selling houses should generally
be cut substantially.
In its third report on solicitors' pay, published
yesterday, the board calls for a £6 million-a-year reduc-
tion in the profession's earnings from conveyancing,
with main cuts in fees for transferring unregistered
houses, arranging mortgages and where one solicitor
acts for both buyer and seller.
It also repeats its earlier recommendations that soli-
citors' scale charges should be treated as
maxima
rather
than fixed charges, and that solicitors should be free to
charge less if they find that a transaction took less work
than they expected.
Earlier calls by the Board for reduced fees for convey-
ancing of middle-priced houses have been successfully
fought off by the profession, although solicitors have
been paid increases that the Board proposed for county
court work and conveyances of lower-priced properties.
Unless the Government puts strong pressure on the
profession, which seems unlikely, the latest call for
conveyancing fee cuts is expected also to go unheeded,
especially as the Board itself, set up by the Labour
Government, went out of existence at the end of last
month.
After
carrying out a further time-and-cost survey of
conveyancing work in solicitors' offices, the Board found
that tne average costs of a conveyance, including the
solicitor's average profit, was only 55 per cent of the
scale-fee charge.
Work done for sellers was generally more profitable
than that done for buyers. Profitability increased sub-
stantially with property values, although registered con-
veyancing was not quite so remunerative as unregistered.
For houses with unregistered title the board recom-
mends cuts in the £4,000 to £20,000 price bracket
ranging from 4 per cent at £5,000 to 16 per cent at
£20,000. It would reduce the present fee for a £5,000
house from £67.50 to £65 and on a £10,000 house
from £105 to £90.
But increased fees for registered properties in the
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