The Gazette 1993

GAZETTE

JUNE 1993

that the Society would be the body

who would set the standards of

practice management. There had been

surprisingly wide support within the

profession for the idea, although he

reported that one firm had responded:

"we don't believe in practice

management - our staff don't stay very

long"! Andrew Lockley explained that

the practice standards were not

compulsory and there was no formal

enforcement by the Law Society of

! England and Wales. However, the

| Society devoted resources to

promulgating the standards and

providing seminars etc. The Law

Society itself, he said, was adopting the

practice management standards in its

own operations.

Lawyers are terrible - but mine is OK

Philip Hamer,

Managing Director of

Philip Hamer & Company, which has

four branches around the Leeds area,

and has just obtained the BS5750,

queried why people always expressed

the view that "lawyers are terrible - but

I'm lucky, mine is OK". He described

certain decisions which had been taken

by his firm when it decided to seek the

BS5750 standard. When the firm first

started, he said, they had operated the

cab rank rule which he defined as:

"everybody operating at the same level

of incompetence." Three years ago, he

and his partners decided to focus the

firm and to take on work only in areas

in which they were expert and trained.

Philip Hamer described some of the

innovations that had been made by his

firm on the way to obtaining the quality

standard. His firm introduced

computerised time-recording which

threw up the interesting statistic that

25% of files had not been worked on at

all in the previous 90 days. Another

innovation was the introduction of a

review system of every file every six

months by somebody who was not

responsible for the file. While the

introduction of that system had been an

enormous task it now provided an

important warning system and quality

mechanism.

The firm also introduced a contract

with each client which was signed at

the commencement of work. The

contract clearly stated how much the

firm would charge per hour. In the

initial stages, Philip Hamer said, they

were worried that clients would "run".

However, the system worked and the

only clients who left were the ones

who were not likely to pay anyway.

Philip Hamer also advised that it was

important to get payment from clients

at regular intervals during the work

rather than presenting the client with

the total bill at the end of the

proceedings.

The firm also introduced a procedure

for taking statements. Following a

consultation with the client, the

solicitor dictated the statement in

the client's presence. The typed

statement was then sent to the client

for signing.

Philip Hamer said that devising the

procedures had been relatively easy, the

Council Meeting,

May 1993

(Continued from page 188)

notices should also be discussed

at the Special General Meeting on

17 June.

Pro-Bono Legal Aid

The Council approved in principle a

proposal from the Minister for

Equality and Law Reform, Mervyn

Taylor, that solicitors engaged in

family law work might take one legal

aid case awaiting attention on a

pro-

bono

basis before the end of 1993. In

return, the Minister had indicated that

substantial additional funding would

be sought for the Legal Aid Scheme in

1994 and that the expansion of the

Scheme would include provision for

the participation of private

practitioners. The Council approved

the proposal on the basis that firm

commitments would be sought from

the Minister and that, ultimately, it

would be a matter for each individual

solicitor to decide whether to

participate.

•

problem, of course, had been getting

people to follow them. However, when

the procedures had been established,

problems and complaints became much

easier to handle. He did not deny that

there had been a certain pain element

and a great deal of work in developing

and implementing the procedures. "We

are talking about improving the worst

person in your office (not just the best),

the one most likely to let you down," he

said.

His final advice to conference delegates

was to send jobs that they did not feel

competent to do outside the firm rather

than leave them unattended to or letting

them become the cause of potential

difficulties. He also cautioned delegates

not to let their clients lead them down

the wrong road. If quality standards and

procedures were in place and the

solicitor knew that somebody else in

the office would be reviewing his

handling of the case, it was much easier

for him to say no to a client at the

outset.

Barbara Cahalane

•

New Law School

telephone number

i and fax

Members of the profession, apprentices

and students, are requested to note that

on 1 June, 1993 the Law School

acquired its own switchboard and its

main number is 6710200. The Law

School's fax number is 6710064.

It is hoped that the new switchboard

will enable callers to have easier access i

to the Law School while easing the

pressure generally on the Society's

main switchboard.

•

English Agents:

Agency work

undertaken for Irish solicitors in

both litigation and non-contentious

matters - including legal aid. Fearon

& Co., Solicitors, Westminster

House, 12 The Broadway, Woking,

Surrey GU21 5AU.

Tel: 0444-483-726272.

Fax:

0044-483-725807.