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GAZETTE
SEPTEMBER 1984
and whether this requires to be broadened in adminis-
trative subjects.
Also under this heading it must be remembered that
certain areas of practice are likely to be lost to the
profession in the coming years.
d. Earnings
This issue is extremely general and must cover such
aspects as the assessment of fair starting salaries and
conditions of employment.
It may well be that the enforcement of minimum
conditions in terms of employment would have a benefit
to the profession as a whole. Certainly the treatment of
newly qualified Solicitors as being no more useful or
trustworthy than the Secretary casts no credit on the
profession as a whole or the training received as an
apprentice and through the Law School. Low salaries put
no pressure on the employer to make the fullest utilisation
of the asset they have acquired nor does it encourage
clients to treat the opinion of such an assistant with any
regard. In fact the under utilisation or the demeaning of
an assistant reflects no credit on the practice in which he is
operating.
Again, under this heading can be considered the abuse
being made by certain employers of the widely held belief
as to the level of unemployment within the profession.
The proposal by some firms of a three year contract at a
minuscule salary, made on the basis that they are
performing a favour to the employee, is such an abuse.
Such treatment is degrading to the individual, immoral on
the part of the employer and when, inevitably, members
of the public become aware of such arrangements,
increases the public image of the profession as being
crooked and money-grabbing.
e. Restriction on setting up in private practice
Again, this is an issue which cannot be considered in
isolation.
There is a genuine belief on the part of some members
of the profession that there should be a restriction
prohibiting members of less than three or perhaps five
years post qualification experience to commence practice
in their own right. However, the argument often used,
that this is essential to prevent the advent of numerous
negligence and compensation fund claims should not be
countenanced without statistical evidence as to the
frequency of claims arising from the actions of younger,
as against older, members of the profession.
Equally the issue cannot be fairly tackled when the
alternative to commencing in sole practice may be, for
many, the acceptance of degrading levels of salary and
general conditions of employment.
f. Public Relations
Much concern has been expressed by members of
Council and individual practitioners as to the public
image of the profession as a whole. The marketing and
public image of any individual practice begins at the door
of that practice and continues, most immediately,
through Reception and the members of the firm. So also
the whole profession is judged by the public through the
experiences that any individual member of that public has
had with his or her Solicitor. The young assistant who
consults with a client in a cramped corner office and who
in social situations criticises his employer as being mean
and tight-fisted lowers still further the reputation of the
profession.
From what I have said above it should be clear that I
feel the elements which make up the full and beneficial
employment of a young Solicitor should be to the concern
of the profession as a whole and Council of the Law
Society, in particular. This is an issue which requires the
urgent attention of the'Society.
•
Editorial Note:
Some useful statistical information which is relevant to
some of the points raised by Mr. Murphy is available in
the paper "Estimated Supply and Demand for Solicitors
in 1986 and 1991", published by the Society in 1978. The
tables to this paper show the sudden rise in apprentice-
ships and subsequently in the numbers of solicitors which
commenced in the early 1970's. That this was not simply a
function of the increase in the numbers of those reaching
Third Level education is shown by the fact that the
percentage increase in the numbers of students studying
law was substantially higher than the percentage increase
in overall student numbers.
The number of solicitors holding practising certificates
fluctuated over the 16-year period between 1954 and 1970
between a high of 1374(in 1955) and a low of 1290 (in 1962
and 1963). By 1974 it had increased to 1550, by 1977 to
1780, by 1978 to 1944 and as of 22 August, 1984, it stands
at 2,963.
Mr. Murphy rightly questions the use of the word
"unemployment" in relation to newly-qualified solicitors
and offers an example of under-employment. There is also
some evidence available of an increase in the numbers of
solicitors who are setting up practice in one or two-
principal firms within their first few years of practice.
There is anecdotal evidence that some of these firms may
have been set up either because of the scarcity of assistant-
ships in established firms or the lack of opportunity for
advancement in such firms. Low salaries being offered by
such firms, as suggested by Mr. Murphy, may be a further
reason.
•
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