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GAZETTE
J
U
NE/J
U
LY
1976
the trend has moved the other way. (The number of
building society mortgages in 1975 was 651,000.) Also,
house prices (and therefore fees) have, of course, been
rising with inflation — according to the statistics
maintained by the building societies the average house
price went from £4,447 in 1968 to £12,144 in 1975.)
The Prices and Incomes Board showed that the
profession's income rose from £179m. in 1966" to
£217m. in 1968
7
. If the 1966 is taken as the index at
100, the 1968 figure was 121. In the same period,
average national wages and earnings only advanced
from 100 to I I P . In other words, solicitors' earnings
increased at a substantially faster rate than those of
the community as a whole. This may or may not have
continued during the intervening period, but it seems
probable that at the very least the profession has
more than held its ground.
Conclusion
In the writer's view, the balance of advantage is
heavily in favour of legislation along the lines
developed in the Commonwealth countries. It would
be a matter for discussion what precise method should
be adopted.
The purposes of the fund should be widely drawn
so as to permit the maximum of creative and imagina-
tive application. The trustees should represent a
variety of interests — including, of course, a strong
lay element.
The total amount generated by such a proposal
must, at this stage, be a matter of guess-work. A 1975
Interfirm Comparison involving 30 firms of varying
sizes from different parts of the country showed that
non-fee income consisting largely of interest on client
account represented a median of 5.5 per cent of gross
income. It is impossible to translate this into a reliable
estimate of what would be the figure for the profes-
sion as a whole since there are no existing figures for
the profession's current gross income, nor is it known
what proportion of interest on client account is re-
turned to clients. It is, however, possible to make
some educated estimates.
As has been seen, the PIB estimated the profession's
gross revenue in 1966 to be £179m. and in 1968 to be
£217m. Depending on which method of calculation is
adopted, this would, today, be something between
£430m. and £530m.
9
, with the higher figure probably
being closer to the reality. Moreover, the profession
has greatly expanded over the period — from about
23,000 practising certificates in 1966/7 to nearly 30,000
in 1974/5. This would have had a further tendency to
increase gross revenue.
An estimate of £500m. is likely to be conservative.
If the Interfirm Comparison is representative in its
figure of 5% of income being derived from client
accounts, this would give a total of some £25m.
The only indication of the amount retained by
solicitors is in last year's decided case. In that case
the firm, one of whose partners was a former President
of the Law Society, himself a member of the Profes-
sional Purposes Committee for 13 years, retained 70
per cent of the moneys in the account. If this were
typical, the profession would be retaining some £17m.
a year — an average of about £2,500 for each of the
7,000 or so firms in England and Wales.
Even if the actual figures were substantially less, the
stakes are obviously high enough to be worth pur-
suing. A great many invaluable improvements in legal
services, legal education, legal research and the like
could be achieved with an extra few million pounds
per year.
1. The Legal Profession
Amendment
Act
1972
(No. 2.
Ch.
14, .v. 109.)
2.
The British Columbia
Legal Professions
(Amendment)
Act
1975,
Ch.
15, s. 71.
3.
The Law Society of Manitoba
Act, as amended in
1972.
s.
30, 2.
4.
The New South Wales Legal Practitioners
Act
1898-1970.
as amended in
1967
and
1970,
s.
42.
5.
The Law Society Act
1970
as amended
in
1973, .v.v. 23.
26, 51.
6.
National
Board for Prices and Incomes,
Remuneration
of Solicitors, Cmnd. 3529, 1968.
Table
2,
p.
34
showed
there
to be
6,270
practices. Table
5,
p.
37
showed the average gross
revenue
per firm was
£26,645.
The multiple
of these
two
figures is
£179m.
7.
National Board for Prices and Incomes,
Standing Refer-
ence on the Remuneration of Solicitors, Cmnd. 4217, 1969.
Table
2,
p.
29
showed a total of
6,580
practices and Table
4.
p.
31
showed the average gross revenue per firm to he
£33,018.
The multiple of these figures is
£217
m.
8.
General
Statistical
Office,
Economic Trends,
February
1976,
p.
40.
9.
If solicitors'
revenues
increased from
1968
to
1975
at
the same rate as in
1966-68,
the
1975
figure would be
£430m.
This is, however,
improbable,
since the income of
solicitors,
like that of other groups, will undoubtedly
have been
advanc-
ing at an accelerating
rate because of galloping
inflation.
Average
national wages and earnings grew from
100
in
1966
to
111
in
1968
to
272
in
1975. (Economic Trends, op. cit.).
If solicitors'
incomes grew only at this rate the
1975
figure
would be
£488
m. But in reality, the rate of increase
would
probably have been higher. As has already been seen,
solicitors'
incomes grew from a base of
100
in
1966
to
121
in
1968.
whilst national average wages and earnings were growing
from
100
to
111.
If solicitors' incomes grew at the same rate relative
to all wages and earnings as between
1966
and
1968,
the
1975
figure would be
£530m.
(Reprinted by kind permission of the author and of the
Editor of the
New Law Journal
— 6 May 1976).
F.L.A.C.
Free Legal Advice Centres (FLAC Dublin) would be
pleased to hear from solicitors interested in attend-
ing any of the FLAC centres. Those solicitors
interested would become members of a panel attached
to a centre and would be asked to attend at spacious
intervals. Please contact FLAC, c / o Miss Muriel Lee,
6 Palmerstown Gdns., Rathmines, Dublin 6. Phone
978428.
OBITUARY
District Justice John Carr,
died in April, 1976. Mr.
Carr was admitted in Easter Term, 1939, and prac-
tised mainly as Solicitor to Cork County Council.
He was appointed a District Justice in 1961, first in
Dublin City, and in 1970, in the Kildare and Wick-
low areas, on the retirement of District Justice
Michael Keane.
Mr. John B. Lynch,
died on 5th May, 1976. Mr. Lynch
was admitted in Michaelmas Term, 1940, and prac-
tised in Ennis, Co. Clare.
Mr. James O'Hanrahan,
died in January, 1976. Mr.
O'Hanrahan was admitted in Michaelmas Term,
1930, and practised in Kilkenny.
64