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GAZETTE
APRIL 1 988
From the President . . .
towards compulsory cover in the
near future.
Whilst it is very early days in
relation to the Fund and experience
to date cannot be taken as a
guarantee or an expectation for the
future, the claims experience at the
end of nine months is that there are
27 claims judged as requiring
reserves to be made and the
amount reserved is well within the
Board's level of expectation.
The administrative costs of the
Fund have been kept to a minimum
as claims are mainly handled
t h r ough a panel of Solicitors
experienced in this type of work.
Members w i th a claim are offered
a choice of Solicitor from the panel.
It would be the intention of the
Board to review the panel from time
to time in the light of the number
of claims in hand.
The Board intends to promote a
programme of risk management to
assist members in avoiding un-
necessary pitfalls. The experience
in England and Wales is illustrated
by the Table on page 11.
For the year commencing 1st
May 1988, the Board of the
Solicitors' Mutual Defence Fund
Limited has decided that the
subscription per solicitor should be
at the rate of £1,100. A loyalty
bonus of £1Q0 per solicitor will be
allowed where the firm participated
in the Fund in its initial year,
1987/88.
When the first year has been
c omp l e t ed and t he Ac c o u n ts
audited, a full report will be made
to members of the Fund which can
be discussed at the Annual General
Meeting of that company.
•
LAW SOCIETY
ANNUAL
CONFERENCE
5 - 8 MAY 1988
the idea of making as many people
in the office fee earners.
In t h is day and age, it is
becoming increasingly important
that someone in the office takes
responsibility for the financial side
and devotes time to it. Cash flow
and turnover of cases are the vital
i ng r ed i en ts of a s u c c e s s f ul
solicitor's office in the late eighties.
This is the theme that our
conference in Cork from May
5th —8th will develop.
Can you really afford to pass up
the opportunity of attending to
develop yourself and your office?
See you there!
The va l ue of your t i me
How much is your time worth?
Have you ever s t opped to
consider how much you should
charge for your work?
Have you a satisfactory system
to make sure that the casual visitor
pays you for your interview?
In our profession, we have
always accepted that many fees
are charged on a scale or per-
centage basis. The concept of time
costing is something which has not
been accepted, except in the larger
firms. However, it is becoming
i nc r eas i ng ly
i mp o r t a nt
t h at
solicitors make sure that they are
getting a fair reward for each case
in their offices. The idea of cross-
subsidisation in a solicitor's office
is now gone and must be replaced
by an up-to-date system whereby
financial i n f o rma t i on must be
i mme d i a t e ly available to t he
managing partner. Each depart-
ment must pay for itself.
A simple way to work out the
cost of your time is to work out
what gross fees you need to take
during the year. You then divide this
by 52 (assuming you do not take
holidays) to arrive at your weekly
figure and by 5 and by 8 to arrive
at an hourly figure.
So the next time someone wants
you to go out to defend a Summons
or wants you to leave your desk for
a particular task, you will have an
immediate check as to whether this
is an economic proposition for you
or not.
You can quite easily expand this
principle through your office, w i th
THOMAS D. SHAW
President
COMPANIES (No.2)
BILL, 1987
Af ternoon Seminar
in Blackhall Place,
Dublin 7.
10th May 1988
at 2.30p.m.
organised by
Company Law Committee
under Joint Chairmanship of
Mr. Michael Irvine and
Mr. David Tomkin.
CONTACT:
AUDREY GERAGHTY,
LAW SOCIETY,
BLACKHALL PLACE,
DUBLIN 7.
Tel. 01-710711
Fax 01-710704
Spec i al C. I .E. Re t u rn
Fare — Dub l i n / Co rk
£ 1 5 . 00
(available to Conference
Registrants only)
Contact:
A. GERAGHTY,
Law Society. Tel. 710711
78