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Fewer solicitors
"Show me any other body of men
in
the
country who, with rising overheads and staff on
whom they now have to pay Selective Employment
Tax, have not been allowed to increase some of
their charges for 11 years."
Referring to complaints of delay in the despatch
of clients' business, Lord Gardiner said :
"The
fact is that there are simply not enough solicitors
to go round.
"There are 30 jobs waiting for every newly-
qualified solicitor to choose from, and the Law
Society, after a careful survey, concludes
that
we are about 5,000 solicitors short."
Mr. Charles Hilary Scott, President of
the
Law Society, said yesterday that the conclusion
about a shortage of solicitors was the result of
a survey carried out two or three years ago. This
represented roughly 25 per cent but the shortage
was greater in some areas than others.
"There is a drift to London. The younger men
feel they must come and you get the shortage in
the smaller
localities.
If one solicitor dies, or
retires, the gap is felt.
"In private practice,
it
is
indisputable
that
many firms complain that they cannot get com
petent young men to join them."
He wholeheartedly supported Lord Gardiner's
remarks on charges. Some firms find it hard to
make enough money to go round because the
charges were so low, and they could not "stand"
another partner.
Complaints about delays
in solicitors' offices
were sometimes justified, but not always. Some
times
the delays were caused by difficulty
in
getting necessary facts and figures.
—
The Daily Telegraph,
17th October, 1966.
POINT OF PRACTICE — MINOR MATTERS
Solicitors when making applications for pay
ment of Minors' monies out of Court should seek
in addition to the professional fee, the sum in
curred in outlay as the present position is not
entirely satisfactory. In one case reported to the
Society where payment of the sum of £15 each
to two minors was sought out of monies standing
to their credit, instructions were received by a
solicitor. Two certificates of funds were bespoken
and arrangements were made for the next friend
to attend Court when application was made for
payment out. As the Master was not anxious to
disturb the corpus of the amounts to the credit of
the minors and there was some cash available, he
ordered payment of the sum of £11-4-0. approx
imately in each case and allowed a sum of £1-1-0.
Costs in each of the applications.
The position from the point of view of the
solicitor resulted as follows :—
£
s. d.
£
s.
d.
Amount
of Costs
re
ceived by Solicitor ...
220
Paid Court Fee 2 Certi
ficates of Funds
......
10
0
Fee on Master's Order
1
0
0
Fee for two directions to
pay monies
...............
10
6
2
0
6
Balance on Hands :
£-
1
6
SOLICITOR'S REMUNERATION IN LEGAL
AID MATTERS
A member of the Society whose name is in
cluded in the Panel under the Criminal Justice
(Legal Aid) Act, 1962 has reported the follow
ing experiences :—
(i) In October, 1965 the solicitor received word
by telephone (which was confirmed later by
notice
in writing)
that a man has been
charged with :
(a) obtaining a sum of £10-0-0 by false
pretences;
(b) obtaining a
sum of £6-2-0 by
false
pretences;
(c) obtaining a sum of £10-0-0 by false
pretences;
(d) obtaining a sum of £7-15-4 by false
pretences;
(e) receiving certain goods to the value of
£45-0-0 by false pretences;
(f)
receiving a sum of £314-0-0 by means
of a forged cheque; by uttering same
with intent to defraud and obtaining a
sum of £285-0-0 therefrom.
The solicitor inspected the charge sheets and
took particulars thereof. The defendant was
in custody and
the solicitor wrote
to
the
Governor of the prison and told him to ac
quaint the defendant of the solicitor's ap
pointment. The
solicitor
attended Court
where he interviewed the defendant for 1£
hours before
the hearing, which was ad
journed, no evidence being taken and the de
fendant was remanded in custody.
As a result of the defendant's instructions the
solicitor wrote to certain English solicitors
concerning funds which the client alleged he
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