The Gazette 1967/71

tise the whole ambit of the law, it seems doubtful if they will be able to attract substantial business. A few such solicitors may exist but they will be men of exceptional character and ability. It is wrong to suggest that a specialist partner in a large firm will fail to enjoy a close and confi dential relationship with his client and will be unable to act as a general adviser and assister in the making of decisions. Of course, he will be able to fulfil these functions if he is a man of common sense and personality. If he is able to command respect as a person he will have just as useful a relationship with his client as did the man of bus: ness. Is it ever suggested that a char tered accountant does not enjoy a close relation ship with his clients? And if he is able to com mand respect it follows that he will be able to help out his client with general business and personal advice with his normal specialist function. Clearly the large firm described in the foregoing paragraphs will not exist in the country districts. The "Man of Business" type of solicitor may sur vive in these areas longer than in others, but it is possible that even in the country districts he will disappear, eventually being replaced by an asso ciate partner or partner of one of the larger firms. It may become possible for groups of solicitors to form limited companies, and one can visualise country solicitors as shareholders in these larger firms referring their more specialised problems to headquarters and making use of the equipment and resources which they, in the rural area, could never afford. There will be other groups of solici tors, such as those in local government; and al though there is a possibility that the town clerks and county clerks may eventually be replaced by "town" and "county managing directors", never theless it is clear that, with the increasing com plexity of legislation, each administrative area will require a large staff of qualified solicitors. To achieve the necessary economics of scale, these solicitors will also organise themselves in groups, thus achieving the special : sation which we have already talked of. Similarly the nationalised indus tries and the large corporations have set up and will expand their own legal departments. The large corporations will get larger and their legal departments, again highly specialised, will deal with all but the most exceptional of the company's problems. Here is yet another sphere in which the work available for the private practitioner will diminish. [This paper ;uas delivered at the Law Society of Scotland's Study Weekend at St. Andrew's, 22nd-23rd June 1968, and it is published by the 92

law from a lawyer, and his specialised accountancy from an accountant. No longer does he seem to require a single confidential relationship with his man of business. It is accepted that the "Man of Business" relationship is still found in the country districts. How then will lawyers be organised in the future? It seems clear that in the cities and major towns there will be large legal offices with twenty, thirty or more partners and possibly an equal number of associate partners or trainee solicitors. There will, of course, be the appropriate number of secretaries and typists, but such non-qualified staff as presently assist in many large offices may disappear. Some of the work may be done by retired people. Staff may well be organised on a shift basis to allow for a four-day week. Within these very large offices there will be a high degree of specialisation. Clients will be attracted to the firm partly because of the respect which each individual partner commands in his own sphere of specialisation and partly because the firm itself will command respect because of the high degree of efficiency which it can offer. It may be that the present scale of fees will have to be adjusted so that specialisation will be encouraged, allowing only mass volume work producing a high-grade product at a relatively low cost to be undertaken. Such vast law firms would be able to afford very expensive mechanical aids. Through time, they will own their own computers and, if they do not, they will certainly "hire time" on available com puters. To thrive, such large firms will have aggres sive, imaginative and forward-looking policies. Efficiency will be at a premium. At present some of the larger firms have attemp ted to specialise. Certainly the staff in such offices have specialist functions. Is it not wise for those who have found specialisation difficult to require individual partners to concentrate their reading of case law and journals on certain subjects? Such a plan would gradually lead to a degree of special isation and, once started, the trend would be for junior partners to be assumed because of their skill in a particular technique. As the vast chain stores have not ousted the boutique, neither will such vast law offices oust the specialist sole practitioner. He may well choose to concentrate on one particular area of law. He may be a pleader; alternatively he may concen trate on international law; on taxation; on plan ning; and he may prefer to do so on his own or in the company of one or two others rather than as a partner in a massive organisation. If such lawyers are not specialists and if they endeavour to prac­