The Gazette 1975

The Incorporated Law Society of Northern Ireland

the Accountant it will only be necessary for the Ac- countant to indicate to Professor Bates that he is for- warding the questionnaire on behalf of an unnamed Solicitor or firm of Solicitors. In regard to the fixed fees pertaining to High Court Litigation new Rules of Court have recently been en- acted and will come into operation in the middle of September providing for a 35% increase. This is sim- ilar to the increase granted in England and Wales a few months ago. Having regard to the time which has elapsed since these fees were last revised this increase is not regarded as adequate but nonetheless it is the most that can be obtained within the terms of pres- ent government policy. 2. Monopolies Commission Th e investigation by the Monopolies Commission of the restrictions on advertising by the legal profession in Scotland and in England and Wales does not ex- tend to Northern Ireland. Nonetheless the Society has, at the request of the Commission, given an undertak- ing that the Society will have due regard to the find- ings of the Commission and will reconsider, in the light of the Commission's findings, the Society's own Regulations. 3. Legal Education The report of the Committee on Legal Education in Northern Ireland which was presented to Parliament in September 1973 recommended that the system whereby intending Solicitors served a period of three years under Indentures of Apprenticeship should be abandoned and that both Barristers and Solicitors should acquire their academic knowledge at universities and thereafter should undergo a one year full time course of vocational training at a new Institute of Legal Education which would form part of the Queen's University of Belfast. A Working Party, representing the University, the Barristers profession and the Society has been making arrangements for such a revised system of education to be introduced and considerable progress has been made. It is currently envisaged that the new Institute of Legal Education will be established and commence operation in September 1976. 4. Solicitors' (NX) Order 1975 New legislation pertaining to the government of the Solicitors' profession in Northern Ireland has been pending since May 1971 but owing to the changes in legislative arrangements pertaining to Northern Ireland which have occurred over the last few years this legislation has not yet been enacted. However it is presently understood that the legislation will be laid before Parliament at the beginning of 'the next ses- .233

The more important developments which have taken place in Northern Ireland in relation to the Solicitors' Branch of the legal profession are summarised below. 1. Remuneration Th e Remuneration of Northern Ireland Solicitors in conveyancing matters is mainly regulated by ad val- orem scales. In the lower Courts remuneration of both Barristers and Solicitors is likewise regulated by scales. Th e remuneration of Solicitors in connection with proceedings in the High Court and in connection with the Administration of Estates is regulated partly by fixed fees but predominantly by discretionary fees in the assessment of which regard has to be had to a number of specified factors. Where scales are used they are on ad valorem basis relating to the value of the property being transferred or which is the subject matter of the legal proceedings or claim. The Society has become concerned at the ever in- creasing cost of the overheads of running a Solicitors practice but has recognised that the revision of the ad valorem scales is complicated by the fact that the values of property and goods have also risen as a result of in- flation. Accordingly the Society has commissioned Professor J. A. Bates, Head of the Department of Business Studies of the Queen's University of Belfast t o conduct a sur- vey of Solicitors' remuneration. This survey will com- prise two exercises. The first exercise will be to consider the effect over the last few years on Solicitors' remuneration, where it is governed by ad valorem scales, of the fall in the value of money and the rise in the value of property and goods. The second exercise will comprise a study of the effect over-the same period of the remuneration, profit margins and real income of Solicitors from all sources. A questionnaire, the completion of which it is felt is not unduly onerous, has now been issued to all mem- bers of the Society. In commissioning this survey and formulating the questionnaire it was recognised that the major obstacle to obtaining a satisfactory response with the traditional reluctance of the legal profession to disclose, to any- one other than their Accountant or the Inland Revenue their actual profits or income. T o endeavour to overcome this obstacle Professor Bates has given an undertaking that the confidential information incorporated in the replies to the question- naire will be maintained by him in the strictest con- fidence and not made available to any assistant or stored on a computer and that it will be destroyed when the survey has been completed. It has been arranged that the questionnaires may be returned to Professor Bates either by the Solicitor concerned or by his Accountant. If the questionnaire is returned by