The Gazette 1975

with (1) the law affecting Trusts and Trust Property, (2) new legislation relating to Superannuation which appears to be an extension of the superannuation wel- fare schemes which exist in this country; (3) Court Structures; (4) Matrimonial Cases; and (5) Legal Aid and Law Reform Procedures. Intended Seminars will deal with Public Relations, Methods of fixing Costs, Practical post Graduate Training, Partners Protection Insurance and Professional Indemnity Insurance. Lawyers in New Zealand volunteer for and accept appointment to various Committees to consider legis- lation which is about to be introduced and have also become involved in a Consumer Rights campaign. The Society is actively engaged in the work of the Inter- national Bar Association, with particular reference to Town and Country Planning. Statistics of Earnings Statistics relating to the Legal Profession appear to be readily available and it is interesting to note that self employed lawyers earn considerably more than self employed doctors, dentists and public accountants in 1973/74. The average income of lawyers was £12,350 in that year and was more than £1,200 higher than that of doctors. Seventy five per cent of Practis- ing Certificates are held by self employed practitioners and the Table underneath is of interest. The appro- priate exchange rate is approximately 170 New Zea- land dollers to £100 sterling. Medical practitioners 12,700 14,450 16,100 18,900 Dental " 9,400 10,750 12,200 14,300 Legal " 11,950 14,000 17,000 21,000 Public accountants 8,600 9,800 10,950 12,200 Legal Aid and Public Relations The profession is very concerned about its public image and a Public Relations Committee has issued certain pamphlets "to the public on the lines of those ^ i c h we have issued in recent times. Their schemes of Legal Aid are far more advanced than our sole scheme relating to Criminal Legal Aid. The nett points of interest arising and perhaps worthy of consideration in relation to our Society at some future date were: (a) The closed Conference session which opened up a general discussion on many matters, but was simp- ly a Discussion Forum at which no decisions or resolut- ions were adopted, but was in the nature of informing the Council of the general feeling, attitude and mind of the profession. (b) .The powers imposed in the New Zealand Law Society and particularly in the District Societies; the fact that the District Societies have a statutory standing and statutory functions to perform and whether this could be operated in our Society on a provincial or grouped County basis. .286 Average incomes of self-employed persons. 1970- 71 1971- 72 $ 1972- 73 1973- 74

law fully either in offices or Court. The end result is that most offices contain practitioners who are both Barristers and Solicitors but in essence some tend to specialise in Court work, and others in the type of work which ordinarily is carried out by a solicitor in this country. Oddly enough there is still statutory provis- ion for the appointment of Queen's Counsel, and there are some Queen's Counsel. Queen's Counsel are not permitted to operate in or from an office but practice as Senior Counsel from a Law Library. While there is no limitation on a Solicitor or Barrister as to the range of the work which either can carry out, it nonetheless appears that in the larger offices those qualified as Bar- risters tend to carry out the Court work, while those qualified as Solicitors tend to deal with solicitor's tra- ditional work. There are many one man practices where the practitioner is ordinarily qualified as a Bar- rister and as a Solicitor. Qualifications for Admission Ordinarily a person will be admitted both as a Bar- rister and as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of New Zealand if he holds the LL.B. Degree of a University in New Zealand, and has also passed or obtained credits in the subjects prescribed by the Council of Legal Education. New Zealand has six Universities of which four only are Examining Bodies for admis- sion to the legal profession. The Universities offer an LL.B. Degree and provide teaching and conduct exam- inations in 23 subjects. While the LL.B. courses offered at the universities differ in detail, they are all designed so that an LL.B. candidate can, if he wishes, follow a Degree under which he completes 17 of the 23 subjects required for the profes- sional examinations, namely, those carried out under the Law Regulations of 1966. Having obtained an LL.B. Degree, the candidate must then sit for and pass further examinations in law and practice before being admitted. There is an important statutory pro- vision in the Law Practitioners' Act which prohibits any person from commencing practice as a Solicitor on His own account, whether in partnership or otherwise, unless he has at least 3 years' legal experience in the office of a Barrister or a firm of Solicitors in actice practice or in the legal branch of a Government De- partment. The Society also operate a Compensation Fund un- der Statutory Regulations, and have recently intro- duced a Superannuation Scheme. The Society's views on Legislation Much interest was shown in our approach to new legislation and the fact that we have been making pub- lic comment on new legislation, particularly in relation to taxation. New Zealand lawyers have not yet reached the stage where they have made public comment, but they have in recent times made representations to the Government in relation to financial legislation which is being introduced. They are not at all happy about the inroads which taxation legislation has made into the confidential relationship existing between a lawyer and his client. Recent Seminars arranged by the Society have dealt