The Gazette 1979

GAZETTE

JULY-AUGUST

1979

connection with office administration. He may have small suggestions to make which if implemented might make your office more efficient in some way. At least have an open mind. Finally, for the practitioner whose work is in arrears and who needs some radical changes, try and engage the services of an assistant who stands some chance of making inroads into the backlog. This, of course, is a real problem for Solicitors outside Dublin who at best seem able to recruit people with only up to a year's experience. And if you take on someone who is not very experienced, then give him every assistance you can.

conscientious beginner and I have known one or two cases in which improvement and increasing competence have actually been stifled partly as a result of a fear of appearing foolish with questions and partly as a result of anticipating the "you're being paid good money to act without plaguing me with problems" response. There are some other smaller but none the less irritating thorns in the sides of young Solicitors. For instance it can be quite agitating never to see a client. I think we all have a natural tendency and desire to a greater or lesser extent to project one's own image and Personality and to stamp one's mark on the Solicitor client relationship. Interviewing can be difficult and indeed for the inexperienced a time wasting experience. Never the less it does not take long to learn the essential information to be elicited in each case and once the technique is mastered it is very satisfying principally because of the personal contact and the satisfaction gained out of seeing a case conceived, living, and hopefully stone dead as quickly as possible. Another difficulty is frequently encountered particularly, I think, by younger lady assistants in rural offices and that is what could be described as total non-acceptance on the Part of clients who cannot accept that this "pretty slip of a lass" is actually a Solicitor. The problem is certainly not solved by the principal deflecting such clients to himself and this indeed can be a major blow to the assistants morale. A possible criticism that could be made of younger Solicitors in general is that for a couple of years after qualifying they slip from office to office parasitically draining the knowledge and experience of the professions more senior members, ultimately for the purpose of establishing practice in opposition to the very ones by whom they were tutored. Some of you may have had the frustrating experience of taking on a young Solicitor and going to considerable trouble in showing him the ropes in the office only to find that he had handed in his notice within a year. The reasons for his handing in his notice so quickly may be many and varied and indeed may stem largely from the problems I have already discussed. In the rather chaotic aftermath of such a desertion some Solicitors will, not unreasonably, require their next assist- ant to make a commitment to stay for a period of two or fhree years, at least. There are still some firms, however, ln which little or no value is placed in staff continuity at any level and bearing this in mind I would like to con- clude on a positive note by pointing out some of the steps that can be taken to give young Solicitors a better deal thereby inducing them to remain for a reasonable length °r, indeed, permanently. First, put him in a fair sized presentable room into which he will not be ashamed to bring clients or colleagues. Practical comfort with knee-deep pile carpeting ls not necessary; simply provide a desk and some drawers, a telephone and a dictaphone. Secondly, when you have decided after some weeks of "probation" that he has the potential to make a good Solicitor, pay him decently. It is difficult to decide what is "decent" but £60 a week "take home pay" seems to me to be the minimum a cceptable starting wage in these expensive times. This m a y appear costly at first but it pays dividends later Particularly if the assistant is given scope for the use of his °wn initiative in improving his own level of efficiency and that of the office as a whole. Thirdly, listen to his ideas in

INDUSTRIAL CREDIT CORPORATION SCHOLARSHIP Mr. Frank Casey, Director and General Manager of the Industrial Credit Corporation, presenting a cheque for £1,000 to Professor Richard Woulfe, the I.C.C.'s scholarship awarded to a student on the first Professional Course in the Society's Law School. Pictured above are from left, Mr. Frank Casey, I.C.C., Mr. Gerald Hickey, President of the Society and Professor Richard Woulfe, Director of Education. R. W. RADLEY M.Sc., C.Chem., M.R.I.C. HANDWRITING AND DOCUMENT EXAMINER 220, Elgar Road, Reading, Berkshire, England. Telephone (0734) 81977 Independent Actuarial Advice regarding Interests in Settled Property and Claims for Damages BACON & WOODROW

Consulting Actuaries 58 Fitzwilliam Square Dublin 2 (Telephone 762031)

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