The Gazette 1992

GAZETTE

DECEMBER 1992

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One Profession Quality issue dominates Conference of England and Wales Law Society

What the clients want T h e UK Legal Om b u d s m a n, Michael Barnes, w h o was a p p o i n t ed u n d er the C o u r ts a nd Legal Services Act, 1990 to consider c omp l a i n ts a b o ut barristers, solicitors a n d licensed conveyancers said t h at inefficiency was the mo st c o mm o n charge levelled against lawyers. He said he was receiving grievances at the rate of 1,500 a year. Ap p r o x ima t e ly 750 of these were taken u p a nd in two thirds of the cases, the c omp l a i n ts centred a r o u nd a charge of inefficiency. Mr. Barnes said clients wanted i n f o r ma t i on f r om lawyers on how the work being d o ne for t h em was progressing, regular reviews of their cases, a nd the active involvement of the practitioner. They also wa n t ed to k n ow exactly where they s t ood on costs. Simply q u o t i ng h o u r ly rates to clients was not g o od e n o u g h. "You c a n n ot a nd mu st not leave the client to d o the a r i t hme t i c ," he told the conference. • Just as the dispute on criminal legal aid fees in Ireland was e n d i n g, the UK Lord Chancellor, Lord Mackay, told the Co n f e r e n ce of the Law Society of En g l a nd a nd Wales t h at legal aid could not c o n t i n ue to take an ever increasing share of public expenditure. T h e Lord Ch a n c e l l or said t h at s p e n d i ng on the legal aid services in the UK would exceed £1 billion d u r i ng this financial year, a nd If the current trends c o n t i n u e d, it would be n e a r i ng £2 billion by the mi d d le of the decade. T h e Lord Ch a n c e l l or p r o p o s ed t h at p e op le s h o u ld have to pay towards the cost of their legal help in as far as they c o u ld reasonably a f f o rd to. He said t h at it was also clear to h im t h at controls over the grant of 409 Legal Aid Changes Inevitable - Lord Chancellor

c o n d u ct rules". Mr. Sh e l d on expressed his c o n c e rn t h at " if we d o not take action s o o n, ou t s i de bodies will take this task into their own h a n d s, a process which could indeed leave us f r a gme n t ed a nd d i v i d e d ." •

Tackling the cost of default

At the Conference it emerged that there were differing views in the profession in England a nd Wales about how the cost of default should be tackled. The Law Society of England a nd Wales began a consultative process of its members last July when it circulated a Consultation Paper to members. By the time of the conference, some 1,400 responses h ad been received, 890 of which came f r om sole practitioners. It emerged that the majority of sole practitioners was against most of the fraud prevention measures suggested in the paper by the Law Society while the rest of the profession saw merits in them. The He ad of Commu n i c a t i o ns of the Law Society of England a nd Wales, Walter Merrick, suggested that many sole practitioners might have responded the way they did because they h ad interpreted the Consultation Paper as some sort of witchhunt against them. An overwhelming majority of sole practitioners had answered 'yes' to the key question asking whether sole practice should be allowed to continue in its present f o rm without restriction. Overall, the ma j o r i ty of r e s p o n d e n ts including sole practitioners favoured c a p p i ng the C omp e n s a t i on F u nd for claims by institutions, while the b a l a n ce of the profession a p p e a r ed to be against a c ap on private claims. In general, said Mr. Me r r i c k, the inconclusive o u t c ome of the c o n s u l t a t i on me a nt t h at the Law Society of E n g l a nd a n d Wales was facing s ome difficult decisions in the c om i ng mo n t h s. •

Mark Sheldon, President, Law Society, England and Wales. T h e issue of quality was to the fore at the An n u al Co n f e r e n ce of the Law Society of E n g l a nd a nd Wales held in B i r m i n g h am at the e nd of Oc t o b er which h a d as its t h eme " O n e P r o f e s s i o n ". Addressing delegates, the President of the Society, Mark Sheldon, said " m y t h eme of o ne profession is clearly no cover for tolerating t h o se w h o let us d own. Solicitors w h o d e f a u lt are the extreme examples," he said. " T h o s e w h o give rise to repeated negligence claims or wh o se t r e a tme nt of clients leads to repeated c omp l a i n ts let us d own as well. They tarnish o ur r e p u t a t i on a nd they cost us d e a r ." " We have stark choices a h e ad of us," said Mark Sheldon. " We can either h o pe t h at t ho se w h o let us d own will, u n d er pressure f r om the ma r k e t, me nd or b e nd - improve or leave practice, b ut they may cost us a lot a l o ng the way. Or we can ourselves set s t a n d a r ds of quality by which it wo u ld be r e a s o n a b le to allow clients to j u d ge the s t a n d a rd of wo rk they s h o u ld be entitled to expect. P u t t h at way - there really

is n o choice. T h e role of a professional b o dy in setting

s t a n d a r ds can n o longer simply be c o n f i n ed to the d e f i n i t i on of ethical