Female solicitors now outnumber male solicitors in the Irish Republic. Photo / Thinkstock
Female solicitors now outnumber male solicitors in the Irish Republic. Photo / Thinkstock
Opinion by
Hard on the sporran of the Law Society of Scotland's decision to allow solicitors to register as "gender neutral" when renewing their practising certificates, there is news female solicitors now outnumber male solicitors in the Irish Republic.
Hailed as a major landmark in gender balance it is said to be a first in the world for any legal profession - and New Zealand lady lawyers are catching up fast.
At the close of 2014 - a mere 92 years after Mary Dorothea Heron became the first Irish woman admitted - Irish female practising solicitors outnumbered blokes by 4,623 to 4,609.
The Dublin-based Law Society of Ireland says women currently dominate the republic's senior appointments in law and justice.
Last year saw the appointment of the first female Garda (police) Commissioner, Noirin O'Sullivan, and the third female justice minister, Frances Fitzgerald.
Added to them are the first woman chief justice of the Supreme Court, Susan Denham; the first woman director of public prosecutions, Claire Loftus; the first woman chief state solicitor, Eileen Creedon and the first woman attorney general, Maire Whelan.
In New Zealand women make up about 47 per cent of the country's 12,450 lawyers - and rising about 1 per cent a year.
With more than 60 per cent of new lawyers each year women, NZ Law Society president Chris Moore expects women lawyers to be in the majority in three years.
Women make up 24 per cent of partners and directors in multi-lawyer firms, 15 per cent of Queen's Counsel and 29 per cent of judges.
Meanwhile, north of the border, Scottish lawyers reluctant to say what they are - or are not quite sure - will be recognised by the Law Society of Scotland as a "Mx" - pronounced Mix.
This, CaseLoad is told, is a gender neutral or gender queer formal pronoun, like Mr, Mrs, Ms or Dr.
Recognition of the gender neutral title Mx is in response to a request from the Scottish society's membership, and is said to recognise its growing use by government and other organisations in the UK.
"Saucy Mnx," said Our Man At The Bar, fumbling in his folds for a florin.
"Are you taking the Mxy?" said The Scunner.
Judge's pay stops when new job starts
Now that she's passed the job interview to head the UK child sex abuse inquiry, Justice Dame Lowell Patria Goddard (67) will leave New Zealand and live permanently in Britain for the expected four-year term of her appointment.
Justice Goddard will not continue to receive her $408,000 plus New Zealand judicial salary while attached to the inquiry, according to Attorney-General Chris Finlayson's spokeswoman Lucy Askew.
Justice Dame Lowell Patria Goddard will not continue to receive her $408,000 plus New Zealand judicial salary while attached to the UK child sex abuse inquiry. Photo / Ross Setford
Nothing was said about it, but presumably Her Honour will keep her gold-plated judicial pension and any entitlements such as unused sick pay, sabbatical, stress and bereavement leave.
UK Home Affairs select committee chairman Keith Vaz MP - who has nothing but praise for Her Honour - told CaseLoad he expects Justice Goddard to start work full time in early April, by which time her pay, terms and conditions of her employment and the membership of the inquiry panel, will be concluded.
The third woman to get the job - which some are unfairly likening to a poisoned chalice - after two false starts, Her Honour - whose short-lived 1969 marriage to Sir Walter John Scott, 5th Baronet of Beauclerc, produced a daughter in 1970 - can expect to be exceptionally well rewarded by the Brits.
"Lowell would be silly to settle for anything less than at least $2 million a year, a comfy all-found bed-sit in Knightsbridge, domestic staff, driver and a Gold Card to Ascot," said Our Man At The Bar, who is well-connected to the good life and knows about such things.
"After all, she's not there to make friends with toffs or wheedle into the Establishment, is she? A stab vest might also come in handy..."
"It kills off any chance of her becoming Chief Justice. She'll be too old..." said The Scunner.
All rise for His Honour judge guilty
If he does nothing else in his stellar judicial career, Justice Simon France will forever be known as "Judge Guilty" - after his calamitous c*ck up when addressing the jury at the opening of Mark Lundy's second trial for double murder.
If he does nothing else in his stellar judicial career, Justice Simon France will forever be known as "Judge Guilty". Photo / Mark Mitchell
His Honour referred to "Mr Guilty" when it is assumed he meant "Mr Lundy."
"But His Honour won't have his mind made up already, will he?" said The Scunner.
A High Court judge since 2005, his judge wife Ellen is President of the Court of Appeal.
Well known lawyer's troubles well known
Those in the Ladies & Escorts Lounge are sick to death hearing how a former senior judicial figure's son, who is in hot water with the Law Society over general bungling and having a bad attitude towards clients, is desperately trying to have his name permanently suppressed...
Knowing who the unpleasant fellow is, CaseLoad is surprised he hasn't been given a vigorous hot pokering long before now - and taken it on the chin like a man...
What are lawyers really worth?
Since CaseLoad disclosed on December 5 what Chief High Court Judge Helen Winkelmann had to say about civil lawyers needing to do more for less for cash-strapped clients, others have jumped on the band wagon.
Recently, famous Queen's Counsel Frances Joychild and Jim Farmer have been reading what Justice Winkelmann said in her Ethel Benjamin address. (Ethel Rebecca Benjamin, of Dunedin, was New Zealand's first female lawyer and was the first woman in the British Empire to appear as counsel in court.)
Justice Helen Winkelmann says civil lawyers need to do more for less for cash-strapped clients. Photo / Sarah Ivey
Justice Winkelmann saw a weakening in the civil justice sector of the exclusive and central role lawyers have played in court.
If it continues it will be not just to the detriment of the legal profession, but also to the detriment of civil justice in society, she said.
Unless there is better access to justice, Justice Winkelmann said, "we will live in a society where the strong will by any means, including violence, always win out against the weak."
Justice Winkelmann said that as a result of the rise in court fees there are indications that far from being viewed as a democratic institution, civil courts are "regarded as a luxury service for which users should pay."
She said lawyers should explore different pricing models including fixed price services and taking on more pro bono services - working free.
Ms Joychild advocates tapping into retired lawyers and judges who might be keen to help out with impecunious civil clients, for little or no fee.
She says many high earning barristers and lawyers may also feel they have earned enough to make unpaid contributions.
Among other solutions, she suggests part payment, with significantly reduced fees, conditional fee arrangements, more pro bono work, charitable donation rebates and other "fiscal incentives."
Jim Farmer says the judicial system has become too expensive for many, and as a result has seen significant increases in unrepresented litigants in court. Photo / NZME.
Chatting with CaseLoad, Jim Farmer says the judicial system has become too expensive for many, and as a result has seen significant increases in unrepresented litigants in court.
Following the money, Mr Farmer shares CaseLoad's view that Justice Winkelmann has her finger on the problem when she said:
"At the moment a 19th century model remains supreme. The lawyer is engaged and provides services from the commencement of the proceedings to the end, and on a time and attendance basis. There is no incentive for efficiency. The profession could explore different pricing models including fixed price services."
Mr Farmer favours a return to the costing philosophy of some 50 years ago - based on "swings and roundabouts" or "what will the case bear?"
"In other words, CaseLoad, the fee that was fixed should be commensurate to the amount at stake."
"A $100,000 claim should not bear a fee of more than $25,000."
"On the other hand a $100 million claim could rightly bear fees [$10 million? CaseLoad's italics] that were not determined according to an hourly rate but rather according to the amount at stake and the greater degree of complexity and hence work and skill required that such a case would typically require."
Lawyers paid well from such big dollar claims would be more than happy to take on cases cheaper and do more free work.
He says the hourly rate system discourages efficiency and hinders lawyers' ability to focus on the essential and cut corners where they should be cut.
As CaseLoad has previously said, an easy answer is for more lawyers to work for nothing.
Next Time
A peak beneath the wig - What judges really think about
