C21 Solicitors

The reported fall into administration, of one of the oldest City solicitors' firms, is to me at least as a retired solicitor in many ways sad.

The fact that so many men and women are now qualifying as  solicitors and barristers, in my view leads to very long hours of work, which for some though, is mirrored by the salaries paid. 

In 1974 (when I qualified) there were some 30,000 to 40,000 solicitors whereas the figure today is almost 160,000. No wonder competition in the twenty first century is so enormous, especially when lawyers from the USA and American legal firms which pay huge salaries and give far fewer holidays than their English contemporaries, are added to the mix. 

Furthermore, probably because of  the explosion in lawyer numbers,  specialising in one legal topic or another is virtually necessary today, with those firms taking on all legal work ranging from say criminal to employment, essentially being a tiny minority if such exist at all. 

My novel, see below right, about a trainee solicitor in a village practice and a trainee in a  Stroud firm which has a City office and who  meet each other at the Employment Appeal Tribunal in London, perhaps illustrates some of the differences. 

My younger brother has just written his first book entitled:

"Kill the Coder with the Lowest Score", for which he is due to to hold a lunch-time selling session at the Bread and Roses pub in Clapham on Saturday 22nd April from about 12:30pm. He has kindly invited me to bring some of my own works to sell at the same time. He is providing some free lunch and drinks so the session should be worth attending.

The pub, which we have attended previously, then   on a very sad occasion, is a  socialist workers' pub  see Bread and Roses.

So do come, even if only for the free food and drink.