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REASONS FOR AND BASIS OF SUBMISSION
I hope it will be helpful if I set out first the present structure of my Chambers and the terms and conditions of counsel, then describe some of the manifestations of the present dangerous position, before describing the alterations both to the structure and the terms and conditions necessary in my opinion to cure the present problems. I appreciate structure is not within the terms of reference of the Ross Committee, but it is not possible to deal with the need for altered terms and conditions without referring to the need for a new structure.
Structure of Attorney General's Chambers
Terms and Conditions of Service of Crown Counsel
These are described in Appendix A for ease of reference.
The Present Position
Resulting in part from the matters described above, the following situation obtained in my Chambers during 1979:
(a) During 1979 my Chambers lost the services of 18 experienced counsel, of whom 5 (including one APCC) resigned mid-contract despite the attendant loss of gratuities etc.; and out of 19 Counsel invited to renew their contracts only 9 did so;
(b) in September (including both vacancies and long and compassionate leaves) there were only 5 draftsmen working out of an establishment of 12 in the Drafting Division; in April 1980 25% of the Drafting Division will be in their first four months of service, and 50% on their first tour; there are, in the opinion of the Law Draftsman and myself, only two draftsmen (apart from himself and his deputy) capable of undertaking the most demanding work (so that one man over the past few weeks has had to be responsible for drafting the Budget, Public Order Ordinance, Loan Sharks Ordinance, a revision of Companies Ordinance, as well as other less difficult work, plus the necessary routine checking of other draftsmen's work and he may in due course be lost to us as he has applied to become a District Court Judge where his salary would be increased by $4,400 per month);