XN000022-1996-02-01 — Page 23

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Mr Mathews suggested that it was these events, not the abolition of scales fees, that was "the biggest disaster to hit the legal profession in the last two decades", to quote Mr Sayer.

He noted that the English Law Society's special working party on conveyancing services had made a number of findings, including the conclusion that compulsory and recommended fees scales would be unworkable and ineffective.

These were not the conclusions of those who "do not understand the conveyancing procedure or are blind to reality", but of members of the English Law Society's own special working party on conveyancing, he said.

Mr Mathews also pointed out that the English Law Society was anxious to overcome the problems that had arisen in respect of conveyancing, but was not proposing to reintroduce mandatory scale fees.

This was understandable, he said, given that the society's special working party on conveyancing stated that: "We have been advised that any scale of fees (whether compulsory or recommended) would be impossible to justify in the public interest in any (Monopolies and Mergers Commission) investigation."

It was misleading, Mr Mathews added, to refer to the abolition of scale fees as "the English experiment". Scale fees have been abolished not only in England, but also in New Zealand, Canada and most parts of Australia. That abolition was not "an experiment" but was a recognition of the fact that scale fees were anti-competitive and irrational, and could not guarantee the quality of conveyancing services, he said.

The following is the contents of the response by Mr Mathews:

Legal Fees for Conveyancing

Mr Robert Sayer's assumption that the problems referred to in his letter were caused by the abolition of scale fees is not supported by any empirical evidence.

Problems in England

Scale fees were abolished in England in 1973. Six years later the Royal Commission undertook a comprehensive study of conveyancing throughout the country. There is no reference in the report to any of the problems referred to by Mr Sayer.