KING'S COUNSEL.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1931, 13 December 1913, Page 10

KING'S COUNSEL.

DISSATISFIED CRITICS. STATEMENT BY HON A. L. HEUUMAN. Strong dissatisfaction with the conditions under wliicli King's Counsel arc sit, present allowed to practise in New /calami was expressed iu the House of Representatives yesterday by Mr. A. Ji. i-Lindiuarsh, J1.1'., when the Law i'ruetitioiiers Anicndnicnt Hill was under ili.wnssioii. "A good flea! of dissatisfaction," lie said, "exists amongst lawyer:; as to the way the King's Counsel follow the oliice that they have accepted. . A very large mvetitig of the le;.;a! profession in Wellington some time ago expressed this dissatisfaction by ail overwhelming majority." He had intended, he added, to bring down ajKill abolishing tho office of King's Counsel, and this .Bill was discussc-d by the'; meeting and supported by the largo majority. Ho had not gone oil with the Bill, although he very much wanted to raise the question. In England King's Counsel occupied a very different position to what obtained in A'ew Zealand. There the counsel was imported into an.action at the last moment, the work being done by the ordinary counsel. The imported counsel was designed to give real assistance before the Courts. But in New. Zealand the person imported into the case was a junior, who was only brought in by the K.C. for the sake of conforming to, the custom. This practice increased the cost to the public. ' The real work, the whole work, was done by the K.C. _ Tinkering Reslrlatlans, ; "Wc. don't want any erf these tinkering restrictions in /Vow Zealand," declared . Air. Himimarsh. Me could hardly understand, lie continued, how tins system was brought down in New Zealand and the K.C.'s created. The country "was for many years without them, and there was no demand for thorn. The legal profession was not consulted about it, and it was an innovation that was siot required, and was objected to by tlso majority of the working lawyers of the Dominion. Their appointment in a small democratic country like this was unnecessary. Wc did not want any more patronage put into the hand's of Ministers nor any more log-rolling. The cost of litigation to the public was increased. As the professions were amalgamated in Now Zealand the conditions were en-tirely-different from England. It was an absolute nuisance'' to the public here, and the K.C.'s in many cases failed to discharge the olfinc.'that they wero supposed to fill, _ Ho had known K.C.'s give briefs to juniors in another K.C.'s office, who had then reeiprocatcd. This was simply a scandal. A Mistatwn System. Mr. W. H. I). Bell (Wellington Suburbs) said that he thought a niistaKe had boon made in introducing tlie K.C. . system in New Zealand at ail, although he, personally, spoke with a certain amount of interest the other way. At present K.C.'s had the right to as solicitors and as K.C.'s. , Mr. M'Callnm raid that Parliament iiad. never been consulte-d at all in connection with the appointment of K.C.'s. Mr. Bell snid that if future K.C.'s were debarred from practising as solicitors it. wnnkl. give the present K.C.'s a. monopoly, ivhieli was not right;' As to another remark made by Mr.' Hindmarsh, Mr. Bell 'said that he was a' junior in a firm of which the head was a K.C., and had only received three briefs in the manner indicated. The usual: practice of 'K.Ci's - was to employ young and struggling lawyers ns their juniors. He considered that, tlso K.C.- system was wrong, hut didjint see how it was to ho altered without-eiUior doing an injustice to the present.K.C.'s, or giving them a monopoly, ■ '

Nat Responsible. The Hon. A. I;. Rerdman ssiil that the present Government was not responsible crcatins; Iv.C.'s in New £oalnnd. Thoy had found the institution in existence, and he ((id not propose to dismiss the mattoi- at all. A deputation of-barristers'had waited upon him to complain that King's Couusbl.rna.dp it prnetico of employing junior counsol merely as a matter of form, and not in order to enable - them to take actual part in the litigation. He understood that a. circular letter drafted by n K.C. in Dunodiu was going 'through New Zealand in reply to what lso (the Minister) had said to the deputation. Ho was fully alive to the lieeessity 'of making King's• Counsel realise .that thoy were the protectors of Hki profession, and .that-therefore they should not employ juniors as a matter of form, hut should really permit-.juniors to take some active and genuine part in litigation.