Law Society’s Gazette, December 1949 Notes of the monthWe regret to record the death, on October 30, of Mr G. E. Hawkins, who we believe was the oldest solicitor on the Roll. He was 100.

Admitted in 1871, Mr Hawkins practised in Birmingham from then until 1938, and subsequently in Bournemouth. He retired in 1947, having held seventy-five practising certificates. This is not, however, a record, as Mr F. S. Rix, who practised at Beccles and died in October, 1933, at the age of 96, had taken out seventy-six certificates.

The practising certificate register for the current year shows the names of three solicitors admitted in the 1870s.

Solicitors’ negligence insuranceFrom time to time one hears it whispered that a client has sued his solicitor for damages for negligence and that the action has been settled. Such rumours stimulate interest in several questions of long standing… Should solicitors effect Negligence Policies? Should the risk of defamation be included therein? And should The Law Society establish its own Insurance Fund to cover all members?

The first question must be answered very emphatically in the affirmative. No matter what may be the nature of any particular solicitor’s practice, whether it be highly specialised or wide ranging, the chances of the practitioner or of his staff falling into error to the detriment of the client are many and ever-present… From actual experience one could illustrate a great variety of claims, and imagination could not fortell (sic) a tithe of those which the future has in store for us. Nevertheless, experience alone is sufficient to demonstrate that those solicitors who still go uninsured are frolicking near a quicksand.

In our profession the risk of being hit for defamation is slight… The third question, relating to the establishment of a Law Society Insurance Fund, is more controversial… Our profession has not in the past shown any marked desire for united action even when such action promised conspicuous advantages… It is our strength and maybe also our weakness that we are for the most part rugged individualists with a penchant for ganging our ain gait and minding our own business. Accordingly we like to insure facultatively (sic), on our merits. We shall no doubt continue to do so. W. C. C.