Am going to pose a question today, and then answer it later on in the week.
Once we move to care proceedings concluding in 26 weeks, with the new PLO, how many care cases would a lawyer doing NOTHING but care cases for parents, and not doing the advocacy on the cases themself, have to hold in a year, in order to make minimum wage?
What about if they wanted to earn the national average wage?
Is there a viable economic future for care lawyers who don’t do their own advocacy? How full does their filing cabinet have to be to make that work?
“these ladies aren’t starving to death. They make minimum wage. You know, I used to work minimum wage and when I did I wasn’t lucky enough to have a job the society deemed tipworthy.” – Mr Pink
suesspiciousminds 
This is just a displacement activity; however, I give it a go.
National average wage £26500
So working on 40% salary, 40% overheads and 20% profit (though this may be a bit high)
This would require £66250 in fees and at the current fixed fee for one parent of £2556 this would require 26 (rounded up) cases a year.
Using the last full year figures from CAFCASS (2011-12) for care case of 10245, this means that the county would only require 394.04 solicitors to cover one party, so say times three (Mum, Dad & Kids) the country would only need 1182.11 (or 1183 if one of them job shares) public funding care solicitors.
For minimum wage the figures are
Minimum wage £13124.80 pa (based on new hourly rates from October 2013)
This would require £32812 in fees and at the current fixed fee for one parent of £2556 this would require 13 (rounded up) cases a year.
Using the last full year figures from CAFCASS (2011-12) for care case of 10245, this means that the county would only require 788 solicitors to cover one party, so say times three (Mum, Dad & Kids) the country would only need 2364.23 (or 2365 if one of them job shares) public funding care solicitors.
Now back to work.
Spot on! (Most firms go 1/3rd wages, 1/3rd overheads, 1/3rd for the partners, but the numbers aren’t much different)