You know the age old joke format ...
Question: How many (insert stereotyped group) does it take to (insert simple problem) ?
Answer: {Pick a surprisingly high number) of the stereotyped group, most of whom do nothing useful and one who does.
And, it’s tempting make up a few jokes like this about lawyers in strata title.
It’s actually unfair since lawyers play an important role in strata title because of the complex legal issues that often arise and the specialised knowledge they need to give useful advice.
So seriously how many strata lawyers do you think there are in NSW … 10, 25, 50, 100 or more ?
And, how many strata lawyers does NSW need … more, that number or less ?
I don’t know the answer to either question but can tell you that there are at least 20 law firms that specialise in strata title work and that there’s one l lawyer or more working at most of them.
So, maybe there’s 60 lawyers doing strata work in NSW and if they’re each working full time then together they are spending 72,000 billable hours on strata title matters each year. From a money perspective, if they are each charging an average of $275 per hour that’s total charges of $19.8 million annually for legal services in NSW (or more).
If you consider that the CTTT reports indicate that there are only about 1500 disputes there per year and there are no more than 50 reported cases in superior courts – that’s 25 strata disputes each and less than one superior court case each. That doesn’t seem enough work to keep a lawyer busy for a whole year so they must be doing other stuff.
On the other hand, if you think about the number of strata schemes or lots in NSW that’s one lawyer for every thousand strata schemes or one lawyer for every 10, o0o lots. And, that doesn’t seem enough to cover their (real) legal needs each year.
And, finally, it means that each strata scheme is (on average) spending $310 per per year or $35 per lot per year on lawyers. And, that sounds like a bargain.
So, who knows whether 60 lawyers in 20 law firms working for strata schemes and owners is enough, just right or too many. What do you think ?
Either way here’s the list of firms that I know of in NSW who call themselves strata lawyers (in alphabetical order).
Bob Browne – No website
Dobes & Andrews – No Website
McCooe Raves & Poole – no website
Suzie Broome & Company – No website
If you know of any law firms that I’ve missed please let me know so I can add them to this blog.
And, now to finish today’s blog I can’t resist an extract from a famous old play where two characters are discussing political strategies …
All: God save your majesty!
Cade: I thank you, good people—there shall be no money; all shall eat and drink on my score, and I will apparel them all in one livery, that they may agree like brothers, and worship me their lord.
Dick: The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.
Cade: Nay, that I mean to do.
Francesco ….
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