It is worthwhile looking at the profile of member firms in the SMDF. This is set out in the 2009 Annual report of SMDF, seen HERE.
A little more than one third were sole practitioners. The majority were mid-range firms. These firms have a stability, a solidity to them. They are profitable.
They are the firms failing to bailout their fund, the SMDF.
According to their spokesman;
“The chances of SMDF members voluntarily contributing to a bailout are “very slim””
Instead, they have decided to off-load the burden of the bailout on their fellow solicitors in the Law Society.
Furthermore they have captured the Council of the Law Society and are using the resources of the Law Society to promote their personal interests.
They have no interest in justifying the proposed SMDF bailout by reference to statute. Even it they did, they would have a problem; there is no statutory power in the Law Society to levy a bailout of the SMDF on Law Society members.