The Law Society president plans to step down at the end of his term next month, partly due to the burden the post places on his own practice.
Herbert Tsoi Hak-kong has also proposed members raise money, up to $100,000 a month, to allow future chiefs to appoint a junior solicitor to help them in their own legal work.
'I spend 30 per cent of my time at the office doing Law Society work, not to mention time spent at the Law Society and in cocktail parties and other obligations as president,' said Mr Tsoi, who has been in the post for two years.
'My partners are definitely suffering because I am spending time without getting costs, and my clients are suffering because I cannot do their work as promptly as I otherwise could.'
Mr Tsoi said Law Society council members were receptive to the proposals, but some questioned whether the economic slump made this a bad time to raise the issue.
But Mr Tsoi noted that even a stipend of $50,000 a month would cost the society's 5,000 members only $10 each, and would not mean a fee increase.
'The idea is that some sort of compensation be put in place to allow the firm to employ a junior solicitor of several years' standing to pre-digest material the president can then sign off on, and do a lot of the basic drafting,' he said.
