BEFORE reading - English "public" schools are really _private_, fee-paying schools
  for the elite.

  The older ones were intitially founded "for children of the public" - hence the name,
  but all such ethics get corrupted with time, especially in England.

  Here's a ref. from - the 'Book of Common Prayer' - which, unusually, felt worth
  quoting -

  "there was never any thing by the wit of man so well devised, or so sure established,
   which in continuance of time hath not been corrupted"

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  Oxbridge recruits dominate law firms 
  By Robert Verkaik, Legal Affairs Correspondent 

  15 July 2000

  Leading law firms are perpetuating the dominance of public school, Oxbridge-educated
  men among their senior lawyers, according to a survey published today. 

  Half of this year's new partners, recruited or promoted by the so-called "magic circle"
  of the five biggest London-based firms, come from public schools, while almost the same
  proportion have been to Cambridge or Oxford University. 

  Perhaps more startling is the fact that only 25 per cent are women and only 8 per cent
  are Asian or Afro-Caribbean. 

  The authors of the report, published by the magazine Commercial Lawyer, found that
  élitism was "unsurprisingly" alive and well among the City law firms. It said that
  not a single new partner made up this year by the top five firms came from one of
  the former polytechnics. 

  The report states: "You still have a better chance of being made a partner if you had
  a private education. The odds are stacked against you in the legal profession if you
  went to a state school. If you went to an ex-polytechnic, you can forget the magic circle." 

  The report brands one firm of lawyers "unabashed élitists" for its choice of partners.
  Among new appointments at Wragge & Co, a top 50 commercial law firm, just 17 per cent
  were women, and two-thirds came from public school. 

  A partnership in a leading London practice is the start of a ladder of earnings that
  can reach £1m in the very top firms. Even in their first year as a partner in the City,
  high fivefigure salaries can double overnight. The report says the magic circle firms
  expected new partners to have been billing clients at the rate of 2,129 hours a year,
  the equivalent of 56 hours a week with four weeks' leave. 

  From the "Independent", an English broadsheet. 

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  "Perceptions" note:

  Knowing that most senior lawyers (and therefore judges) are products of "Oxbridge"
  should not surprise anyone who has seen the levels of incompetence and corruption
  (& pedophilia) existing in English law courts and coroners courts.

  "http://www.perceptions.couk.com/laworjustice.html"
  "http://www.perceptions.couk.com/Answers.html"   

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              FURTHER REFERENCES

  GO - "search perceptions" - in SEARCH-ENGINE


file-ID www.perceptions.couk.com/elitelaw.txt