providing corporate administrative services.

Existing clients are being told that the basic minimum fee for local companies will rise by $200, from $900 per annum to $1,100 per annum.

Corporate administrative services include the provision of a registered office, a company secretary to look after the day-to-day needs of the company under the supervision of one or more attorneys within the office, including the statutory filings that have to be made.

The company secretary sends out notices of meetings and attends the company's board meetings and takes minutes. That company secretary would also be available for attendance at the company's board meetings.

Senior partner at AS&K, Mr. John Campbell, said that standard minimum fees were reviewed every two or three years to see if it was appropriate that they be adjusted.

He said, "We are asking our client companies to accept an across the board increase for those that fall into that standard minimum category. But the order of the increase is less than 10 percent.

"It is business as usual, and nothing out of the ordinary. This is something that we review every two or three years. Our clients have come to expect this sort of pattern of review, and what is a relatively modest increase. That is on the exempted side.'' Mr. Campbell said that the local companies were on a different fee structure.

He said, "There is nothing at all unusual about what is happening here. I would imagine that any law firm, or other professional service provider from time to time, looks at their fee levels to see whether they are appropriate to the service they provided.'' Mr. Campbell said that the firm would like to think that their fees were competitive with those charged by other firms on the Island.

The increases are in effect for new incorporations now, although for existing clients the new rate comes into effect on January 1.

"By the time that we actually get to January 1, 1996, it will have been a fair passage of time since the last increase.'' Mr. Campbell said that his firm tried to be as fair and reasonable as possible to clients and he did not believe that the $200 increase for local companies over the relevant period of time was high.

He said, "I don't think it is steep, because for many of these clients, in fact, the cost of providing the corporate administrative services is significantly in excess of that $900.'' Mr. Campbell said that the time spent on corporate administration on the average company was significantly in excess of the basic fee and many companies would be spending more than the standard minimum.