was not making money for the firm, a Supreme Court judge was told yesterday.

Mr. Stephen Gibbons, former general manager for the law firm, said: "Mr.

Charles Vaucrosson was indeed prepared to give everybody a chance. I found him to be a very fair man in that respect. He did not necessarily want to put anybody out of work.

"The ultimate decision was based on the fact that Mr. Perinchief was not profitable. After his length of time he was still not making any money, in fact we were losing money based on his figures for that period.'' Mr. Gibbons said the firm's policy was that it expected new attorneys to reach a billing level of $200,000 between 18 months and two years after they began practising.

Mr. Perinchief began with the firm in July, 1987, but by July, 1989, he had not reached this level.

Mr. Perinchief has alleged he was wrongfully dismissed from the firm in 1990 with only one month's notice.

Mr. Perinchief, who now has his own law firm, is demanding five months salary from Mr. Vaucrosson. He insists that he should have been given six months notice.

Through lawyer Mr. Steven Hankey, the firm has alleged that Mr. Perinchief was often behind in his time sheets -- administrative work necessary for the firm to bill clients.

Yesterday, Mr. Gibbons said there were times when Mr. Perinchief's clients would contact the firm with queries as to their billings.

In those instances, he said he would be notified by Mrs. Alfreda Rochester, Mr. Perinchief's secretary.

Mr. Gibbons said he would review the file and advise the client he would get back to them with a response. He would then tell Mrs. Rochester to pass on the information to Mr. Perinchief.

Mrs. Rochester said that she would sometimes get backed up waiting for him to give her the information to complete the time sheets. And she agreed with Mr.

Hankey that if time sheets did not appear on progress reports sent to the accounts department, it made it difficult for them to render bills.

Mrs. Rochester also said that when she was away on maternity leave, Mr.

Perinchief's administrative work more or less ground to a halt although he was not the only lawyer late in submitting it.

Miss Tracey Kelly, one of Mr. Perinchief's temporary secretaries while Mrs.

Rochester was on maternity leave, said she had no legal experience when she was employed.

She said she trained with Mrs. Rochester for only a few days although she had expected to do more.

Mrs. Marilyn Boyles, formerly the company's personnel manager, said there were problems throughout the office with time sheets but that it was the lawyer's responsibility to ensure they were done and submitted.

Mr. Perinchief is represented by Mrs. Clare Hatcher. The case resumes today before Puisne Judge the Hon. Mr. Justice Ground.