The Gazette 1976

JUNE/JULY 1976

GAZETTE

nd desirable that one should pursue a University Course to satisfy one's intellectual ouriosity. The fault of the present training system is that the exercise of an inquisitive mind jeopardises the process of note memor- z:ng and thus the result of the important examination. This type of education does not lead to the expansion of a person's mind but the system becomes synonymous with rigid limitation. Non-Legal subjects necessary in University Course Since the University Degree Course has now to a certain extent been divorced from practical training I am of the opinion that it should contain non-legal subjects. A study of English and History would perhaps be appropriate. The Report of the Solicitors' Appren- tices' Debating Society to the Law Society on Legal Education also held this view. A Lawyer tends to use a great deal of technical jargon. In this way he expresses his intentions concisely but I believe harms his overall command of the English Language. The result is often an inability to explain his actions to his clients. Apart from this consideration the study of such subjects as History and English will provide a broader based educa- tion which in turn would make for a better Lawyer. I realize there are pressures of both finance and time which present difficulties but the student should at least be given the option to pursue such a broader course in the First Year of his studies. The reasoning behind the recommendations of the Ormrod Report relating to other studies of Legal Education from the necessity of a University Degree is that it should awaken a critical faculty in the student. A study of non-legal subjects in my opinion would add to this critical faculty. The Vocational Course of the Society The second phase of legal education mentioned in Ormrod is the Vocational Course. As from October 1975 the Incorporated Law Society requires that intending Apprentices except in a couple of cases be University Graduates. Law Graduates of Irish Universities are en- titled to enter into Apprenticeship and to immediate entry to the Society's Law School for the Vocational Course. Arts Graduates of Irish or United Kingdom Universities are automatically entitled to admission to Apprenticeship but must pass the final exam—First Part. The exception to the requirement for a degree is that Law Clerks of 7 years standing can apply for exemptions from the Preliminary Examination. Gradu- ates from other disciplines or from other Universities may apply for exemption from the Preliminary Examin- ation but the grant of this is at the discretion of the Law Society. Non-Graduates of 21 years and over may sit for the Society's Preliminary Examination. The Final Examination—First Part is of Degree Standard in what Ormrod called the Core Subjects. In the Incorporated Law Society's Sylllabus these are the Law of Real Property, Tort, Contract, Constitutional Law, Com- pany Law and another subject. A year is then spent pursuing the Vocational Course. Since most of the people who are being taught on this Course are Uni- versity Graduates it presents a unique opportunity to break away from the straight lecture system which is being used in Solicitors' education. At present lectures are merely dictation sessions. Tutorials, Group Dis- cussions and Student Essays along with conventional lectures should constitute the Study Course. It is in- teresting to note that in both the Report of the Solici- tors' Apprentices' Debating Society in 1967 and in a Report by the Auditor of S.A.D.S.I. for the 84th Session, Donough O'Connor, a preference was ex- 103

population. This, as Mr. Justice Kenny pointed out in his submission to the Commission on Higher Education, resulted in over-lapping, waste of resources, unneces- sary duplication of Libraries and small salaries to staff. Furthermore in the absence of full-time staff there was almost no legal research and little legal writing. With the requirement of a Degree as a pre-requisite to enter a professional School, the Universities will no doubt introduce courses of a more Theoretical nature than before. Dr. Michael Tierney stated in 1966 to the Commission on Higher Education "the requirements of the professional Legal Bodies have had a strong indirect effect on the U.C.D. course in Law. The practical requirements of both the Legal professions have ren- dered it difficult to give the courses for this degree in anything other than a severely practical, professional bias, and have avoided the kind of theoretical, his- torical and philosophical training which is associated with University Law courses in America and on the Continent". Even now pressure is being put on U.C.D. by the Law Society to include a course on Company Law which comprises one of the subjects at the basis of the Society's proposed Educational Curriculum. This conflict between the theoretical and practical approach to law is dealt with by Mr. Justice Megarry in his presidential address to the Society of Public Teachers of Law in 1966. Theoretical education, he contended, minimized the importance of facts. Aca- demics include only relevant facts in examination problems which are always, or nearly always based on certainty. The facts are usually on all fours with some Legal rule although the more enlightened lecturers might leave out a relevant fact to test the student. A practitioner however is faced with an imprecise account of relevant and irrelevant facts which he has to evaluate and it is for this reason that he requires a practical education. A university student condenses the relevant text book to note form for examination pur- poses whereas a Solicitor or Barrister uses merely a line or two from a text book and the relevant footnotes reading the cases and magnifying the principle in order to come to a solution of his problem. A student then is taught to deal with the sources in a completely different way from what he will be required to when he qualifies. In an academic context, the examiner seeks perhaps a touch of brilliance in a student; the qualities of a good Solicitor however, are thoroughness and accuracy. It is the practitioners job to avoid problems rather than solve them. In a University exam context the subjects are neatly compartmentalized. These compartments however do not exist in practice and there one also has to contend with the human element. It is much easier for an academic to voice doubts about the value of a point of law or a judicial decision. Were a practitioner to challenge some such point which he doubts, he risks his client's money. Mr. Justice Megarry, though he shows up defects in theoretical Education from a prac- titioner's point of view, does not try to advance a case for a purely practical education. Balance between Professional and University Course In Legal Education, a balance must be struck between both Professional and University Course. The new system of training Solicitors would provide more scope for an abstract study of law in a University context. The new Professional Course would also help the student to adapt the theories he learns in University to the realities of Legal Practice. It is entirely necessary Conflict between Theoretical and Practical approach to Law