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Education and Efficiency*
At the outset I might refer to two statements about
the profession that deserve to be recorded. Master
Baker or some long defunct Taxing Master said that
solicitors get paid for work which they don't do and
overpaid for some work which they do in order to
compensate them for work for which they are under-
paid or for which they receive no payment at all. The
second statement is known as Murphy's law which pos-
tulates that "if anything can go wrong it will". I think
there two statements lietwcen them summarise many
of the difficulties which confront solicitors in the course
of their daily practice. They combine between them the
obvious facts that solicitors must organise their offices
as business men which has received insufficient recogni-
tion in the past and they stress the necessity for in-
creased efficiency to cope with the increasing speed and
complexity of modern practice. The spectre of liability
for professional negligence lurks continually in every
office. It is a world wide phenomenon not confined to
this country. The new generation of solicitors is faced
with problems which never confronted their prede-
cessors at the outset of practice and for this reason I
have decided in this talk to avoid the well trodden
ground of proféssional conduct and ethics and to deal
instead with the question of running a solicitors office.
Professional ethics
Mr. Osborne who has already delivered a lecture
on the question of professional ethics has informed you
that the service which we render to our clients must
take priority over our own interests. If any question of
conflict of interest arises between the solicitor and the
client the client's rights must take absolute precedence.
This is the main characteristic of a liberal profession.
It involves maintaining a high standard of professional
competence which is created not alone by the arduous
course of instruction and study with which you are all
familiar as apprentices but also by keeping oneself up
to date with the everchanging legal system by reading
statutes, regulations and textbooks and by attendances
at the courses of continuing education which are run
by the Society of Young Solicitors.
Legal education
reform
In 1969 the Society made proposals to the Minister
for Industry and Commerce for the reform of legal
education. The proposals had been made to the Com-
mission on higher education as far back as 1961. The
main obstacle to improvement of the present system is
that the Society is tied by statute and that no sub-
stantial change can be made in the system without
getting legislation through the Oireachtas. This takes
many years. The Society's proposal is that a simple Bill
should l>e introduced providing that the entire system
of legal education and training for solicitors should
be prescribed liy regulation by the Law Society subject
to judicial concurrence prolwbly of the Chief Justice
or the President of the High Court. This would enable
the system to be adapted from time to time to meet
changing circumstanccs and conditions. If the Society
had these powers it would provide that every intending
apprentice should first obtain a University degree and
that he should subsequently attend the Society's law
*Extract from a talk to senior apprentices by the Secretary.
school for instruction on the practical subjects which
are at present on the syllabus. Following attendance
at the Society's law school and passing the professional
examinations the appientice would serve a short term
of articled clerkship probably 1J to 2 years in a solicitor's
office. The advantage of this system would be that
instead of a nominal apprenticeship as at present the
apprentice would be a wholetime employee of the office
and in that capacity would he able to earn a salary.
Having served this shortened tenn of apprenticeship
and satisfied the Society by interview that he had faith-
fully complied with the regulations the apprentice
would lie admitted to practice as a solicitor.
The Omirod Report
The Society's proposals in many respects anticipated
the recommendations of the Ornirod Report recently
published in England. The Ormrod Report recommend-
ed that instead of apprenticeship the student should
be admitted to the roll on a limited practising certifi-
cate after attendance at the University and the pro-
fessional law school and passing the examinations. lie
would have to serve as an assistant solicitor for a pre-
scribed period before admission to full practice on his
own account. The common ground between the
Society's recommendations and the Ormrod Report is
the necessity of adequate full time practical training
in the post-student stage before admission to full
practice.
Is profcwonal practice a business?
I have been stressing the importance of qualifying
ourselves to give proper service to the public. The
important point that the clicnts interests must take
precedence over the solicitor's own personal interests
has been sufficiently stressed. A solicitor in addition to
providing a professional service has to manage a busi-
ness and here we must remember that we are responsible
for dealing in the aggregate with very large sums of
client's monies. In my opinion it is of equal importance
to the practising solicitor and his clients that he should
be an efficient business man in regard to his own office
affairs as that he should be learned in what our
apprenticeship indentures describe as the "art, mystery
practice and profession of the law".
If we do not manage our offices efficiently we shall
fail to earn reasonable remuneration to pay our over-
head expenses and staff and provide a reasonable profit.
We shall fail to maintain the reputation of the pro-
fession by prompt and efficient conduct of our clients'
business. Clients' money placed in our trust may be in
danger.
Essentially from the business aspects a solicitor's
practice is rather like a pharmacy. Each depends on
annual turnover and cash flow if it is to live. Cash
flow alleviated to some extent by the availability of
bank credit is the life blood of any business.
When the bank manager comes to own more of your
business than you do yourself it is time to think of
getting out unless you see some prospect of achieving
financial independence either by effecting economies,
expansion of business by greater energy and efficiency,
amalgamation or some other means. Therefore for the
remainder of this talk I propose to consider the busi-
ness aspect of practice.
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