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GAZETTE
N
S
M
JUNE 1992
Education - A New Approach?
The Issues
The solicitor's profession, and the
Society, must ask themselves if the
numbers being admitted annually
as solicitors are more than the
profession itself, or other
employment outlets, can be
expected to absorb in a time of
recession?
Should the Law Society and the
profession continue the immense
struggle to provide scarce resources
to meet demand, irrespective of
standards, remuneration,
apprenticeship prospects and job
opportunities?
We are going to have to address the
honesty of the present system,
because it would be very wrong of
us to lead young people, and their
parents or others who pay their bills,
to believe that there is Utopia at the
end of a law degree, or qualification
as a solicitor.
It is healthy that the Society should
analyse the current position, with a
strong emphasis towards planning for
the future, in consultation with its
education partners, the Government
and student representatives.
The Facts
We are currently running 2 Vi to 3
professional courses in any one
calendar year. This means that, for
the most part, Blackhall Place is a
365 day a year educational
institution. This is placing a huge
strain on the voluntary consultants
and tutors, on the professors and
administrators, on the limited space,
and on the general resources of the
Society.
There are simply not enough
apprenticeships available to meet the
demand for them. The shortage of
places and the pressure building up
on the Society to help to secure
apprenticeships, inevitably raises the
question whether the apprenticeship
in the
present form
is in fact a
necessary vehicle to train young
solicitors.
A more logical approach might be to
examine a restructured scheme of
training, under which the student,
under normal circumstances, would
attend at university, and would then
take part in a single continuous
course in Blackhall Place, probably
for one academic year. During this
time the student would receive all of
the practical training currently taking
place here, but the course would also
include exposure to a simulation of a
well developed solicitor's practice
within Blackhall Place. Correct
procedures for running an office, the
administrative and financial aspects
of practice, client care, and general
good conduct as a solicitor, would
be dealt with.
Following admission, consideration
could be given to a period of post
qualification training, such as in the
medical profession, for barristers,
etc.
The demands of our legal educaton
system impinge upon all of our
lives, in the number of applications
to us for apprenticeships, in the
standard of apprentices which
we take on and in their training,
in the every day running of the
Law Society, and most importantly,
in the lives of those who wish
to enter this profession and
who currently have high expectations
the fulfillment of which cannot be
guaranteed.
Adrian P. Bourke;
President
•
Southern Law Association Annual Dinner
At the Southern Law Association Annual Dinner were L-R: Michael Davey, Secretary, Law
Society of Northern Ireland; Noel C. Ryan, Director General, Law Society; Ray Monahan,
Senior Vice-President Law Society; Barry St. John Galvin, President, Southern Law
Association; Frank Daly, Junior Vice-President and Brian Walker, Senior Vice-President,
Law Society of Northern Ireland.
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