The Gazette 1979

GAZETTE

MAY 1979

New Training Course for Solicitors'

Apprentices

Every solicitor in the Republic knows of the contro-

versy surrounding the establishment of the new scheme of

legal education and training but not every solicitor knows

the views of the Incorporated Law Society in that

controversy. Following the despatch to public

representatives of an anonymous circular in which the

actions and attitude of the Society were criticised, the

Education Committee approved a Memorandum setting

out the Society's position and a copy of this

Memorandum has been furnished — with a personal

covering letter signed by the Director General — to each

Dail Deputy and Senator. For the information of

members of the profession and those members of the

public seeking'practitioners' views on the topic, there is

set out hereunder the text of the Society's Memorandum.

Professor Richard Wolfe,

Director of Education

Dissatisfaction with the existing educational process

leading to the admission of solicitors in the Republic was

being widely expressed in the middle 1960s. It had be-

come clear that the arrangement whereby an apprentice's

academic studies overlapped both with his service in his

Master's office and with his professional examinations was

becoming more and more unsatisfactory, to the detri-

ment of his professional training. A report by the Society

of Young Solicitors in 1967 recommended the separation

of academic studies from professional training, (a system

which operated in Northern Ireland since 1951). The

Ormrod Report on the education of lawyers in England

and Wales published in 1971 gave further support to this

view.

Approaches to the Department of Justice by Law

Society representatives suggesting that amendments to

the Solicitors Acts might be introduced to enable the

system of professional training to be altered were re-

ceived courteously but the Department indicated that it

was unlikely that parliamentary time for such legislation

would be available in the near future. Accordingly the

Society was obliged to see if a new system of training

could be introduced within the framework of the 1954

and 1960 Solicitors Acts and with some difficulty, (and

unfortunately certain anomalies, largely relating to the

length of the apprenticeship period for persons who are

not graduates of British or Irish Universities), a new

scheme was worked out within the existing statutory

framework. This scheme was given statutory support by

two Statutory Instruments, the Solicitors Act 1954

(Apprenticeship and Education Amendment No. 1)

Regulations 1974 (S. I. No. 138 of 1974) and the

Solicitors Acts 1954 and 1960 (Apprenticeship and

Education) Regulations 1975 (S. I. No. 66 of 1975).

From the outset the Society was anxious to ensure that

the number of solicitors qualifying under the new scheme

would be adequate to meet the demands of the public. In

the early stages of its preparatory work in 1974 the

Society took the view that an annual intake of

approximately 100 into the profession would be

adequate, the numbers which had been admitted over the

previous 10 year period averaging 64 per year. At a later

stage noting that the demand for newly qualified solicitors

had been maintained the Society reviewed its figures

upwards to 125. At this stage the Society took advice on

the formation of its new professional training course from

Mr. Kevin O'Leary, head of the Professional Training

Course at the Australian National University at

Canberra, a pioneer in legal training courses who advised

the Society that it would not be educationally sound to

attempt to cater for more than 75 students in any one

training course. Taking all factors into account the

Society decided to hold two training courses in each year,

each of which could accommodate 75 students making a

total of 150 per annum. Shortly after this the Society dis-

covered on receiving statistics from the Higher Education

Authority that there had been a phenomenal increase in

the number of students entering the Law Faculties during

the early and middle 1970s. The increases in law students

over a five year period totalled 84% whereas the average

increase in other faculties was less than 11%. During its

negotiations with the University Law Faculties which had

been taking place regularly from 1974 onwards, it had

always been the hope of the Law Society that it would be

able to offer exemption from the Society's Final Examina-

tion - First Part (the entrance Law Examination) to Law

Graduates but the great increase in the law student

numbers, for whose future career prospects the Law

Faculties apparently proposed to rely almost exclusively

on the professions, rendered this position impossible. The

Society has always been proud of its tradition of

admitting as solicitors, through the seven year law clerk

mode of entry, persons who have not had the

opportunities of reaching second level, not to speak of

third level education and also believes that a leavening of

entrants from other disciplines, subject to their having the

necessary academic legal qualifications, is a benefit to the

profession and therefore to the public. Accordingly the

Society was obliged to indicate to the University Faculties

that it could no longer grant automatic exemptions to law

graduates.

To become apprenticed, a student must hold a

university degree of a type specified in the legislation, or

have been a bona fide law clerk for at least seven years or

be a mature student who passed the Society's degree-level

entrance examination. In every case the student must

have attained an acceptable level of knowledge in six core

legal

subjects

— Contract,

Property,

Tort,

Constitutional Law, Company Law, and Criminal Law.