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GAZETTE
' APRIL
1 9 90
Law Association and in his view -
and the view of others - it was
nonsense to say that the Society
maintained control. If an intending
solicitor got a Law degree he got
into the profession. From this it
could be said that the Universities
had absolute control.
He was not satisfied with the
quality of many recently qualified
solicitors. Mr. Galvin added that
there was a general feeling that a
number of decisions were being
made without adequate consult-
ation and rushed through the
Council.
He did not accept that it was not
the business of the Profession and
the Council of the Law Society to
protect the well-being of solicitors
and of family practice. Mr. Rory
O'Donnell agreed with Mr. Galvin
that the Council had lost control.
There was agreement also from Mr.
Frank O'Donnell who said that he
felt that unwittingly those present
at the AGM may have got the
impression that the Education issue
was fully debated at both the July
and October Council meetings.
This was not the case. The matter
first came up before the Education
Committee on the morning of the
Council meeting in October. He did
not agree that the radical new
policy of the Law Society, as stated
by the President, was generally well
received.
Pressure on the Law School
The Education Committee had
come under very great pressure
and the decisions it made were
made in good faith, said Mr.
Michael Greene. He was not
worried about the numbers seeking
jobs; as far as he was concerned,
the best ones survive. What really
worried him was the pending
situation in the Law School. How
would it cope with the numbers? At
the moment it was producing very
high quality apprentices and he
wondered if that quality would be
affected. There should have been
soundings from the people who
were giving their time to training.
Remuneration was not the issue, it
was the time out of the office. He
personally would find it impossible
to double his commitment. How
many not involved in teaching
would come forward to meet the
new demands?
Automatic right of entry to the
Law School was not an automatic
right of exit into the profession,
remarked Mr. Adrian Bourke.
Mr. John Buckley, who added his
support to the views expressed by
Mr. O'Donnell and Mr. Greene, said
that the problem of the future was
widening the automatic right of
entry to all graduates. This would
create an impossible situation in
^the finding of Masters for
Apprentices - by 1991 there
would be up to 1,000 apprentices.
As a member of the Education
Advisory Committee, he had
known how lucky the Society was
to find Masters for Apprentices in
recent years. One problem which
the Society would now face was
that of giving entry to people who
had failed spectacularly in the
examination since 1982. He ex-
pressed concern that the Society
had opened the door too wide.
U.S./Australian Solution
The President said that some firms
were good on apprenticeships,
whereas others did not take any. At
the moment the Society had less
than 500 apprentices in the system
and there were 1,400/1,600 firms.
It was the ethos of a Profession
that it trained its own members. If
the Society could not do this, then
it would have to face the possibility
of the abolition of apprenticeship
and accept a system such as that
which obtained in Australia and jn
the U.S.A. where solicitors on entry
to the Profession from College were
given
a
limited
Practising
Certificate.
Mr. Donal Binchy said that he had
opposed the decision, but the
decision had been taken. In the
future it might be open to the
Council to change its position if the
Universities did not co-operate.
Replying to the discussion the
Chairman of the Education Com-
mittee, Mr. Ray Monahan, said that
the Profession was losing control
over numbers, but it was not losing
control over standards. It was pro-
posed to introduce a complete new
system of assessment. With more
coming in for training, there would
be more resources which would
have to be used to produce the best
possible system. The Committee
was under obligation to have a
system of control of standards and
to ensure that those going out into
the Profession had achieved a
satisfactory standard. With the
implementation of the E.C. Directive
in the next 18 months, there would
be competition from both increased
numbers of new solicitors and from
lawyers in other areas. He agreed
with speakers who had emphas-
ised that the whole system of
training was dependent on
solicitors participating. Up to 400
were already helping as both tutors
and consultants, but certainly for
the next two years the training
system would have a serious prob-
lem and the Education Committee
would be dependent on the support
of the Profession.
Council's Strong Support
The President commented that,
notwithstanding what had been
said from the floor, he had to make
it clear that there was a very large
majority in the Council in favour of
the change in the Education
system.
COMPENSAT I ON FUND
Mr. Laurence Shields, dealing with
the Compensation Fund, said that
the outlook was bleak in view of
the number of claims which the
Society had received in the year in
question and the number of further
claims which had been received
during the current year. One issue
which the Society would have to
consider was the question of
undertakings being given by a
solicitor in respect of himself as a
client. The Compensation Fund
Committee was considering a
proposal to employ a solicitor to
push the matter of obtaining in-
junctions to prevent solicitors from
practising where they were in arrears
with their Accountants' Certificates.
AUD I T ED A C COUN TS
Introducing the accounts, Mr. F.
Daly, Chairman, Finance Com-
mittee, indicated that they were as
presented in the Annual Report. In
response to Mr. Galvin, he indicated
that, to date, £59,000 had been
spent in legal fees in respect of
actions taken by Law Students
against the Society. A final figure
was not available in that one case
was still before the Supreme Court.
Adoption of the accounts was pro-
posed by Mr. A. Ensor, seconded by
Mr. B. McMahon, and approved
unanimously.
E L E C T I ON OF AUD I TORS
The meeting accepted the proposit-
ion, by Mr. F. Daly, seconded by
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