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GAZETTE
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1996
Law Society Decision Not To Reintroduce
System of Law Graduate Exemptions
From Its Entrance Examination
The following is the text of a news
release issued by the Society on 21
December, 1995.
The Law Society has decided not to
seek to reintroduce the system
whereby graduates in law of certain
universities were exempt from the
entrance examination (known as the
Final Examination - First Part or
' FE - 1 ') to the Society's Blackhall
Place based Professional Training
Course. The system had been found to
have been unlawful by the High Court
Judgment of Ms. Justice Laffoy of 22
September 1995.
Even if the legal difficulties of
reintroducing this exemption regime
could have been overcome, the Society
has decided that it would have been
incompatible with the Society's
objectives of ensuring proper
educational standards and fairness of
entry requirements.
1. Proper Educational Standards
From 1982 to 1989 all candidates
seeking entry to the Society's
Professional Training Course were
required to sit and pass the entrance
examination in 6 (now 8) 'core'
Irish law subjects. In 1989, the
Society decided to accept degrees
in law (in which the 'core' subjects
had been passed) from UCD, TCD,
UCC, UCG and UL as being
sufficient proof that the 'core'
subjects had been taught,
understood and examined to an
acceptable level.
As the years went by, the Society
became increasingly dissatisfied with
this system. The Society saw evidence
that the level of coverage and
examinability of the Society's syllabi
in the 'core' Irish law subjects was
often incomplete. It also saw evidence
that the depth and breadth of
knowledge of the 'core' Irish law
subjects exhibited by students in the
Society's Law School who had
benefited from the law graduates'
exemption system varied considerably.
This was a considerable concern to the
Society as knowledge and
understanding of the 'core' law
subjects is assumed as the starting
point for the legal Professional
Training Course in Blackhall Place.
The Society views it as essential in the
public interest that a solicitor, whom
the Society qualifies to practise law,
has an acceptable and consistent level
of knowledge and understanding of the
'core' Irish law subjects. The Society's
dissatisfaction with the prevailing
situation was such that it was giving
active consideration to a
discontinuance of the law graduate
exemption system for some time prior
to the High Court judgment of 22
September 1995.
2. Fairness of Entry Requirements -
the need for a 'level playing field'
The Society has received a number
of applications for recognition, for
the purpose of exemption from the
FE-1, of new degrees, some in
'pure' law, some partly in law and
partly in other disciplines, some
from universities or non-university
educational institutions both within
and without the State.
If the Society were to consider
reintroducing the law graduate
FE-1 exemption system which was
declared invalid by the High Court
judgment then, as a legal
consequence of the High Court
judgment, the Society might also
have been obliged to grant
exemptions from the FE-1 to the
holders of law degrees from other
member states of the European
Union. For the Society to assess
and monitor each of the law
degrees provided by such
educational institutions would have
been a practical impossibility.
The Society would be concerned
that some of the degrees which it is
currently being asked to recognise
would not exhibit acceptable
standards of knowledge and
understanding of the 'core' Irish
law subjects.
Accordingly, the Society has
decided that the only fair way in
which to treat all candidates for
entry to the Society's Professional
Training Course in Blackhall Place
is to require each of them to sit a
common standards entrance
examination in the eight 'core' Irish
law subjects. This examination
would be taken whether a candidate
had a 'pure' law degree, a degree in
law and some other discipline or a
degree solely in some other
discipline and would be taken
whether the degree in question was
from an educational institution
within or without the State.
The Society believes that no
alternative system could be as fair
as this 'level playing field'
approach which would have the
added advantage of ensuring a
minimum knowledge of law of the
eight 'core' Irish law subjects
among all entrants to the Society's
Professional Training Course.
Accordingly, the Society will not seek
to change the current legal situation
which exists consequent on the High
Court judgment of 22 September 1995,
| namely that all candidates for entry to
the Society's Professional Training
Course must sit and pass the Society's
standards entrance examination
(FE-1).
•
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