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GAZETTE
JUNE 1981
The Law School:
The End of the
Beginning
On 20 February, 1979 the Law School in the Blackhall
Place headquarters of the Society opened its doors to the
first group of seventy-three students under the new educa-
tion and training scheme for solicitors' apprentices.
On 17 February, 1981 those seventy-three apprentices
(less one of their number who was ill) returned to
commence their Advanced Course. This was the top layer
of their sandwich course. Having completed (or is it
having munched through?) the bottom layer in the five-
and-a-half month Professional Course — the apprentices
spent eighteen months in the offices of their masters, weld-
ing together the knowledge of substantive law which they
learned in the university law faculties and the lawyering
skills which they acquired in the Society's Law School. In
an office where the apprentice is given meaningful work,
carried out under the interested and concerned eye of the
master, or master manque, their unbroken eighteen
month in-office training is the meat in the sandwich.
Apprentices really want to work and, in most cases, their
zest for work was rewarded by plenty to do. In some few
cases, the apprentice was given insufficient work or work
of lesser quality than his capabilities justified: this was dis-
piriting to the apprentice and bad value to the master,
who was paying the apprentice £40 a week as well as
providing office space, equipment and some secretarial
services.
And so the apprentices arrived at the first Advanced
Course. The very title is slightly misleading in that to
some extent it was a refresher and up-dating exercise as
much as a breaking-of-new-ground course.
The course maintained the twin characteristics of the
Professional Course — objectives identified in beha-
vioural terms (what will the apprentice be able to do in the
office or in court or in another legal situation that he was
unable to do at the start) and "learning-by-doing" — but
the maturity and experience of the apprentices allowed
somewhat "thinner" teaching teams to cover practical
subjects more widely and with more speed. It was found
right to set the tone and pace by jumping off with four
days on the administration of estates; after some initial
breath-catching the apprentices took to the taxation
aspects of administration of estates and the framing of
wills and settlements to minimise capital tax; they under-
stood too the need for systematising and speeding up the
administration and windling-up of estates. Conveyancing
followed — with refreshers in mortgages and searches and
in investigation of title, and covering sale of flats,
commercial leases, acting for a builder, Land Registry
and Land Commission practice, stamp duty and CGT. A
whole week was devoted to office administration and
financial control, because solicitors must run an efficient
business in order to give an effective professional service.
Licensing and negotiation of settlements in civil litiga-
tion were both popular days, while the two optional
subjects — Family Law and Business Law — were both
well supported. Landlord and Tenant Law was up-dated
with an exposition of the 1980 Act. Cost drawing, ethics
and professional conduct were covered and — after days
of moot courts, with advocacy and evidence much to the
fore — the course ended with the apprentices giving their
views of the course and of the other elements of the sand-
wich.
The students have now to await the results of the
assessments made of their performance and attendance
during the course and, subject to a satisfactory outcome
in that area, to wait for the rest of their three year
minimum apprenticeship to run out.
In view of the fact that these apprentices have
completed their course and are waiting only for time to
elapse in order to obtain their parchments, the Education
Advisory Committee have expressed the view that they
differ from qualified solicitors only in being unable to
plead in court and that their salary scales should be
reviewed to recognise this reality.
The Society is proud of its culinary effort! The comple-
tion of its first sandwich course is a notable "first" in the
field of practical training courses. The Law School
administration — which records its thanks to the planning
committees and the consultants and tutors who took time
from their practices and work to make it all possible—
will share the experience of the Advanced Course with
colleagues from New South Wales and other jurisdictions
who are on the same road.
Education
Timetable
1981
July 7: First Irish Examination.
July 8: Second Irish Examination.
July 14: Presentation of Parchments.
July 14-15: Preliminary Examination.
August
12-24: First, Second and Third Law
Examinations (this is the last time the First Law
Examination will be offered).
October 1: Book-keeping Examination.
Oct. 12-Nov. 20, Nov. 25-Dec. 23: Sixth Professional
Course.
Oct. 13-Nov. 27: Second Advanced Course (dates to be
finalised)
October 28: Presentation of Parchments.
December 2: First Irish Examination.
December 3: Second Irish Examination.
Dec. 4-16: Final Examination — First Part.
! II