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GAZETTE
APRIL 1981
The Unattainable Heights?
Scholarships and Prizes awarded to Solicitors' Apprentices
by
Jacinta Morris
Education Officer, The Law Society
Responsibility for the education and training of
solicitors' apprentices was vested in the Incorporated
Law Society of Ireland by the Attorneys and Solicitors
Act (Ireland), 1866. Since that date, there has evolved a
comprehensive scheme of scholarships and prizes which
encourage a high standard of performance by appren-
tices in their various examinations.
At present ten scholarships and prizes are offered, of
which two are endowment scholarships, two are memorial
prizes, four are presented by the Society and two are
awarded by commercial undertakings.
In its early days, the Society was anxious to ensure
that entrants to the profession had attained a good
standard of literary education. This concern is reflected in
the terms of reference which the Council outlined in
1866, to govern the prizes it would award on the results
of the Preliminary and Final Examinations. While the
prize for the Final Examination went to the apprentice
who attained the highest marks in that examination, the
prize for the Preliminary Examination was awarded on
the basis of a separate examination, for which successful
candidates in the Preliminary Examination could
compete. The prizes were: "For the best answerer - a
gold medal, together with the sum of £10; for the second
best answerer, a silver medal and the sum of £5.
The syllabus for this special Preliminary Examination
is worth reproducing in full - it would suggest great
classical knowledge on the part of our predecessors in the
profession. To quote from the Regulations of the Act of
1866 - Resolutions of the Council as to Prizes to be
given annually at Preliminary and Final Examinations:
"That with a view to encourage an advanced
standard of answering in the subjects prescribed for
the Preliminary Examinations of apprentices, prizes
be given annually, to be competed for by gentlemen
who may have exhibited a satisfactory degree of
proficiency at such Examination . . . that a Special
Examination for these prizes be held in or about
Michaelmas Sittings in each year - that in addition
to the course prescribed for the Preliminary
Examination, candidates for prizes shall be exam
ined in the following:
Virgil's Aeneid, 4th and 5th Books.
Horace's Odes and Satires.
Livy, 1st Three Books.
Dr. Smith's Grecian History.
Liddell's Roman History.
Murray's and Whately's Elements of Logic.
Also, the French or German Languages, at the
option of the Candidates."
With the development of the second-level education
system in Ireland, the Society did not need to concern
itself so much with the basic standard of education of its
apprentices. The old Preliminary Examination declined in
importance and the emphasis, in so far as prizes were
concerned, shifted to the Final Examination and the
standard of performance in law subjects. However,
the aim of encouraging excellence remained the same, and
the tradition of awarding gold and silver medals at
Michaelmas Sittings has remained to the present day.
In 1877 there was a new departure, when Sir William
Findlater founded a scholarship, by the grant of £1,000
to the Society. Sir William (1824-1906) was himself an
eminent solicitor and was twice elected President of the
Society — first, in 1877-8 and again nearly twenty years
later in 1896-7. In 1880 he was elected Liberal M.P. for
County Monaghan.
The Scholarship is awarded in Michaelmas Sittings in
each year on the results of the Second and Third Law
Examinations, to the apprentice who has shown the most
proficiency in the subjects of such examinations.
The list of Findlater Scholarship winners is lengthy and
includes many distinguished names, including:
1914 Valentine W. Miley
1927 James J. Hickey
1929 John J.Nash
1936 Mathew Purcdl
1952 Mary C. C. O'Mahony
1959 John Temple Lang
1961 Maurice R. Curran
1970 Ernest B. Farrell
In 1919, another former President of the Society, Mr.
Trevor T. L. Overend, by his Will endowed a Scholar-
ship, originally divided between the Preliminary and Final
Examinations and latterly awarded on the results of the
First Law Examination.
The Overend and Findlater Scholarships between them
cover the First, Second and Third Law Examinations
and, over the years, a few apprentices have distinguished
themselves by winning both these scholarships:
Patrick F. Treacy 1954 (Overend)
Brian V. Hoey
1957 (Overend)
Michael G. Cody
1958 (Overend)
Maurice R. Curran 1959 (Overend)
1955 (Findlater)
1957 (Findlater)
1960 (Findlater)
1961 (Findlater)
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