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GAZETTE
to accomplish big things he must do
so, per force, with the assistance of
mediocre men, prima donnas, self-
seekers and, unless he is unusually
lucky, a smattering of idiots. It may be
argued that the measure of the success
of a businessman is based on his
ability to blend this uncompromising
amalgam into a working team which
will get the job done with a minimum
of mayhem. Whatever about the
inevitability of mediocre men, prima
donnas, and self-seekers, few
businessmen can survive without
reference to lawyers. The businessman
is not expected to have a knowledge of
business law, but he or she must know
when to consult a lawyer and to abide
by rules of law.
Blackstone's
Business Law Guide
is
based on the long established
Solicitors and their Business Clients
book which was aimed at the
"Business Organisations and
Insolvency" syllabus of the UK Law
Society's Final Examination. That
book has now been revised and
rewritten to meet the demands of the
UK Legal Practice course.
The first part of the Guide deals with
partnership law and practice. The
second part deals with company law
and practice. In each of these parts, the
authors have concentrated on the
essential background law which all
trainees must study for the UK Law
Society's Legal Practice course. The
third part of the Guide deals with
taxation. Taxation is examined both
from the point of view of the business
itself and from the point of view of the
proprietors and investors in the
business. There is also a short section
in the Guide on EU law. Insolvency
(both in relation to individuals and
companies) is dealt with in a separate
part of the Guide. The last part of the
Guide considers,
inter alia,
shareholders' agreements, debentures,
making and interpreting a company
search, accounts, sale of a business to
a company, public companies and
distributorship or marketing
agreements.
Having read the
Business Law Guide,
one comes to an inevitable conclusion:
practitioners in Ireland would benefit
enormously from the publication of the
law and materials which are available
to Apprentices on the Professional
Course and Advanced Courses of the
Law School of the Irish Law Society.
As the law changes, a new edition
could be brought out. With desk top
publishing, it has never been easier to
publish material from an in-house
base. One appreciates that there are
economies of scope and scale which
make it easier for institutions to
publish such guides for the United
Kingdom market. However,
consideration should be given to a
similar series in Ireland. Other titles in
Blackstone's
Legal Practice Course
Guides
relate to civil litigation,
conveyancing, criminal litigation,
lawyers' skills, wills, probate and
administration.
Dr Eamonn G Hall
Adoption Law and Practice
By Kerry O'Halloran BL, LLM,
Msc, (COSW), Butterworths Ireland
Limited, Dublin 1992, £40.00
Hardback.
The preface to this bound book
announces that the prevalence of
adoption in Ireland and its importance
to so many is not reflected in the
published material available. To those
practitioners who deal with this area of
law on a regular basis and indeed to all
practitioners, these words will ring
very true. Practitioners are well served
by Alan Shatter's
Family Law in the
Republic of Ireland
and Paul
O'Connor's
Key Issues in Irish Family
Law,
however these excellent works
do not focus exclusively on adoption
law and practice although they are in
themselves invaluable finger posts for
the searching practitioner.
This is the first Irish book exclusively
devoted to the area of adoption and on
that basis alone this reviewer
purchased the book as soon as it
became available. The cover of the
book is remarkably similar to that of
Marriage Breakdown in Ireland
by
Duncan Scully, well known to
practitioners as one of the most
readable and practical of text books.
Adoption Law and Practice
is divided
in to three main parts. Part one dealing
with the adoption process, part two
with the procedures and forms, and
part three with the legislation in force.
Part one of the book deals with the
adoption process and is a very
challenging read for the legal
practitioner. The author comes from a
background in social work and law.
The book endeavours to satisfy the
requirements of both disciplines. Legal
practitioners may well find this part of
the book somewhat esoteric in that the
sociological and conceptional analysis
at times obscures the description of the
process being outlined. Significantly,
despite this academic slant, the work
does not contain a detailed analysis of
the case law although it does very
usefully cite many unreported
judgments. Unfortunately, the text
offers limited guidance to the
practitioner dealing with the practical
problem of advising an unmarried
father who wishes to obtain
guardianship rights under the 1987 Act
or, indeed, a single mother who wishes
to resist such rights being conferred by
virtue of her desire to marry and adopt
I her child into the new family unit.
Issue could also be taken with the
author's reference to the legal position
in England which at times can be
confusing if not followed through by
the reader.
Part two of the book deals with the
procedures and forms most frequently
dealt with by practitioners and drawn
from the Adoption Rules, Rules of the
Superior Courts, Adoption Board
circulars and inter-agency practice
guidelines. There is cross referencing
between parts two and three making
these sections of the book extremely
useful. This part will be an invaluable
reference for the practitioner in
advising prospective adoptive parents
as to what the procedure to be followed
will be like and the current practice
requirements. These may be more
stringent than those set out in the
legislation. It is very useful to be aware
of the practice and current procedures
in this area. The book acknowledges
that the procedures set out in this part
may well change. However, by
bringing together an outline of current
practice requirements and the sources
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