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GAZETTE
N E W S
DECEMBER 1993
Focus on Apprenticeships
One of the hallmarks of a profession is
that it voluntarily undertakes the
training of its future members. The
approach of the Solicitors profession to
this training - apprenticeship - needs
to be more focused than it has been in
the past. Before taking an apprentice, a
practitioner eligible to do so under
Section 29 of the Solicitors Act, 1954
should ask himself:-
1. Do I need help in my practice? If
so, should I take on and train an
apprentice or should I employ a
newly qualified solicitor?
2. Do I have the time, the ability and
the commitment to train someone
who will be my future colleague?
3. If I decide that taking an
apprentice is the better option, do I
have the physical space, the
secretarial assistance, and the
back-up service for an apprentice?
4. Am I prepared to pay the apprentice
a salary, knowing that the Council of
the Incorporated Law Society has
recommended an incremental scale,
subject to review, for apprentices
starting with £95 a week for the
period before the apprentice embarks
on the Professional Course in the
Society's Law School and going up
£115 a week in the period immediately
after completion of the Professional
Course?
5. Do I have a job - or the reasonable
prospect of a job - for the apprentice
when s/he qualifies as a solicitor?
The last question is probably the most
important of all. Given the number of
people who have qualified and are
unable to find work as solicitors, no
service is done to the student by giving
that student a 'go nowhere' apprentice-
ship. Placement in apprenticeship must
be related to anticipated placement in
future employment.
The practice of some major firms,
which offer excellent training, but
who subsequently retain a mere
fraction of their apprentices as
qualified solicitors is one, I suggest,
which should be reviewed.
A practitioner recently complained
about the delay - currently until
January 1995 - in securing a place in
the Society's Law School for his
recently indentured apprentice; in the
same breath, he complained that "you
up there in Blackhall Place are
qualifying too many solicitors". A
solicitor contemplating taking on an
apprentice should be aware that the
profession has expanded from 3,251
solicitors in 1983 to 5,220 in 1993.
Practitioners should take on an
apprentice only for good reason; it is
not a good reason if the practitioner is
cajoled or arm-twisted by a valuable
client into taking that client's son or
daughter as an apprentice. A letter
received in the Society's Law School
from a young qualified solicitor bears
repeating:-
"Too many recently qualified
solicitors are:
1. unemployed and desperate, or
2. working for half nothing, or
3. hanging on after their apprenticeship,
without a practising certificate and
on apprentice salaries.
I feel that direction from the Law
Society is needed."
The recruitment of an apprentice should
be well thought out, and the recruitment
process itself thorough. And of course,
there must be some reasonable prospect
of a job at the end of the line.
Professor Richard Woulfe,
Director of Education
Practice Notes -
Continued from page 396
Commissioners. Incentive amnesty:
Chief Special Collector, 26, Harcourt
Street, Dublin 2. 01^4783777. General
amnesty: Collector General, 2nd Floor,
St. Martin's House, Waterloo Road,
Dublin 4. 01-6688666.
The Taxation Committee regrets the
inconvenience caused to members of
the profession by its error.
Taxation Committee
Legal Aid Fees
The Criminal Law Committee would
like to remind all solicitors of the Legal
Aid Scheme who have completed cases
in which Counsel were involved, to
submit claim forms to the Department as
quickly as possible. The Committee
understands that in a number of cases,
Counsel on making inquiries with the
Department about delays in payment,
have been advised that claim forms for
the particular case were still awaited.
Criminal Law Committee
•
Northern Ireland Agents:
For all
contentious and non-contentious
matters. Consultation in Dublin, if
required. Contact Norville
Connolly, D & E Fisher, Solicitors,
8 Trevor Hill, Newry. Telephone
(080693)61616, Fax 67712.
C.C.R.
Legal Agents
Provide Professional and
Comprehensive Service in
Castle, Four Courts,
Land Registry and all
other associated offices
Fully Indemnified
23/24 Wellington Quay,
Dublin 2.
Telephone: 679 4926/7
Fax: 679 4928.
Wishing all our clients a very
Happy Christmas
and a Prosperous New Year
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