The Gazette 1976

GAZETTE

SEP

BER 1976

COUNCIL RECOMMENDS ABANDONMENT

OF APPRENTICESHIP PREMIUMS

The Council of the Society has made a strong re-

commendation that members should cease charging

premiums to intending apprentices. The decision was

made after considerable thought had been given to the

matter and after discussions at several Council Meet-

ings in the context of the introduction of the new

system.

The Council recognises that its decision will not

meet with unanimous approval, as being a departure

from a tradition and practice stretching back several

hundred years. The practice of charging premiums

originated at a time when the only qualification neces-

sary for admission to practice as what would now be

called a Solicitor was the service by an apprentice un-

der articles of apprenticship to a practising solicitor

for a fixed period of years and then receiving a cer-

tificate from a solicitor of his being a person qualified

to practise as a solicitor. It is clear that at that time

the duty imposed on the Master was a fairly onerous

one but perhaps in those more leisurely days a Solicitor

had sufficient time available to him to devote to the

education of his apprentice. The introduction of exam-

inations as a replacement for the final certificate of a

Master as a pre-requisite for admission to practise did

not immediately diminish the effect of the apprentice-

ship system. Indeed it was not until the re-organisation

of the Law Schools in the National University of Ire-

land onto a full time basis in the 1950's that the ap-

prenticeship system finally showed signs of strain. It

is perhaps ironic to note that the improvement of the

academic side of education led to difficulties on the

practical side but the committment of hours required

of under-graduates under the new system made atten-

dance at a Master's Office at least during the under-

graduate years of little use. (This breakdown of the

apprenticeship system was one of the spurs to various

suggestions made for reforming the education system

for apprentices which ultimately led to the introduction

of the new system).

Another effect of this development was to cause

some Masters to search their consciences to see

whether in fact they were justified in charging an ap-

prentice a premium, the consideration for which was

presumably the instructing of the apprentice in the

arts and crafts of the Solicitor's profession when, in

practice, the apprentice was not able to attend regularly

in his Master's Office until he had acquired his law

degree. Many Masters abandoned the practice of charg-

ing premiums and the practice appeared to be on the

wane.

At least one local association made a rule fixing the

premium at a reasonably modest figure and arranging

for the re-fund of the premium to the apprentice by

instalments during the period of his apprenticeship.

During the last few months before the introduction of

the new education system on the 1st of October 1975

the Council was concerned to receive reports of very

substantial premiums being sought by Masters includ-

ing several reported cases of four figure sums being

asked. The Council accordingly found it diffi-

cult to escape the conclusion that such sums

were being asked not

because they were felt

to be reasonable premiums for the instruction

which the Master proposed to give the apprentice but

because of the scarcity of prospective Masters. In view

of the long standing tradition of premiums and the

arrangement that already existed in certain local bar

assosiations the Council decided not to recommend

any alteration in the existing system but to recom-

mend strongly that premiums be not charged to ap-

prentices after the 1st of October 1975 and reference

to this decision was made in the speech of the Presi-

dent at the half yearly general meeting of the society

in Westport in May of 1975.

It is not difficult to discern the reasoning behind the

Council's disapproval of apprenticeship premiums in

the new system since it represents a radical change from

the old position. The Master will no longer find himself

presented with a novice fresh from school but with

university graduates, the majority of whom will be

law graduates and once the society's new professional

course is in operation the apprentice presenting himself

to his Master for service in the Master's Office will

also have undergone a sophisticated course of training

in the practical aspects of a Solicitor's work. In these

circumstances it would be difficult to justify the charg-

ing by a Master of any premium to the apprentice.

Indeed, in other jurisdictions where similar training

systems exist, it is the experience that the law firms

seek out prospective apprentices during the appren-

tice's university studies and pay salaries to the appren-

tices while they are serving under their articles.

It would indeed be difficult in present circumstances

to justify the charging of a premium for apprentice-

ship to a person who has completed his studies in

third level education. So far as the Society is aware

there is no other profession in Ireland whose members

maintain such a practice. It would not appear to be

in the interest of any profession to debar any suitable

candidate for entry on purely financial grounds and

this is particularly the case in our profession where

a vast majority of the members are in private practice

and are dependant, for the successful practice of their

professions, on the continuing influx of competent prac-

titioners into the profession not merely as a means

of supplying themselves with assistants and future part-

ners but of insuring that the colleagues with whom they

have to deal are equally well supplied.

Accordingly the Council is optimistic that the pro-

fession will recognise the wisdom of the Council's re-

commendation and that the practice of charging pre-

miums will die out promptly.

LAW EXAMINATIONS

The Education Committee has decided that

students wi ll not be permitted in future to enter

for the 3rd Law Examination until they have

completed their 2nd Law Examination.

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