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branches of our law and will equip himself for further
learning in later life. There too, he will meet with
students of other disciplines and increase his general
educational background and his knowledge of his fellow
men.
Up to the present time there has been a great
tendency to regard pre-qualification training as designed
to produce the complete solicitor who has been taught
all the branches of law which he will need to know in
practice. We frequently receive suggestions for many
subjects to be added to the syllabus, but we must get
away from this mode of thinking. A concentrated
course designed to teach students to answer questions
in a detailed examination on many subjects is not now
the best way to produce a trained mind with the
inclinatin to continu elearning in the years ahead.
Potted law learned parrot fashion is not the best
method. The same reasoning has been illustrated by
Bishop Creighton, who said : "The one real object of
education is to leave a man in the condition of con-
tinually asking questions" and, by Professor Skinner,
who said—"Education is what survives when what has
been learned has been forgotten." This is the pholosophy
behind the proposal in the Ormrod Report of a Law
Degree as the first stage in academic training.
Law Degree necessary
Now it would be possible to have a Law Degree as
the first stage in training with an improved Part II
Examination and then continue with two year articles,
as we have now. But the Ormrod Report goes further.
Complaints by articled clerks about the quality of
their articles are not new. Our old friend the Select
Committee of 1846 said this—"It is a general com-
plaint on the part of articled clerks themselves that
very little attention is paid by the solicitors to the
direction of their studies. In fact it can scarcely be
expected from solicitors in any degree of practice,
their time is so much occupied with the duties of their
profession that they can scarcely take up the points
which are requisite for looking after their education."
And the Report goes on to say how an articled clerk
is left almost entirely to his own discretion; which comes
as a shock to our ideas of a more leisurely age with
the solicitor as a kindly turor to his articled clerk.
Today we have other problems as well, mere numbers
for one thing, the narrowness of some practices and I
am sorry to say the low standards of some.
In the last fifteen years there has entered a new
factor in the consideration of articles. The articled
clerk in England no longer pays for the advantage of
being in his principal's office; he is in nearly every case
in receipt of a salary. In the modern world this is right,
but it has, however, brought about a basic change in
attitudes. The articled clerk may have come to regard
himself as an employee and to consider himself as
entitled to a salary commensurate with the value of the
work which he has learned to undertake. In the same
way a principal may consider himself as an employer
and regard the articled clerk as just another fee earning
member of his staff. Such attitudes are the negation
of the whole conception of apprenticeship, and the
articled clerk is in danger of becoming in effect a clerk
employed in one branch of work without the benefit of
learning in a broader field.
Vocational course recommended
Therefore, after reviewing these and other imperfec-
tions of articles the Ormrod Report recommended a
Vocational Course of one year, to be followed by
a
period of restrictive practice in a solicitor's office. Th
e
idea of the course is that it should train students in
the practical work involved in the application of the
law in the types of transactions commonly dealt with
by solicitors at the start of their careers. During this
type of course, practical instruction in law new to the
student would be introduced, as it arises, such
aS
Revenue Law. In addition there would be instruction on
certain branches of law not studied at Universities,
but of which an entrant to a solicitor's office should
be aware, and there will also be (and I stress this)
instruction on professional conduct, accounts, office
organisation and a background general knowledge relat-
ing to other professions and business affairs with which
a young solicitor should be equipped. There would b
e
some degree of continuous assessment throughout this
course, and at the end an examination posing problems
such as are met in practice. The examination would
be on matters actually taught on the course, as laid
down by The Law Society. The object of the course and
examinations would be—"to eliminate the incompetent
and the indolent"—this again is to quote the Select
Committee of 1846; as to the object of a professional
examination, it is my strong belief that such teaching
of sound principles and procedures as would be given
to every new entrant to our profession would, as the
years pass, raise the general standard of entrants to
practice and be of vital importance for the future. G»
course experience in an office would then be essential-
Pilot vocational course
The Council of The Law Society accepted the
O r m r od
Report in principle. They decided that (subject to
exceptions for graduates in other disciplines, mature
students and Legal Executives) a degree in
would become the first stage in qualification as a solici-
tor, and they authorised the College of Law to prepare
a Pilot Vocational Course to take 240 law graduates!
but there are difficulties in starting such a course, and
in arranging for the expansion of similar courses
take the entire entry to the profession. I think here thaj
our problem must be much greater than yours would
be, as we estimate having to cater for about 20™
students per year. This type of course involves much
more tutorial time than does the giving of lectures and
leaving the reading to the students as we do at present-
Hence there is a greater demand for classroom accom-
modation and a vastly increased demand for teaching
staff, for a larger number of smaller classes. This ah
adds up to the major problem, that of cost—expend
on buildings, the expense of salaries, etc., which wih
have to be met.
The majority of the Ormrod Committee though
1
that the Vocational Courses should be provided by
3
limited number of Universities employing special teach-
ing staff. It was suggested that the College of La^
might in some way be associated with or absorbed
by such Universities for the provision of the special
type of course required. It was conceded that the pr°'
fessional bodies must have a powerful influence ove
r
the courses. An optimistic view was formed that th
e
University Grants' Committee would make funds avail-
able to the selected Universities.
Profession to retain control of education
The minority of the Ormrod Committee, of whon
1
I was one, wished that our branch of the profession
should retain absolute control of the courses and con-
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