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D. P. Gallagher (Dun Laoghaire); Daniel P.
O’Connor (Naas). In your name I express to those
who mourn them our deep sorrow and profound
sympathy.
It is with some sense o f disappointment that I
find myself with few topics to address you upon
that have not already been very adequately dealt
with in the Council’s Report—my half-yearly
address—and the Society’s monthly
G
a z e t t e
.
Nevertheless, I must confess that these sources of
information are not available to almost 200 solicitors
who are not yet members o f the Society. That such
a state o f affairs exists in this year is worthy of
comment, and I can only appeal to these solicitors
in their own interest and in the interest o f the pro
fession by which they live, to join the Society and
so achieve that solidarity within our ranks which is
so necessary if we are to wield the influence in
the community expected o f us. I do not wish to
.name any particular parts o f the State in which
solicitors have failed in what I conceive to be their
duty by neglecting to become members o f their own
Society, but in at least three counties—two of them
west o f the Shannon—the percentage o f practising
solicitors who are not members o f the Society is
almost 50 per cent. This should not be and I hope
that on examination o f conscience the local Bar
Association in all counties will insist on their
members joining the Society.
While making a
statistical survey to justify these remarks, I was
astounded to find that out o f a total of 1,338 solicitors
holding Practising Certificates in the State, no less
than 576 o f them are seeking their livelihood in
Dublin. While the overcrowding of Dublin and the
centralization o f business and administrative activities
there has been the subject o f comment in other-
places, I think it will interest you to know that
almost half o f the solicitors in the country are
crowded into the capital. While it is neither my
duty nor desire to discourage the coming genera
tion from joining our profession, it would be well
that parents and guardians should think twice before
launching their charges in such a competitive and
overcrowded world as legal Dublin. In spite of
my last remark, I think you should know that your
Council is ever active in devising methods for the
better training and education o f our apprentices.
I have already expressed the view that much good
would result if all our students sought a University
degree while still in their apprentice days. It can be
done without undue strain or without neglect of
any o f the phases o f their training. A t the risk of
wearying you, I repeat that arrangements have
been arrived at with the Universities to provide
courses o f instruction in what might be termed
theoretical law leaving to your Society and its
teachers the task o f instructing our students in the
more technical branches of law. Diligently pursued,
these apparently different courses will complement
each other and should produce solicitors to carry
on our great traditions equipped both academically
and practically to do their tasks to the satisfaction
o f both their clients and the State. It is worthy of
notice that in pursuance of this end your Council
has recently instituted a new course of Lectures in
practical matters such as Company Law, Company
Accounts, Death Duties, Taxation, and Convey
ancing. While conceding to no one in my admiration
for our University Professors, I cannot visualize any
o f them being equipped to lecture in such subjects
which form part o f the daily round o f practising
lawyers. Hitherto, our students have been almost
self-taught in such matters or dependent for some
instruction or practical examples from their masters.
While a certain scattered working knowledge of
these subjects was thus acquired, there should be a
very marked improvement in their knowledge and
skill having pursued a course o f instructions under
the very competent lecturers chosen by the Society.
On the other hand, it must be conceded that the
Universities are the places where best can be
acquired the theory, the history, and the philo
sophical background of legal thought.
While this Report is not altogether the’ medium
for the expression o f criticism at some o f the
“ frets and strains ” which irk the practising lawyer,
I hope my voice will be heard in the proper quarters
when I say that some inconvenience can well arise
following the extraordinary speed at which legis
lation is sometimes enacted. Some Bills involving
important matters o f principle and o f interest to
bodies such as ours, are introduced and have passed
a second reading almost as soon as the green print
has been available to the public. While I do not
propose to particularise or to enumerate such
occasions, I may mention in passing that this
criticism, if it can be called criticism, applies in
recent months to the Land Bill, The Arbitration
Bill, and the recent Local Government Bill. Surely
our legislators should appreciate that we and similar
bodies in close touch with the public are in a unique
position through our contact with the public to
consider and to weigh such measures and to express
any relevant views before they become law. I
cannot conceive that the most hide-bound servant
o f the State or conservative politician could or would
object to hearing the views o f a profession such as
ours forming as it does one of the most important
links in our social and commercial chain. Is it too
much, therefore, to ask that whenever possible the
green print of Bills should be available and on sale
to the public at the Government Publications Office
47