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GAZETTE
JULY-AUGUST
1
SOCIETY OF YOUNG SOLICITORS SECTION
Women and the Law
The reply to the lady solicitor's article by a male solicitor
who for reasons not altogether abstruse prefers to remain
anonymous.
I feel reasonably competent to reply to the lady solicitor's
complaints in relation to advancement within the
profession for several reasons:
1. I usually interview with other partners applicants
for positions within our firm.
2. I have considerable experience of working with
female solicitors.
3. I am very keen to see female solicitors advance in
every way in the profession.
4. I have working experience with ladies as partners.
I agree with most of the contents of the lady solicitor's
comments but I think she should look deeper into the
causes of the malaise of which she complains with view to
trying to surmount the problems with which firms are
faced who have lady solicitors. My observations are as
follows:
(a) The female applicants for positions as assistant
solicitors frequently have better qualifications or have
better academic careers than the male applicants. On
many occasions they speak better at interviews and
generally turn themselves out better. In short they have a
better presence.
(b) On the other hand, quite a large number clearly
have chosen law not because of some positive reason but
to avoid the possible dead end of some Arts degree.
(c) On being employed they work conscientiously and
frequently present say a better memorandum on a point
of law they are asked to research than the male
counterpart.
(d) They are inclined to regard a job as a job and work
office hours as though they were in the Civil Service or the
Bank. The good male solicitor who wants to make a
career for himself regards the work in hand as being a job
to be got done regardless of time because he knows he is
gaining experience. The lady solicitor doesn't seem to feel
that completing the job in hand to the
satisfaction of the
client
as being an objective in itself regardless of the
employer.
(e) The lady solicitor does not seem to wish to occupy
off hours in reading articles on law, new legislation etc. In
short quite a number of lady solicitors seem to regard the
Final Exam as the final. They should concentrate on
keeping abreast of the times, write articles for the
Gazette, and deliver lectures at the Young Solicitors
meetings etc. Some have done so but not nearly enough.
(0 They should take more interest in the running of
firms in which they are employed. This observation
equally applies to male assistants. Manage-ment is a real
problem for the small as well as the large firm. The lady
solicitor can prove very helpful in regard to such matters
as employing secretarial staff etc. and gradually develop
the "partnership mind".
(g) At present all young solicitors have virtually no
experience of "handling" clients. The lady solicitor has a
particular problem in this area because many of the public
particularly commercial clients don't quite accept a lady
solicitor so she must show herself exceptionally good. I
have seen lady solicitors being treated by men as being
inferior at the outset of a meeting and ending up by being
treated with respect because they know their law and
showed competency. It is an uphill battle — face it!
(h) The lady solicitor should recognise the problem of
marriage and having children. It takes at least seven years
for a solicitor to become fully trained after qualification.
This means hard work and "hard cash" in the time lost to
partners in training young people. Married solicitors
frequently continue in practice but it is very difficult for
them timewise after marriage and particularly when they
have a child. It is foolish to brush aside this problem. The
loss of a good young solicitor to a firm is a severe blow be
it marriage or some other reason. A loss to a Bank or say
the Land Registry is bad enough but in private practice it
"disturbs" clients. They want to deal with the "guy" they
know. The better the solicitor the worse the problem.
(i) Finally a lady solicitor has to recognise that on
being made a partner her "takehome" pay may be
reduced to build up her capital account over a period of
years. Being a partner is not all fun and games!
I hope these few notes done at my fireside will give
food for thought to some of our excellent lady solicitors
with whom I am privileged to work.
The Halcyon Days and AD That . . .
On Saturday, March 18th, 1871, the Galway
Vindicator and Connaught Advertizer reported as follows
the manner in which the Attorney General, Mr. Palles
and diverse witnesses came to grips with a disputed title
to a local fishery:—
"Michael Heany examined by Mr. Palles Q.C. —
I used to be minding the river night and day; I minded
it by the day during the whole year; I prevented people
fishing there: Mr. O'Flaherty had stocks there, and people
who did anything to displease him, he put them in the
stocks; the stocks were near the chapel (laughter).
His Lordship—Were they in the Chapel?
(laughter).
Witness — No, but near the chapel.
His Lordship — He wished to accommodate all
(laughter).
The Attorney General — Had he a pound there for
putting cattle into?
Witness — He had (laughter); the way he used to do
was to put people's feet in the stocks (laughter); i saw Nee
in the stocks, and Pat King; any man that was caught
fishing was brought in and put in the stocks.
His Lordship — Where used Mr. O'Flaherty sit when
administering justice, was it in the chapel or on a rock?
(laughter).
Witness — In an office in his house.
His Lordship — Was there a public-house near?
(laughter).
Witness — It was not far away
(laughter).
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