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GAZETTE
OCTOBER 1978
Director of Education is endeavouring to persuade the Department of Education to make
student grants available to solicitors' apprentices but so far no decision has been handed
down by the Department in reply to his representations.
8.10
The Society has arranged loans for apprentices with the major associated banks
and is providing some scholarships at the expense of the Society. In addition, the Society
is subsidising the costs of the law course to the extent of approximately one-fifth which the
Committee considers illustrates the commitment of the profession to the future.
9.1
This Committee, in conjunction with the twelve sub-committees set up to deal
with the course content continued to work well throughout the year.
9.2
Richard Woulfe was appointed Director of Education with the title Professor and
took up duty on 1 May 1978. The Education Advisory Committee and the Education
Committee believe the Society has been extremely fortunate to obtain the services of
Professor Woulfe who has already made a significant contribution to the new Education
Programme working in tandem with Laurence Sweeney, the Director of Training.
9.3
Harry Sexton, our first Education Officer, went into private practice during the .
summer and we wish him every success. Harry made an invaluable contribution to the
development of the new training programme for which we offer him our sincere thanks.
Brendan Twomey has been appointed to succeed Harry and we wish him well.
9.4
The consultants preparing the course material received training in teaching
methods during the year and at present a series of one-day courses are being held for
recently-qualified solicitors which serve the additional purpose of being a "trail run" in the
training methods to be adopted in the courses in the new law school.
9.5
I would like to thank all the members of the Advisory Committee and the sub-
committees for their tremendous dedication and application throughout the year.
9.6
It was clear from the International Bar Association Conference held recently in
Australia that the profession in most Common Law countries had lost control of the
training for their own profession through allowing the universities to take over the
vocational teaching function and by over-relianpe on Government funds, which were
more readily obtained through university sources than otherwise.
9.7
Our first training course under the new system will commence next February and
all involved in the Society's educational process look forward to this event eagerly,
although with awareness of the difficulties involved.
9.8
I had the honour in my capacity as Chairman of the Education Committee and
Education Advisory Committee to deliver a paper entitled "Recent Developments in the
Training of Intending Solicitors in the Republic of Ireland" in Sydney to the Committee
on Legal Education and Continuing Education of the International Bar Association and
visited the College of Law in Sydney and the Legal Workshop in Canberra during and
after the Conference.
9.9
It was fascinating to learn that in Japan there is a National Law Examination
annually for anyone who wishes to become a Judge or Public Prosecutor or to go into
private practice. In 1977, 29,214 persons sat this examination but only 465 passed — a
pass rate of 1.6%. A Tokyo Judge who spoke at the meeting in Sydney said: "Though
arguments are made against such an extreme difficulty, it cannot be denied that the ability
and capacity of the successful applicants has been maintained at a very high level by the
examination."
9.10
In general, it seems to me that most of the participants in the Sydney Conference
now believe that the best type of vocational training is a sandwich course, that is a first
course followed by a period of Articles in an office followed by a second course. The view
was expressed that the system we are proposing to follow, which incorporates the sand-
wich principle, may turn out to be the best available in the Commpn Law world. I
sincerely hope that this turns out to be the case.
162
EDUCATION
ADVISORY
COMMITTEE
Maurice Corran
Chairman
Adrian P. Bourke
John F. Buckley
Claire Cusack
Ernest B. Farrefl
Bryan McMahon
David Moloney
Rory ODonncIl
Michael V. CMahony