The Gazette 1958-61

PRESENTATION OF CERTIFICATES

OF ADMISSION

On November 24th the President at a ceremony

in the Society's library presented certificates of

admission to the undermentioned solicitors. In his

address to the newly admitted solicitors the President

said :

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Starting in life you have the advantages of youth,

ideals, ambitions and hopes that have no limits.

wish you one and all success, and, what is more

important, the qualities of character and mind upon

which success is based. Every individual forms his

own idea of the meaning of the word " success ",

but the attainment is chimerical unless it involves

bringing happiness and contentment to those with

whom we come

contact—our families, our

clients, the members of our profession and the

community among whom we live.

One's mind easily spans oceans and covers space.

So, too, youthful ambition may leap from youth to

greatness without considering the hard climb and

the steps that lead upwards. Only by hard work,

constant endeavour and persistent application can

the beginner in any profession attain success. There

is no easy way and no magic carpet to carry the

young solicitor from the receipt of his certificate

today to success in his profession.

You all start from the same point, even though

you may not be equally equipped at the starting

point. The traits which will bring you success are

character, work and knowledge in that order. Some

have already, by their industry as students, cultivated

habits of self-sacrifice, concentration and applica

tion ; some, by their interest in games and debating

societies, will have learned that it is more important

to play according to the rules than to win; some,

by the help which they have given their fellow

students in their studies and the interest which they

have taken in their student and college functions and

societies, will have realised

the importance of

unselfishness. Be that as it may, he must now start

again on a new life.

Youth is impatient of results.

Entry into a

profession merely means that a young man has now

attained sufficient knowledge under tuition and that

he is in a position to study on his own. A bachelor's

degree in a profession, as the name baccalarius shows,

is merely a laurel berry or the smallest seed of

honourable study.

It is only by developing that

seed and maintaining your studies throughout your

entire professional careers, you can hope to be

masters of the subject. The presentation of these

parchments, therefore, does not imply the end of

your studies, but rather the beginning of your

studies without formal tuition. Concentrate your

minds on each aspect of your work from the small

technicalities of the most methodical methods of

filing, accounting and record keeping through the

technical knowledge of the rules of law applying

to each case, to a knowledge of the legal background

where those rules fit into the general system of

jurisprudence.

It would be well perhaps if that

study could be done for a few years in an office

where you will get a good general training. From

study, there will come knowledge and self-confidence

and the ability to help one's clients and the courts of

which you are officers.

Industry and knowledge are, however, of little

use, unless they are associated with character. In our

profession, one needs perhaps a stronger character

than in most other services, as there are more

temptations in one's way. One meets nature in the

raw when feelings are high and perhaps the worst

traits in the characters of one's clients are for the

moment predominant. Never let your zeal run

away with your discretion. Remember that you

exist to see justice is done and not to perpetrate an

injustice by chicanery and remember also that even

though your primary obligation is to your own

clients, you also owe a duty to your opponents not

to do anything unjust.

The good solicitor will, as a rule, be unselfish.

He will

interest himself in matters outside the

sphere of his own personal affairs. He will take an

interest in his profession generally by joining his

local Bar Association and the Law Society and the

Solicitors' Benevolent Association, and he will

interest himself also in the community around him.

The following solicitors

received certificates.

Michael E. Binchy, M.A. (N.U.I.), Gortskagh,

Charleville, Co. Cork ; Robert E. Blakeney, B.A.,

LL.B.

(T.C.D.), Abbert, Saval Park, Dalkey,

Co. Dublin; Michael G. Cody, Bagenalstown,

Co. Carlow.

isf place final examination June, Gold

Medal, Findlater Scholarship ;

John B. M. Doyle,

B.C.L., LL.B. (N.U.I.), Rosbercon, New Ross,

Co. Wexford ; Dermot F. Bouchier Hayes, B.C.L.

(N.U.I.), 43 Lr. Leeson St., Dublin.

ist place third

law examination September ;

Peter F. B. Houlihan,

Athenry, Co. Galway ; Robert B. Haythornthwaite,

B.A., LL.B.

(T.C.D.), Vallombrosa, Bray, Co.

Wicklow ; Thomas Jackson, 11 St. Stephen's Green,

Dublin;

John O. Lee, B.A., B.C.L. (N.U.I.),

Anchorville, Connaught Ave., Cork; Brian O.

Lyons, 25 Castle Park, Monkstown, Co. Dublin;

Godfrey F. McDonald, 28 Dublin Street, Carlow;

William

J. McGuire, Attymanus, Kilnagross,

Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim.

4th place final

examination June ;

Richard R. Pierse, B.C.L. (N.U.I.),