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of different classes of legal service, whether court
work or some other speciality is involved.
In the smaller firms where there is a lesser
degree of specialisation and where the tendency
is for one man to do all types of work, the oppor
tunity exists to become reasonably proficient in
many fields of law. The difficulty arises when he
takes on a complex case or one in which he is
inexperienced but this problem is less important
in Canada than it would be in Ireland for the
legal publications in Canada are vastly superior
to those here. In my experience, careful prepar
ation in the office library enabled me to tackle
problems or cases in Canada that I would find an
impossibility here.
The great disadvantage of the combined pro
fession in a practice where court work and office
work is done is the chaotic state in which office
work becomes after a day or two in court. Office
work must be done in the morning, at the midday
adjournment and again in the afternoon when
the court rises. At the same time, further prepar
ation for court is often necessary and either this
or the office work must suffer. This is an unsatis
factory way to run an office for appointments
have to be cancelled, correspondence remains un
answered, telephone calls accumulate, typists can
not be kept busy and clients' business generally
suffers. If there are other lawyers in the office,
urgent work can be apportioned but this upsets
their routine and is not acceptable to clients. It
is quite impossible in fact to carry on efficiently
the two types of practise.
The only way of dealing with office work and
court work at the same time is by night or weekend
work when cases can be prepared after normal
offk.i hours. This expedient is only satisfactory for
the lawyer who takes the occasional case, if health
and family life is not to suffer.
Canadian Solution to Difficulties of
amalgamation
In all the larger centres in Canda the professions
have artificially split and, as mentioned, many
firms have full time counsel who do no office
practice at all. As previously mentioned, there are
several firms in Toronto, to my knowledge, and
likely elsewhere, that do counsel work only and
they are briefed by other law firms who do not
engage in court work or who require the services
of a specialist. Apart from specialisation in the
sphere of court work, there is a higher degree of
specialisation in other matters. For example, I
know several taxation lawyers, mining law experts
and corporation and insurance law specialists.
In the provinces of smaller population, special
isation is not developed to the same degree. As a
result, clients sometimes are obliged to seek expert
assistance in Toronto or Montreal and sometimes
counsel are admitted especially to conduct a case
in a province other than their own.
The amalgamated profession works quite well
in Canada as a sort of compromise but subject to
the
limitations
and disadvantages mentioned.
However, supporters of fusion of the professions
here cannot, I
think, baldly cite that fact in
support of their views because there are many
differences between Canada and Ireland particu
larly in the tremendous area of Canada and its
relatively small population. As already pointed
out, the profession tends to divide itself into barri
sters and solicitors and indeed into different types
of solicitors in areas of more dense population.
One of the factors which eases the problem of
practising as a barrister and solicitor in Canada
and being a
jack-of-all-trades
is
the' excellent
system of law reporting and the wide range of
legal publications available. Law reports of all
judgments of any significance are available within
a matter of weeks of the decision (although I
have heard this criticised as being too long) and
the reports are abridged annually. Likewise, the
federal and provincial statutes are available within
a short time after the Parliamentary Sessions and
the statutes are revised every ten or fifteen years.
The frequent revision of the statutes enables the
law to be ascertained quickly and easily, as all one
has to do is refer to the latest revision and possibly
one or two amending statutes during the period
following such revision.
The Canadian lawyer who
is
faced with a
court case can turn to his library for assistance
and, even if he has only the vaguest idea of the
subject with which he is dealing, can by a few
hours' application ascertain the relevant statute
law and case law. One can then at least face the
court with some knowledge of the principles in
volved in the case.
Conclusions
In my view, fusion of the professions in Ireland
would be an artificial contravention of the natural
evolution. If it is effected, it is certain that special
isation would have to continue and as law and
practice continues to become more complex, as
evidenced by increased statute law and regulation
over the years, further specialisation is inevitable.
The present separation of the professions enables
the public to obtain legal services at moderate
cost
from a general practitioner
in
the
first
101