The Gazette 1974

branches of our law and will equip himself for further learning in later life. There too, he will meet with students of other disciplines and increase his general educational background and his knowledge of his fellow men. Up to the present time there has been a great tendency to regard pre-qualification training as designed to produce the complete solicitor who has been taught all the branches of law which he will need to know in practice. We frequently receive suggestions for many subjects to be added to the syllabus, but we must get away from this mode of thinking. A concentrated course designed to teach students to answer questions in a detailed examination on many subjects is not now the best way to produce a trained mind with the inclinatin to continu elearning in the years ahead. Potted law learned parrot fashion is not the best method. The same reasoning has been illustrated by Bishop Creighton, who said : "The one real object of education is to leave a man in the condition of con- tinually asking questions" and, by Professor Skinner, who said—"Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten." This is the pholosophy behind the proposal in the Ormrod Report of a Law Degree as the first stage in academic training. Law Degree necessary Now it would be possible to have a Law Degree as the first stage in training with an improved Part II Examination and then continue with two year articles, as we have now. But the Ormrod Report goes further. Complaints by articled clerks about the quality of their articles are not new. Our old friend the Select Committee of 1846 said this—"It is a general com- plaint on the part of articled clerks themselves that very little attention is paid by the solicitors to the direction of their studies. In fact it can scarcely be expected from solicitors in any degree of practice, their time is so much occupied with the duties of their profession that they can scarcely take up the points which are requisite for looking after their education." And the Report goes on to say how an articled clerk is left almost entirely to his own discretion; which comes as a shock to our ideas of a more leisurely age with the solicitor as a kindly turor to his articled clerk. Today we have other problems as well, mere numbers for one thing, the narrowness of some practices and I am sorry to say the low standards of some. In the last fifteen years there has entered a new factor in the consideration of articles. The articled clerk in England no longer pays for the advantage of being in his principal's office; he is in nearly every case in receipt of a salary. In the modern world this is right, but it has, however, brought about a basic change in attitudes. The articled clerk may have come to regard himself as an employee and to consider himself as entitled to a salary commensurate with the value of the work which he has learned to undertake. In the same way a principal may consider himself as an employer and regard the articled clerk as just another fee earning member of his staff. Such attitudes are the negation of the whole conception of apprenticeship, and the articled clerk is in danger of becoming in effect a clerk employed in one branch of work without the benefit of learning in a broader field. Vocational course recommended Therefore, after reviewing these and other imperfec- tions of articles the Ormrod Report recommended a

Vocational Course of one year, to be followed by a period of restrictive practice in a solicitor's office. Th e idea of the course is that it should train students in the practical work involved in the application of the law in the types of transactions commonly dealt with by solicitors at the start of their careers. During this type of course, practical instruction in law new to the student would be introduced, as it arises, such aS Revenue Law. In addition there would be instruction on certain branches of law not studied at Universities, but of which an entrant to a solicitor's office should be aware, and there will also be (and I stress this) instruction on professional conduct, accounts, office organisation and a background general knowledge relat- ing to other professions and business affairs with which a young solicitor should be equipped. There would b e some degree of continuous assessment throughout this course, and at the end an examination posing problems such as are met in practice. The examination would be on matters actually taught on the course, as laid down by The Law Society. The object of the course and examinations would be—"to eliminate the incompetent and the indolent"—this again is to quote the Select Committee of 1846; as to the object of a professional examination, it is my strong belief that such teaching of sound principles and procedures as would be given to every new entrant to our profession would, as the years pass, raise the general standard of entrants to practice and be of vital importance for the future. G» course experience in an office would then be essential- Pilot vocational course The Council of The Law Society accepted the O r m r od Report in principle. They decided that (subject to exceptions for graduates in other disciplines, mature students and Legal Executives) a degree in would become the first stage in qualification as a solici- tor, and they authorised the College of Law to prepare a Pilot Vocational Course to take 240 law graduates! but there are difficulties in starting such a course, and in arranging for the expansion of similar courses take the entire entry to the profession. I think here thaj our problem must be much greater than yours would be, as we estimate having to cater for about 20™ students per year. This type of course involves much more tutorial time than does the giving of lectures and leaving the reading to the students as we do at present- Hence there is a greater demand for classroom accom- modation and a vastly increased demand for teaching staff, for a larger number of smaller classes. This ah adds up to the major problem, that of cost—expend on buildings, the expense of salaries, etc., which wih have to be met. The majority of the Ormrod Committee though 1 that the Vocational Courses should be provided by 3 limited number of Universities employing special teach- ing staff. It was suggested that the College of La^ might in some way be associated with or absorbed by such Universities for the provision of the special type of course required. It was conceded that the pr°' fessional bodies must have a powerful influence ove r the courses. An optimistic view was formed that th e University Grants' Committee would make funds avail- able to the selected Universities. Profession to retain control of education The minority of the Ormrod Committee, of whon 1 I was one, wished that our branch of the profession should retain absolute control of the courses and con- 152