The Gazette 1964/67

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

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.