The Gazette 1974

s »dered that the College of Law should be the chosen 'Nstrument. This minority felt that the solicitors' branch of the profession, having in recent years been prepared fa pay articled clerks, would instead accept the idea of subsidising th College of Law by means of a levy, a n d at a recent National Conference such a view did ^Ppear to receive support. It was considered by the yrmrod Committee that Government assistance for the Important task of training the legal profession should be farthcoming either directly or through the University ^rants' Committee. It has, however, become clear faat the Government will accept no financial respon- sibility whatever for the implementation of the Orm- r °d proposals. The Education and Training Committee considered faat in these circumstances they must, before coming ? any decision, investigate the possibility of Universi- ties and Polytechnics running courses in conjunction H h the College of Law or indeed taking over the er »tire running of the courses as recommended by the Majority of the Orfnrod Committee, and consultations fa°k place to explore these possibilities. There is no .University which has, as yet, been able to commit ! ts elf, though some Polytechnics have expressed an 'nterest in running Vocational Courses. The task of j^nning the courses entirely ourselves through the Col- of Law would be a big task. I believed, at the Jfae of the Ormrod Report, and I still believe now, Nat the College of Law should, if possible, conduct N e se courses so that The Law Society would, through Ne College of Law, be in control of the content of the purses and set the standard of entry to our profession, u t this may not be possible, and arrangements with s °nie Universities may prove possible. f In his Presidential Address to our Annual Con- (( ^ence at Harrogate in 1957, Sir Ian Yeaman said— * ne first obligation of our profession is to secure faccessors who will carry on the traditions of the past in the future provide the public with the legal ffvices which they will increasingly want". He was .Nen advocating the abolition of premiums on entry •nto articles and the payment of articled clerks. In the Ranged circumstances of the present, it had seemed ° nie that the plea which Sir Ian then made and which a s accepted by the profession, should now be applied a different form of payment; for solicitors would no Nnger, if the proposed new system of training came ° u t , have any articled clerks to pay. residential address on Ormrod Committee p ^oon after the beginning of his year of office, a resident of The Law Society is required to deliver his Naugural Address to our National Conference. He may Peak on a variety of topics—often of national or inter- actional concern. When my turn came, however, last etober, I felt that there was to me but one compelling °P 1C > and that I should put before the profession the Proposals of the Ormrod Committee, the considera- ,Q ns behind those proposals, and the difficulties and | X Pense of their implementation, and ask the profession c ° r their views. I felt that without their support we >° u ld not go ahead. In the result the Council of The av v Society issued a Consultative Document to every fa e mber of the profession. They have since organised ^ Se ries of 12 meetings throughout the country and we ., ave recently received the views of our members trough their Local Law Societies. I am bound to say a t I am disappointed at the sparse attendance, both fae meetings which we arranged and at the meetings

of Local Law Societies. Nevertheless I think that a general pattern of views has emerged of which we must take note. The profession it seems are generally in favour of the concept of a practical course, but as an adjunct to articles. They wish there to be also a fairly stiff test of knowledge of substantive law. They do not appear to cavil at making some contribution to the education of the future generation of lawyers, but wihin limits. All this we shall have to consider and I cannot now tell you what the answer will be. For myself I hope that we shall be able to institute a practical course which will raise the standards of all new entrants. This could be in conjunction with some Uni- versities or Polytechnics, but I do not consider that we should ever contemplate handing over the entire con- trol of practical courses to such institutions. Our own College of Law must, in my view, be engaged up to the limit of its capacity, so that The Law Society through its own College may set the standard to which other courses should conform. One other thing I told the National Conference at Torquay, I was impressed to read the other day some- thing of the history of the formation of The Law Society. It was ot a meeting held at Serle's Coffee House on 29 March 1825 (when it was decided to appoint a Committee to draw up a scheme for sub- mission to a General Meeting of Subscribers) that The Law Society owe" its existence. This General Meeting was held quite soon afterwards on 2 June 1825 and it was on that date that our Society was born. What impressed me was that at this very first meeting when there were only 223 members, and the entire profession consisted of 2400 practising attorneys, it was resolved to purchase land for the erection of a suitable building for the Society and to raise £50,000 for this purpose. The money was raised and the first part of The Law Society's Hall, namely the central portion including the Entrance Hall and Reaidng Room, was actually opened in 1831. I am told by a banker friend that the equivalent value of £50,000 at that date is at least £400,000 today, so that one can appreciate having regard to their number, the immense en- thusiasm of our predecessors at their very first meeting. I may add they subsequently raised further monies for the extension of The Law Society's Hall and we must surely value the heritage which our predecessors left us. Have we a similar enthusiasm to theirs? Might our difficulties be in part met by a fund raised in cele- bration of the Society's 150 years of existence in the year 1975? Education and training continuous So far I have talked mainly of initial training before qualification, but education and training must continue throughout professional life. If we have any initial training sought to lay a foundation we must erect a building and maintain it. Much of our learning will come from our experience and from our own reading and studying, but this takes time and there can be no doubt of the need for courses to assist the profession in acquainting themselves with the new laws which are constantly introduced. There is need also, I suggest, for courses in which we can learn of particular branches of law in which we may become involved. What is called "Welfare Law" is a case in point. We require also to learn of other professions and of businesses, so that we may understand their language and how they help us and we them. Such courses are increasing and 153