The Gazette 1977

GAZE1TE

DECEMBER 1977

SOCIETY OF YOUNG SOLICITORS

ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONALE DES JEUNES AVOCATS The Association Internationale Des Jeunes Avocats is an international organisation composed of young lawyers who are keen to foster a continuous exchange of ideas between lawyers in different countries. One of its programmes is to encourage young lawyers to spend a short time working in an office abroad. Contact between young lawyers of all countries has made obvious the differences in professional education and practice in each country. This difference in system is an obstacle to the internationalisation of the profession and the lawyer, confronted with a procedure or a problem to resolve abroad, is generally not sufficiently well informed to deal with it. Usually he will consult a lawyer in the country where the problem has arisen but it is obviously an enormous advantage if he has at least some general knowledge of the manner in which the legal system in that country works. The best means of gaining such knowledge is to spend some time working in a legal office in that country. It is only at the beginning of his career that a lawyer can allow himself an absence of two or three months or more to work in an office abroad, but it is precisely at this time that he normally lacks the necessary contacts to put this into effect. The AIJA has established a Permanent Secretariat for the Exchange of Stagiaires (SPES) in the hope that it can provide the necessary contacts for young lawyers wishing The aim of SPES is to introduce young lawyers to the daily professional practice of other countries and to put them in contact with colleagues who will welcome them. It is important for the office receiving the young lawyer to benefit from his visit; in practice this will happen only if the visiting lawyer has already acquired some practical experience which will allow him to explain the way the law and the legal profession works in his own country. The working of SPES SPES is organised by delegates in each country which participates in the exchange of Stagiaires. The delegates are members of the AIJA and will help young lawyers to find suitable offices in the country they wish to visit. They will introduce the Stagiaires in professional circles and assure him of contact with colleagues of his own age. AIJA has members in all of the countries in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and North and South America and it is therefore able to put together a network of correspondents who are well placed to organise the exchange of young lawyers. SPES works in the following manner 1. A young lawyer makes a request for a stage abroad to an AIJA delegate, a delegate of SPES or by any other means which makes any delegate of SPES aware of his request. to work abroad. Aim of the Stage

2. The candidate fills in an application form containing all useful details for the requirements of the stage and has a meeting with the SPES delegate in his own country. 3. The request thus completed is transmitted by the SPES delegate to his SPES correspondent in the country requested and the latter endeavours to find an office which meets the requirements. 4. The result is notified directly to the candidate as well as to the SPES delegate in the country of origin of the candidate. 5. The candidate makes direct contact with the office which has accepted him in principle and they agree the practical arrangements for the stage. 6. The candidate informs the SPES delegate originally consulted as well as the SPES delegate in the country to be visited of the arrangements which have been made. SPES in the country being visited will undertake to arrange all necessary introductions and contacts in legal circles there. 7. At the end of the stage the young lawyer is required to make a report to SPES on the stage giving full details of his stay with his suggestions, recommendations and criticisms. This report is designed to improve the system for the future and is essential for the proper functioning of SPES. 8. The office which is being visited in its turn gives its observations and suggestions in a similar report to SPES. Duration of stage abroad The aim of SPES is to familiarise the young lawyer with the practice of the profession in another country and to enable him to see how the system works. This knowledge, which arises specifically from the daily practicé of the host office, can be acquired in the course of a very short period; a stage of three months is normal, as this period will not in any way prejudice the professional training or career of the young lawyer in his own country. General The exchange is principally of interest to the young lawyer who has the opportunity to round off his professional education. However SPES also seeks to ensure that the host office will also benefit from the visit and, in order to realise this aim, the young lawyer will only be allowed to undertake a stage abroad if he has acquired some practical experience in his own country.

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