The Gazette 1978

GAZETTE

JULY-AUGUST 1978

month advanced course; he will do the final examination second part at the end of the professional course and the final examination third part at the end of the advanced course. Assuming he has passed the Second Irish examination and completed his Indentures, the apprentice is then ready to be admitted to the Roll of Solicitors. The attention of practitioners and of intending apprentices is drawn to the Society's publication "How to become a Solicitor" the latest edition of which is being posted to each practitioner and which may have been received when this article appears and further copies of which can be obtained on application to the Society.

objectives for the particular exercise and identifying the part of his case file that he is demonstrating; he then sets a parallel exercise which the students proceed to do — in their work-room — under the supervision of a tutor for each group. Tutors will be solicitors with 2/3 years practical experience since qualifyingl The Tutors will assist the Consultants in the preparation of course material, ensure discipline in the groups, advise those in need of guidance, assess the performance of each student and — in conjunction with revolving members of each group — act as rapporteur in feeding back information to and identifying problems for the consultants and the Law School staff. Like the Consultants, the Tutors will devote one to five days to each course but some may find themselves able to go on for more than five days. Indeed, it is hoped to recruit two tutors for a full year perhaps by secondment from some of the larger offices. The emphasis will be on "doing" by the students and subsequent appraisal and correction by the Consultants and Tutors. As Stuart Gullickson of the University of Wisconsin has said "the lecture method — an appropriate method to learn theory — cannot teach skills, for skills can only be acquired through performance". The lecture will not disappear as a vehicle of instruction because students cannot approach areas of practice without some prior knowledge of the legal theory in that area but the lecture will run into the demonstration by the Consultant: much stress will be placed on the students attention to advance reading which will not, however, be diffuse. Before the apprentice enters the Law School he will have completed a Law Degree or alternatively will have completed the one year course of instruction which will be provided in the six core legal subjects of Property, Contract, Tort, Constitutional Law, Company Law and Criminal Law. The proficiency of each student will be tested in the first part of the Final Examination so that the student will be ready for the intensive half year's course and will at the end of the course be able, for example, to effect the purchase and sale of residential property, take insturctions for the making of a will, draft and secure the execution of the will, extract probate of the will and administer the estate; he will be able to form limited liability companies advise on tax matters, complete income tax and capital tax forms, he will be able to bring and defend actions in the Superior and Lower Courts in criminal and civil matters, act for a sponse in a matrimonial case, assist a worker who feels that he has been unfairly dismissed, and act for a tenant seeking a renewal of his tenancy. In short, all the things he will meet in day to day practice in the first couple of years of his life as a solicitor. This should make him a very useful member of his masters office when he leaves the law school to enter his period of eighteen months "in-office" training as an apprentice. This new style apprenticeship involves heightened obligations by master and apprentice. It is likely that master as well as apprenti9e will be asked to attend a preliminary interview, records of office attendance and performance will be kept and the Society will have a monitoring role. This uninterrupted eighteen month period will afford the master an opportunity of giving the apprentice the individual attention needed by a trainee solicitor while the latter will quickly become a productive unit in the office; it is essential that the apprentice gain experience in all the areas of practice in which the office engages — excessive specialisation or streaming is inimical to the concept of apprenticeship. The apprentice then returns to the Law School for a two

SYS Correspondence on "Women and the Law" (continued from page 120) makes of the law an obsession to occupy all of his days and his evenings must suffer in his development as a human being. This will do nothing for his ability to relate to his clients and to deal with their affairs. To encourage your employees to believe that law is more important than life is to promote cynicism and will not help them in serving the interests of their clients. The practice of law is a job and as an average female Solicitor I am determined to do that job well, even should I break a leg, have babies, get married or suffer from any of the other ills the flesh is heir too. Don't tell me any man could be expected to do more! Yours faithfully, A Female Solicitor.

SOCIETY OF YOUNG SOLICITORS AUTUMN SEMINAR

The Autumn Seminar is scheduled to take place in Wexford on the weekend of 21st October. The topics which have been selected are: (1) Review of the Law of Damages for Breach of Contract. (2) Reservation of Title. (3) Liability of Builders to Subsequent Purchasers. (4) Part Performance of the Statute of Frauds. Further details will be issued shortly.

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