The Gazette 1978

GAZETTE

DECEMBER 1978

LAW SOCIETY SPOKESMAN CRITICIZES POINTS SYSTEM OF ENTRY TO UNIVERSITIES AND OUT/DATED TEACHING METHODS IN LAW FACULTY

unsuccessful tutorial system was not a contributory cause. He urged the Faculty to consider the introduction of modern teaching methods including the use of audio visual equipment. He indicated that he could not see any grounds for conflict between the interests of the Universities and that of the Professions in so far as the education of students in the Law Faculty was concerned. All the profession required of the University was that its graduates should have achieved a basic level of competence in the main areas of the Law. If this was achieved he had no doubt that such graduates would be quite capable of coping with the many new demands which were made on the practising Lawyer. He also expressed disappointment at the response which the Law Society's scheme for publishing legal text books had received from the Law Faculties of the Irish Universities. 7th December, 1978. We have been asked by our Clients — a major Irish public company — to invite applications from qualified Solicitors to fill the above position in its subsidiaries. The successful applicant will probably be: Aged 25/35. Possess a wide and varied post-qualifying experience. Be ambitious to make a career in commercial life. Be able to work with existing Management personnel. The duties involved will include responsibility for the legal aspects of a wide variety of commercial transactions including Debt Collecting, Letting Agreements, Company Secretarial Work, etc. Replies should give full details of educational attainments and career to date. Present or previous employers will not be contacted without your permission. Salary and conditions of employment by negotiation at interview. Apply to: A. & L. GOODBODY, Solicitors, 31 Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin 2. Ref: MGD/SOLR. FULL TIME COMPANY SOLICITOR

Speaking at the inaugural meeting of the Law Society of University College Dublin John F. Buckley, the Chairman of the Education Committee of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland, criticized the points entry system which was being used exclusively by Universities to determine the quality of entrants to various faculties including the Law Faculty. He asked why, when aptitude testing, in the form of the Law School Admission Test, had been successfully used by all American University Law Schools of standing for upwards of 30 years, our Universities continued to adhere to a purely mechanical system of assessing results in examinations taken by students in subjects which they would not be studying at the University. He said that there was a growing belief that not only were students of quality being excluded from entry to professional faculties simply because they did not reach the high points entry level required but the high failure rate in first year examinations in the Law Faculty suggested that many of those who had achieved high points levels had no aptitude for the study of Law. He called upon the Universities to review their methods of testing for entry. He regretted, as a graduate of the College that he had to draw attention to the fact that Law Graduates of the College had a substantially higher failure rate in the Law Society's Professional Examinations than the graduates of the other two Law Schools which granted primary degrees. While undoubtedly the unsatisfactory staff/student ratio was a contributing factor he could not help but wonder whether reliance on old fashioned lectures coupled with the half hearted and clearly The Council of Europe draws the attention of law graduates in its member States to the Fellowship Programme for European legal studies and research. Grants under this programme (average duration: 6 months) can be awarded as a contribution toward the cost of study projects relating to problems of comparative or international law of European countries, in any branch of law except EEC Law. Applications must be submitted before 15 March 1979 through the intermediary of national liaison offices. EUROPEAN LEGAL FELLOWSHIPS 1979

For further information contact: The Directorate of Legal Affairs, Division II, Council of Europe, 67006 STRASBOURG Cedex, France. or The Secretary, Department of Justice, Room 308. 72/76 St. Stephen's Green, Dublin 2.

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