The Gazette 1980

GAZETTE

APRIL 1980

Law, Probate and Trust Law, and Bankruptcy Law. The Family Law standards have been adopted and the Family Law Advisory Commission is now drafting an examination which should be given in April of 1980. The standards for Probate and Trust Law are now being revised following public hearings. The standards for Labour and Bankruptcy Law are now in abeyance pending further study of whether or not the impact of a certification programme in these fields in the near future will be of sufficient importance to the public and the profession to justify the cost at the present time. An Advisory Commission of noted California trial lawyers is currently engaged in the creation of standards in the field of Civil Trial Law. This is an interesting experi- ment in view of the unusual diversity of skills and knowledge involved in the breadth of the subject matter. Quite possibly the field will have to be broken into a series of subspecialities for certification purposes. Although the California PilQt Programme in Legal Specialisation is the first of its kind, it no longer stands alone. Shortly after California initiated its effort, the State of Texas began a certification programme. Florida recently implemented a certification plan similar to that in California. Other States involved in plans directed toward the certification of legal specialists, as shown by the most recent statistics available, are: Alaska Missouri Arizona New Hampshire Arkansas New Jersey Colorado New York Connecticut Ohio

Hawaii Indiana

Pennsylvania Rhode Island Tennessee

Iowa

Kansas Maryland

Virginia

Washington

Massachusetts There is currently under way an evaluation of the certification programme in California for the purpose of ascertaining whether it is having the salutory effects of protecting and assisting the public and upgrading the profession which were the goals of the original Special Committee set up to study^ legal specialisation some thirteen years ago. A master plan has been drawn projecting the certification programme into approxi- mately twenty fields of law by 1985 should the evalua- tion conclude that the programme is worthwhile. Obvi- ously, should new fields be included, the standards for each must remain flexible, and those administering the plan must recognise that the programme is an evolving one and that evolution is the successful adaptation to a changing profession in a changing world.

*Mr Corison has lectured throughout the United States on legal specialization and remains interested in consulting with groups from any area concerning certification of legal specialists.

This article was published in the November 1979 issue of the International Bar Journal and is reprinted here by kind permission of the International Bar Association.

IMPORTANT NOTICE W. King Ltd. wish it known that following the closure of Messrs. Donaldsons Ltd. all letter heading dies held by that company have been passed to us for safe keeping in our die stamping department. W. King Ltd. is now the only stationery company in Ireland with machines capable of producing REAL DIE STAMPED headings. Should you request Messrs. Kings in writing to do so, your die will be returned to you. Your die will otherwise be stored in a proper manner pending your instruction to supply your next order for REAL DIE STAMPED stationery. If you require headings urgently please instruct us at once and we will give your order prompt attention. THIS NOTICE IS INSERTED BY W. KING LTD. LAW STAT IONERS AND PRINTERS 1 8, EUSTACE STREET DUBLIN 2

56