The Gazette 1989

JULY 1989

GAZETTE

Younger Members News Report of Meeting of Joint Legal Education Committee at Edinburgh in May, 1989 By Professor Richard Woulfe

reducible to t wo years after a certain number of Continuing Legal Education points are accumulated. England and Wales have a require- ment of minimum mandatory Con- tinuing Legal Education for all solicitors within three years follow- ing admission. The others sought from the dele- gates from the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland agreement for their Societies to move ahead wi th reciprocity before the enactment of the new Solicitors Bill into law in the Republic of Ireland. This agree- ment was confirmed by the t wo delegates of the Society who recognised that there was no prospect of the other Societies unilaterally easing moving to the jurisdictions of Irish solicitors in advance of the repeal of the Irish language and app r en t i cesh ip requirements presently imposed on them by the Republic's Solicitors Act, 1954. The Society's delegates thought there was a reasonable prospect that the repeal of these requirements would be in force before the next joint legal education committee meeting to be hosted by the Law Society of Northern Ireland in May 1990. The t wo Societies in Ireland will need to discuss problems arising from qualification in both parts of the island, particularly in relation to discipline, the compensation fund and professional indemnity. On the latter point, an English solicitor practising on the border with Scotland or an English solicitor practising as such in Paris or Brussels could get an endorsement on his professional indemnity policy extend- ing cover extraterritorially in respect of his "practice as a solicitor". The other three Law Societies have Regulations forbidding - and it is a disciplinary matter - a sol- icitor from engaging in practice in areas in which he is not competent.

The Law Society of Scotland hosted the 1989 meeting of repre- sentatives of the Education Com- mittees of the four Law Societies within the islands of Ireland and Britain. The meeting was held on Friday, 26th May under the chair- personship of Mrs. Dorothy Dalton, convenor of the Legal Education Committee, and Professor Richard Woulfe, the Director of Education. Much of the morning session was given over to the item of greatest interest to the Society, namely reciprocity of qualification within the t wo islands and the E.C. Directive on Mutual Recognition of Higher Education Diplomas. Mr. John Randall reported on the progress of the University of Birmingham study into legal educa- tion and training in all the countries of the European Community. An update on the position will be given by the University at the next meeting of the working party on reciprocity of qualifications which will be held at Redditch on 12th July, 1989. The University hopes that the study will be the standard study used by legal education authorities throughout Europe. On reciprocity of qualifications, the present position is that there is no reciprocity as between the Republic of Ireland and any of the three legal jurisdictions in the United Kingdom. As between those jurisdictions, concessions to ease movements are granted if the migrant solicitor is already qualified for three years or longer in his home jurisdiction. Anyone qualified for fewer than three years has to take the full examination cycle and undergo the same training require- ments as anyone else seeking to qualify de novo as a solicitor in the host jurisdiction. All four Societies have agreed to do away w i th the three year qualification requirement in the

home jurisdiction before concess- ions are granted. Neither the Law Society of Northern Ireland nor the Incorpor- ated Law Society of Ireland plan to impose an examination on solicitors migrating to either jurisdiction from England and Wales. The Training Committee of the Law Society will be presented in the autumn wi th a paper on the examination system and the Chairman of the Training Committee Mr. Richard Harvey, indicated that there would in all likelihood be a modest examination, largely concerned with Conveyanc- ing but also examining the aware- ness of the candidate of the differences between his home legal system and the system in England and Wales. The Law Society of Scotland had moved away from its present 14 hour examination to propose an exami na t i on in Conveyancing, Succession and the Scottish Legal System. Scotland does not propose to impose any restriction on practice once the migrant solicitor has been admitted to the Roll in Scotland. The three other Societies have or contemplate a requirement that the migrant solicitor would hold a restricted Practising Certificate for not more than three and not less than t wo years after admission in the host jurisdiction. Professor Woulfe brought to the notice of the Committee the difference in the nature of this restriction between England and Wales on the one hand and Northern Ireland on the other. The only restriction placed on a newly qualified solicitor in England and Wales is that he may not set up as a sole practitioner within three years after admission. The restrict- ion in Northern Ireland is that such a solicitor may not set up in practice on his own but neither may he enter into a partnership for a three year period which period is

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