The Gazette 1989

SEPTEMBER 1989

GAZETTE.

FROM THE PRESIDENT c The admission of much greater numbers will mean that we must immediately increase the capacity of our Law School as the existing facilities accommodate only some 150 students per annum. We en- visage that this figure may double within two years. Not only will these changes have major implica- tions for the system of training but they will also involve a commitment by the profession to accept a much greater number of apprentices than it has in the past. It is my experience that the bigger offices are taking on more, and more apprentices as the years go by. They apprecitate that the best way of obtaining good solicitprs is to grow them inside their own offices. I would urge country and smaller practitioners to take the same view and to grow their own future associates and assistants. It is important for students to realise that in addition to passing or

td. from page 308. securing exemption from the en- trance examination, they must also pass the First Irish Examination, become apprenticed and spend some time in a solicitor's office, before they can enter the Law School. I want to pay tribute and issue more than a word of thanks to the consultants and tutors in our Law School. They have borne the heat in the kitchen over many years and I hope will continue to do so despite the inevitable increase in the number of courses. I would have wished to have involved them in the steps taken before the new direction was taken but I am sure they understand that this was not possible. Our examiners t oo deserve our best thanks. They have carried out their duties in a pro- fessional manner, exercising their independent function in all respects as it should be exercised. In the Law Society, we are all

very excited w i t h this new development. In effect we have decided that it is not for us to determine or concern ourselves with the question of employment for solicitors after they have qualified. If someone decides to become a solicitor and achieves the necessary standards, then it is not the responsibility of the Law Society to ensure that there are job opportunities for such people when they qualify. However, having said that, I do hope that between the opportunities available here, in the U.K. and further afield in the Single Market not only in private practice but in Industry and in other fields, the products of our system, all of whom will be well trained, will be able to find satisfactory positions properly remunerated. We look forward to the challenge of the 90s and of the 21st Century. MAURICE R. CURRAN.

In defence of the Law Society's examiners The following is the text of a letter to the Editor of the Sunday Tfibune from Maurice R. Curran, President of the Law Society. The letter was printed in the Sunday THbune of 24th September, 1989.

SIR — In the Sunday Tribune of 10 September, an article appeared in which I was quoted as saying: "There is no hidden agenda. We have wiped the slate clean. We have abandoned the use of the exam as a control mechanism. Our second exam will have to change because we are to make our course shorter to get more students through. If the course is shorter, it will be more exam orientated." Since some 80% of those entering the Society's Law School will no longer be subject to its entrance examination obviously the control of entry to the school effectively shifts to the universities which produce the law graduates. When I was speaking of the exam- ination, therefore, I was speaking of future control of entry to the Law School and it was in this context that the Society was 'abandoning control'.

The public are now aware of the changes made by the Society earlier this month in the require- ments to enter its Law School and these have been generally wel- comed. They benefit both law graduates and candidates other than law graduates. It is clear, however, that a campaign, deliber- ately orchestrated, is afoot to discredit the Society's Entrance Examination. The Society is fully satisfied with the integrity of the examination. The preparation of each examination paper and the marking of the scripts are con- ducted under the supervision of external examiners all of whom are distinguished academics drawn from universities in the Republic. The scripts of all candidates even remotely approaching the margins of a pass/fail or a compensation level are checked by the external

examiners. This ensures that any initial unevenness among internal examiners is picked up in good time. The suggestion that the exam- iners received instructions from the Society to 'stiffen the examination' is as absurd as it is untrue. To suggest otherwise is an insult to committed practitioners and to distinguished academic lawyers of unquestionable probity and standing. The Society has at all times been concerned and will continue to be concerned with the maintenance of the highest levels of professional competence among solicitors. Maurice R. Curran, President,

Incorporated Law Society of Ireland, Blackhall Place, Dublin 7.

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