The Gazette 1990

GAZETTE

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1990

Younger Members News

the Society and the Chairman of the Education Committee, which letter was included in the December issue of the Gazette. Examinations One of the methods by which time is to be saved is the elimination of the conventional continuous ass- essments tests. These tended to be somewhat sporadic, and were sometimes regarded less than seriously by some of the appren- tices. The new apprentices have been advised that there will be an increased emphasis on the assess- ment procedures. Essentially, at the end of each of the major modules, there will be a three hour written ". . . the [Professional] course is being reduced from 69 days to 50 . . . by compression." paper. This paper will be practice oriented, but will be based upon the entirety of the constituent subjects in each of the major modules. For example, in Conveyancing there will no longer be a separate paper for Planning, Landlord and Tenant Law, Registered Land, and so forth, but one paper in which these formerly separate modules will appear. The results of the four examinations in the major modules, together with the tutors' assessments, and the results of a more conventional con-

Changes in the Law School On 8th September 1989 the Council of the Law Society decided to exempt all law graduates of Universities in the State, with degrees containing the six core subjects of the Final Examination - First Part, from sitting that examination. The result of this is that there will be approximately double the traditional number of apprentices coming through the Law School each year. In the order of 380 are anticipated during 1990, and also during 1991, with some reduction thereafter. ". . . the Law Society [has] decided to exempt all law graduates . . . from sitting [the Final Examination - First Part]" Number of Courses The Professional Course has been shortened. There will be four Professional Courses during 1990, and three per year subsequently. Structure of Professional Course The number of lecturing days has been reduced from 69 to 50. Most modules have now been coalesced into four major modules, which are as follows: Litigation, now including Labour Law and Family Law, Conveyancing, now including New Houses, Registered Land, Planning, Landlord and Tenant, Ground Rents and V.A.T. Probate including Wills and Administration of Estates, Capital Tax. There will also be an independent module in Commercial Law. At the moment, this is being confined to three days, although it is hoped to improve upon this as time and resources permit. Reduction of Time The method by which the course is being reduced from 69 days to 50 days is by compression rather than elimination.

Fundamentally, the entire course has been critically examined, with a view to removing the incidence of duplicated coverage - such as taking of instructions for District Court, Circuit Court and High Court - and further filling up days which had tended to end early. In some incidences a decision has been taken to allot certain portions of the courses to the Advanced Course. For example, in Litigation, the Road Traffic

By A l b e r t P o w e r , Assistant Director of Education, Law School, Blackball Place

Offences Day seems to adapt better to the Criminal Law Module on the Advanced Course. Likewise, the element of Damages in the day on Negotiations can be assigned to the Advanced Course. In cases where it is impossible to avoid some truncation, the preferred rem- edy is to increase the significance of preliminary reading handouts. Co-Ordinators The Education Committee has appointed two co-ordinators in each of the four major modules. The purpose of these co-ordinators is 1. To review and upgrade, or arrange for the upgrading of, the materials being distributed to the students in that module. 2. To prepare, from questions sub- mitted by the individual day consultants, an examination paper in that module, together with model answers. Consultants and Tutors It is recognised that there will be a necessary increase in the pool of consultants and tutors in order to run more courses per year. To that end, a recruitment drive is being embarked upon by the Education Department. This drive has been supported by a circular letter to the Profession from the President of