The Gazette 1993

GAZETTE

law and materials which are available to Apprentices on the Professional Course and Advanced Courses of the Law School of the Irish Law Society. As the law changes, a new edition could be brought out. With desk top publishing, it has never been easier to publish material from an in-house base. One appreciates that there are economies of scope and scale which make it easier for institutions to publish such guides for the United Kingdom market. However, consideration should be given to a similar series in Ireland. Other titles in Blackstone's Legal Practice Course Guides relate to civil litigation, conveyancing, criminal litigation, lawyers' skills, wills, probate and administration. By Kerry O'Halloran BL, LLM, Msc, (COSW), Butterworths Ireland Limited, Dublin 1992, £40.00 Hardback. The preface to this bound book announces that the prevalence of adoption in Ireland and its importance to so many is not reflected in the published material available. To those practitioners who deal with this area of law on a regular basis and indeed to all practitioners, these words will ring very true. Practitioners are well served by Alan Shatter's Family Law in the Republic of Ireland and Paul O'Connor's Key Issues in Irish Family Law, however these excellent works do not focus exclusively on adoption law and practice although they are in themselves invaluable finger posts for the searching practitioner. This is the first Irish book exclusively devoted to the area of adoption and on that basis alone this reviewer purchased the book as soon as it became available. The cover of the book is remarkably similar to that of Marriage Breakdown in Ireland by Dr Eamonn G Hall Adoption Law and Practice

in to three main parts. Part one dealing with the adoption process, part two with the procedures and forms, and part three with the legislation in force. Part one of the book deals with the adoption process and is a very challenging read for the legal practitioner. The author comes from a background in social work and law. The book endeavours to satisfy the requirements of both disciplines. Legal practitioners may well find this part of the book somewhat esoteric in that the sociological and conceptional analysis at times obscures the description of the process being outlined. Significantly, despite this academic slant, the work does not contain a detailed analysis of the case law although it does very usefully cite many unreported judgments. Unfortunately, the text offers limited guidance to the practitioner dealing with the practical problem of advising an unmarried father who wishes to obtain guardianship rights under the 1987 Act or, indeed, a single mother who wishes to resist such rights being conferred by virtue of her desire to marry and adopt I her child into the new family unit. Issue could also be taken with the author's reference to the legal position in England which at times can be confusing if not followed through by the reader. Part two of the book deals with the procedures and forms most frequently dealt with by practitioners and drawn from the Adoption Rules, Rules of the Superior Courts, Adoption Board circulars and inter-agency practice guidelines. There is cross referencing between parts two and three making these sections of the book extremely useful. This part will be an invaluable reference for the practitioner in advising prospective adoptive parents as to what the procedure to be followed will be like and the current practice requirements. These may be more stringent than those set out in the legislation. It is very useful to be aware of the practice and current procedures in this area. The book acknowledges that the procedures set out in this part may well change. However, by bringing together an outline of current practice requirements and the sources

to accomplish big things he must do so, per force, with the assistance of mediocre men, prima donnas, self- seekers and, unless he is unusually lucky, a smattering of idiots. It may be argued that the measure of the success of a businessman is based on his ability to blend this uncompromising amalgam into a working team which will get the job done with a minimum of mayhem. Whatever about the inevitability of mediocre men, prima donnas, and self-seekers, few businessmen can survive without reference to lawyers. The businessman is not expected to have a knowledge of business law, but he or she must know when to consult a lawyer and to abide by rules of law. Blackstone's Business Law Guide is based on the long established Solicitors and their Business Clients Insolvency" syllabus of the UK Law Society's Final Examination. That book has now been revised and rewritten to meet the demands of the UK Legal Practice course. The first part of the Guide deals with partnership law and practice. The second part deals with company law and practice. In each of these parts, the authors have concentrated on the essential background law which all trainees must study for the UK Law Society's Legal Practice course. The third part of the Guide deals with taxation. Taxation is examined both from the point of view of the business itself and from the point of view of the proprietors and investors in the business. There is also a short section in the Guide on EU law. Insolvency (both in relation to individuals and companies) is dealt with in a separate part of the Guide. The last part of the Guide considers, inter alia, shareholders' agreements, debentures, making and interpreting a company search, accounts, sale of a business to a company, public companies and distributorship or marketing agreements. book which was aimed at the "Business Organisations and

Duncan Scully, well known to practitioners as one of the most

Having read the Business Law Guide, one comes to an inevitable conclusion: practitioners in Ireland would benefit enormously from the publication of the

readable and practical of text books. Adoption Law and Practice is divided

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