The Gazette 1995

M E D 1 A W A T C H

GAZETTE

NOVEMBER 1995

After Bloomer - The Exemptions for Law Graduates Issue

The Judgment

The Judgment in the case of Bloomer & Ors v The Law Society, Ireland and the A.G. (a case note of which was published in the October Gazette ) was reported in the national newspapers on 23 September 1995. It was reported in the Irish Independent under the heading 'Judge Decides All Students Must Take Law Society Ex am'. The article stated that legislation exempting Irish University Law Graduates from having to sit the Entrance Exam of the Law Society of Ireland had been struck down by the High Court. It went on to say that the ruling arising out of an action by graduates of Queens University, Belfast who had sóught a similar exemption status on the grounds that they had been discriminated against, was handed down yesterday by Miss Justice Mary Laffoy. The article continued: "dismissing all the claims of the 35 Belfast students, who had sued the Law Society and the State for damages, Judge Laffoy went further and toppled the entire exemption regime as it applied to all graduates within the State. Miss Justice Laffoy held that the Belfast graduates had been discriminated against under EU law. However, it followed from her Judgment that the legislation under which the exemptions were granted was invalid. I She found that Regulation 15 of the Society Regulations was ultra vires I the powers of the Society were invalid". ; In the Irish Times on 25 September 1995, an article was published under the headline 'Students to Appeal j Exemption Judgment'. It stated that I the Queens University Law Students whose High Court action resulted last weekend in the loss of exemption for law graduates from the entrance

December 12 had been provisionally fixed for the Supreme Court appeal.

continued: "we are very conscious of the difficulties facing people who were in the system already and who were not anticipating that this would be the situation they would face. We are trying to come up with a solution ! to it and we are taking further legal ! advice at the moment to determine what is actually legally possible for ! us to do." Pat Kenny queried the position of people who opted for law on the basis that they would have the exemption. Ken Murphy replied "well that is precisely the difficulty we face. While we have heard a great deal about the legal principle of "legitimate expectation", it is not something which is very clear in its extent as applied to circumstances like this. Whether it ; would go back even as far as the people you describe, that is again something about which we are j awaiting definitive legal advice."

The Pat Kenny Show

On 18 October 1995, Ken Murphy was interviewed on R TE Radio 1 by Pat Kenny along with Loughlinn Deegan, President of UCD Students Union. Loughlinn Deegan stated that it was very understandable that law students who got very high points to get into law courses are annoyed that they are not going to get the benefit of exemptions into Blackhall Place to the professional training course for solicitors. He said that the students want the Council of the Law Society to make some kind of provision to protect the admission of law students who came into College on the understanding that they would get the exemption. Pat Kenny then turned to the Director General, Ken Murphy for his reaction to the High Court Judgment. Ken Murphy said that the Society had taken its stance in the Bloomer case on the grounds of educational standards. However, as a result of the judgment, one of the Society's Regulations was struck down. The Director General

, Council Meeting - 20 October

A statement was issued by the Law Society on 20 October 1995 as follows "the Council of the Law Society wish to express its deep concern at the position in which

examination to the Law Society will appeal the Judgment to the Supreme Court. In the Irish Times on 6 October 1995, it was reported that a date of

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