VIEWS OF LAW SOCIETY

Evening Star, Issue 19000, 23 July 1925, Page 2

VIEWS OF LAW SOCIETY

PRESENT SYSTEM UNSATISFACTORY On behalf of ibo Council of tho Dis-f.ri-.-t Law Society Sir J. B. Cilian, jun (dean of the Law Faculty), stated that he was confidant that the New Zealand Law Society was dissatisfied with the present state of legal education; but up to the present no concrete j noposals as to tho exact form improvement should take had beou agreed upon. That the subject was engaging tho attention of the profession pure apart from tiro occurrence of the present Commission was further illustrated by the articles and letters that had appeared in Buttorworth’s fortnightly law notes. A feeling of grave dissatisfaction with the present system of training and testing law students had been felt by the profession for a considerable time. ]n New Zealand a person might bo, and generally was, entitled to practise both as a barrister an i a solicitor. The groat bulk of tho profession spent—some of them all their time, and tho rest of them the groat part of their time—at work which in countries where the professions were divided was the work of solicitors, not of barristers. The qualifications of solicitors seemed, therefore, to bo a question of more general importance than the qualifications of barristers. It was admitted that the training or testing of those who desired to be barristers was in a satisfactory position. The present point was that the training and testing of those who desired to be solicitors affected a much greater number of members of the legal profession. A substantial majority of tho persons now holding the qualification of a barrister had reached that result by five years’ practice ns a solicitor, and not by any examination beyond those examinations they originally passed to qualify themselves as solicitors.

Tiiis consideration made more cogent the contention that tho consideration of vital importance was the qualification of solicitors—what tests they were compelled to undergo before being allowed to practise, and what training and teaching were available for students who aspired to bo solicitors. Tho whole course of .seven law subjects could ho, and sometimes was, accomplished by an intelligent youth in two years from matriculation—but no one could be admitted as a solicitor before the ago of twenty-ono. 'There was no requirement as to articles in New Zealand, nor any requirement whatever as to practical work, and it was not a very unusual thing for a man engaged in some other occupation—the civil service or the teaching profession—to study for and pass hia solicitor’s examinations when the law allowed him to lie admitted and to practise as a solicitor, although ho had never been employed in a solicitor’s office. Tho detects of this system wore obvious. Tho most outstanding were: (1) Too low a standard of general education; (2) the study of tno technical professional subjects by candidates at an ago when they had neither tho experience of life nor the development of mind sufficient to enable them to grasp tho subject matter of their studies. A competent practitioner could not bo turned out in two years, though our existing syllabus and course encouraged that' ambition. His contention was that the course should occupy not less than four years and Mould bo scientifically arranged in accordance with the natural development of mind and growth of experience,_ and should proceed from general principles to concrete rules When students were endeavoring to study subjects for which neither their ago, experience, nor previous education had prepared them, when they_ wore endeavoring to study too much in too short a time in order to have tho hateful nightmare of examinations' well behind them, and .when they were studying these subjects often iu an jllogical and inverted order, it necessarily happened that they trusted to memorised statements of principles only very imperfectly appreciated, and had little capacity for and little interest in their practical application. Another serious defect was that nowhere was there any les, in book-keeping or accountancy. Tho training afforded tho embryo solicitor might not have, and generally did not, include anything whatever in the way of accountancy, and he was not tested or examined in any way as to his capacity to keep correct accounts of his clients’ moneys. By a curious and unfortunate • conti nst tho accountants included a considerable training iu various brandies of law in their course. There would appear to be at least equal reason for a solicitor knowing something about the rudiments of tho accountant’s business as there was for an accountant knowing a good deal about tho rights and duties of trustees, and receivers, mercantile law, law of bankruptcy, and tho law of joint stock companies. A solicitor, and still more so a barrister, was, iu his practice, constantly finding it necessary to have some understanding of accountancy if ho was to advise his clients intelligently on the problems presented to him. How could a member of the legal profession give intelligent advice as to income tax, adjusimeiu of partnership disputes, adjustment of dispute.? between life tenants jnd remaindermen, etc., unless ho had the capacity to understand a balancesheet and a knowledge of the usual and proper method of preparing balancesheet and profit and loss accounts? It was admitted that tho University of Now Zealand could not be held responsible for the absence from the solicitor’s course of any requirement of practical

work. But it was submitted that other defects which it was claimed exist were defects for which the University was responsible, because the judges had in effect delegated to the University the appointment of examiners and the prescription and standard of the examinations. In England persons desiring to bo admitted as solicitors served under [ 'articles for five years, reducible to four years or three years in certain cases. They passed 'three examinations, the first of which was a preliminary examination in subjects of general education. The matriculation examinations of certain universities wore accepted in lieu, and the preliminary examinations must be passed before legislation of the articles, and the articles must be registered within six months of their date. Then there was an intermediate examination in'gcneral law and elementary questions on trust accounts and book-keeping. The final examination covered the field which in New Zealand was covered by the seven law professional subjects, but covered it according to a somewhat different classification. Before the English student came to these technical studies the authorities had been satisfied of his general educational acquirements. He had had after that some years’ practical experience as an articled clerk, and he had had some training and testing in the groundwork principles of law and in elementary accountancy. Ho submitted that the product of such a system must necessarily be more fit to discharge his important duties than the product of our system.

As a teacher, lie constantly found himself torn between the desire to explain to students things they ought to know but did not, and the necessity of ' covering the ground in his subject during a session of six months. In his opinion, teachers really ought to bo teaching students how to find their way about the law; how to get to the kernel of any problem that was presented to them; where to look for their law and how to find it quickly; and how to use the text-books, law reports, and precedent books that ■were in after life to be their tools of trade. The present course gave them practically no opportunity and no time for doing any of these things, and students wore successfully passing the written examinations and going to earn their Hying as solicitors who had not been trained to do these tilings. The council of the Otago Law Society had instructed him to raise the question that, if four universities ensued, to what body or bodies would ho committed the functions as to legal education at present discharged by the University of New Zealand? It was inconceivable that there should bo committed to four separate universities the function that had in the past been committed to the University of Now Zealand. To do so would load to the existence in a small country like New Zealand of four separate standards of fitness for admission to_ the profession. In the opinion of his council, the idea of one Law School for the ivhole dominion was mischievous absurdity, because it must lead to the accentuation of the divorce of theoretical study and practical experience. The council had come to the conclusion that there should be in at least each of the four centres a fully equipped and complete legal school. It thought also that the lecturers in at least the law professional subjects should he men engaged m the actual practice of their profession. His council found itself driven to the conclusion that if there wore to be four universities there must he some body outside them all to maintain the standard of the legal education. The members of such a body ought to be members of the legal profession. In England those matters were, in a large measure, in the hands of the profession through the Incorporated Law Society and the Council of Legal Education, subject to some supervision by certain members of the Judiciary. It might bo a very excellent thing if some such body constituted from the legal profession itself came into existence in New Zealand whether or not the separation into four separate universities ensured. The profession has been slow to assert itself, and a very bad position had arisen which it was not easy to remedy. There was ground also for dissatisfaction with the qualifications required "of barristers. It was extraordinary that the candidate for an LL.B. degree was allowed to take his second division subjects before his first division subjects or to take them up together. He was allowed to erect Ins top structure and to come back later and lay his foundation, or ho might, if he chose, cm baric on both operations together. 'The council supported the following recommendations, but obviously recommendation 1 and 2, which merely amounted to trilling amendments of a system in need of radical revision, were m its judgment of little importance compared with recommendations 3,4, d, and 6:—(1) A higher standard ot general education; (3) a course of at least four years progressively and scientifically arranged; (3) practical work in some fo rm ; (4) some training and testing in elementary accountancy ; (o) a law school in each centre;; ((i) the continuation of a national standard for the maintenance of which the profession itself should he the body principally responsible.

In a supplementary statement Mr Calla.n directed particular attention to tlio following points.;—(l) The whole to])io of legal education is in the hands of n council of which the judges arc members, and in which both tlio University and the profession are represented. It is not in the hands of the University alone. (2) The requirements made by this council have been revised as recently as. 1921, and consist of: (1) Preliminary examination in general knowledge in which Latin is essential; (2) practical experience in an office ijormally for four years; (3) examination in law. Victoria had pointedly indicated that in its opinion the Now Zealand requirements are inadequate. It would admit practitioners from England, Ireland, Scotland, or other States of the Commonwealth without examination and without practical work, but it would not admit a Now Zealand practitioner unless he served for five years as a clerk and was rc-examined m law. In Ngw South Vales there was a barristers’ admission board and a solicitors’ admission board, and there were similar boards in Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, and Tasmania.

The handing over of the whole control of legal education to the University as was done in Now Zealand seemed to burden the University with a function which was not the function of a university in England or in Australia. It might be a function in which the University should have a share as was accomplished hy the Victorian .system.

Mr J. C. Stephens said ho agreed with Mr Callan’s evidence in its entirety, but ho would like to make one or two comments. There wuis the (juestion whether a student should spend the time in which he was studying cultural subjects in the University or whether he should go into an office as soon as possible. Ho thought a student should gp into an office as soon as he could, as ho would thereby acquire a legal atmosphere and a knowledge of legal ways.

Mr Tate; Would there not be ,a tendency to make a moss of cultural subjects if limy wera taken in conjunction with office work? Mr Stephens went on to express tho opinion that tho Senate should mend its ways, and that if it could be arranged the legal profession should be represented on it. If it were responsible to the people they would get a syllabus that would satisfv the profession. A course of study that would satisfy the profession was wanted. With "regard to the representation of the profession on the Senate he was very stiougly of opinion that the present conditions must be altered. They must either have representation

of the legal profession on the Senate or they must have some outside body, because at present they could not £<st anything clone by the Senate. Outside of the centres the question of distance really did not matter, because no matter what college a student attended he would have to pay board.