THE LEGAL PROFESSION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22710, 24 October 1935, Page 10

THE LEGAL PROFESSION

SrNCE the Law Practitioners Bill has been promoted by the Law Society itself and is directed principally at affording protection to the public, it may be accepted as a measure worthy of genei'al commendation. It is designed to arm the Law Society with extended powers that may be exercised in disciplining members of the legal profession who are, after inquiry, held to be guilty of misconduct. The profession had already instituted measures, under legislative authority, whereby persons who have entrusted moneys to members of the profession for investment may be protected against the risk of loss through dishonesty on the part of those members, and the Bill, which has now been passed by the House of Representatives, serves as a fresh indication of a jealous regard on the part of the society for the honour of the profession. In the course of the consideration of the Bill in the Lower House, one clause, which had been considerably amended by the Statutes Revision Committee, was finally dropped—not, however, without protest from two lawyer members. It proposed to make it a punishable offence for unqualified persons to draw up certain types of documents or to give legal advice in expectation of direct or indirect reward for this service. The Prime Minister, in stating that the clause would be expunged, gave no explanation for this decision save that there were "some objections to it." The impression is left that the provision has been discarded not because it was wrong or undesirable in principle, but merely because at this stage of the session there might be some opposition to it. Actually the proposal contained in the clause was reasonable and well-inten-tioned. Curiously enough, no objection seems to have been made to another clause which, on the face of it, is likely to press hardly on the newly-fledged practitioner. It provides that after May, 1939, no person who qualifies as a solicitor shall commence business on his own account, or as a partner, until he has had three years' experience in a law firm or State legal department. The court is authorised in stipulated circumstances to waive this restriction. The value of experience in law as in any other profession is incontestable, but it is conceivable that it is only in practice on bis own account that a person who has qualified as a solicitor may obtain experience. Certainly it would have been difficult for all the freshly-qualified solicitors in the past few years to secure engagements in either law offices or Government departments, and the effect of this provision, if it had been applicable to them, would have been to postpone for considerably more than three years the period at which they might commence practice.