DECISION RESERVED BY COURT

Southland Times, Issue 23634, 8 October 1938, Page 21

DECISION RESERVED BY COURT

APPLICATION MADE BY SOLICITOR (United Press Association). 1 WELLINGTON, October 7. The Court of Appeal today heard an application by Richard Hood Clay for admission as a barrister, on the grounds, in terms of Section 45 of the Law Practitioners Amendment Act 1935, that he had been employed as a solicitor, in the legal department of the Public Trust Office for the last five years. Mr W. H. Cunningham, for Clay, submitted that the Court should, in exercising the discretion given to it by the Act, adopt as the standard of experience required from an applicant employed in a department of State, a standard of five years private practice of solicitor, or as managing clerk to a solicitor. The object of the legislation was, he submitted, to put an employee of a State department on the same footing as private practitioners. Clay had qualified as a solicitor in 1921, and for the last five years had occupied a responsible position as district s°hcitor in the Public Trust office at Te Aroha. For the Law Society, Mr H. r. O’Leary suggested that the work done by Clay was such as is usually done by a solicitor and was not training for the position of advocate because of the limited scope. Mr O’Leary related the history of the 1935 Amendment Act and stated that under it the court was required to inquire into the extent of an applicant s experience when considering an application for admission as a barrister on this ground. As this was a departure from previous practice, it was necessary for the court to adopt some standard of experience required from applicants. The New Zealand Law Society had suggested for the guidance of district law societies a standard of managing clerk in a solicitor’s office, who had held the position for five years. The Court reserved its decision.