Theory and practice - a law unto themselves

LEGAL EDUCATION: Paul O'Connor, Dean of the Faculty of Law, UCD, on achieving the rightbalance between university and professional legal education

THE subject of Irish legal education, like legal education in other jurisdictions, continues to generate centrally important issues concerning the relationship between the universities and the practising profession; the professional development of members of the legal profession; and the role that the professional legal bodies occupy in bringing about the transition of law graduates to the stage of practising lawyers.

In terms of the intersection between academic and professional legal education, fundamental and enduring issues pertain to the responsibility that university law schools and the professional law schools (i.e. those of the Law Society of Ireland and King's Inns) have in respect of the education of prospective members of the legal profession and the type and range of skills and values that they ought to possess.

University legal education cannot, and should not, be viewed in isolation from that which is provided by the professional legal bodies and must take account of the career aspirations of students, the great majority of whom graduate with a law degree and go on to practise law, either as solicitors or barristers.

At the risk of oversimplifying matters, one way of characterising the relationship between the universities and the legal profession in the State is to suggest that there exists between both a functional, yet somewhat fuzzy, division whereby, in the context of legal education, the former embodies an explicitly academic or theoretical dimension and the latter an explicitly vocational or practical dimension.

This suggested division constitutes, perhaps, one of the most important focal points for an analysis of contemporary Irish legal education and its future direction and development.

What, then, should university law schools be seeking to achieve? It is a widely accepted view that they should concentrate on teaching legal analysis, legal reasoning and legal research. In broader terms, the universities should be striving to cultivate an understanding of the legal culture and tradition in which they are located. If, however, it is accepted that there is, or ought to be, a rigid or fairly rigid division of labour between university legal education and professional legal education then questions arise as to what formal role, if any, universities should have in respect of the latter.

Equally, from the vantage point of the professional law schools, should their courses be based on the assumption that university law graduates have acquired a specific kind of education and intellectual formation and are, as a result, possessed with a certain set of skills and understanding of the law? If so, it would imply that, in order to avoid unnecessary duplication, these bodies should seek to equip their students with a distinctive and complementary set of skills - skills that are unambiguously and directly geared towards the practice of law.

One of the major challenges posed within the context of this dichotomy is the need for the professional bodies and the universities to have a clear view of their respective educational missions and how they relate to each other.This distinction between academic and professional legal education is clearly one that merits further exploration. Such further exploration may result in agreement, or at least in a consensus, on what the various stages in legal education, embracing a continuum from university through to practice, are seeking to accomplish.

It is the case that the Law Society and King's Inns rightly exercise jurisdiction and control over those who wish to become solicitors and barristers. In terms of their educational functions they are, however, separate and independent of one another. They are also independent of the universities. In this sense, they act as gatekeepers for entry to the practising legal profession and, as a consequence, retain highly important functions with respect to the education of aspirant legal practitioners.

One of the more important issues that a focused dialogue between the universities and the legal profession might address is whether it would be possible to construct a partnership view of legal education in which the various institutions would devise a coherent educational regime that would complement their respective academic and professional missions. The objective would be to seek to devise a strategic and mutually agreed vision of legal education and plans to give expression to such vision.

There are a range of challenges which confront both the universities and the professional law schools. There are, undoubtedly, opportunities as well. From the perspective of the universities, the provision of student choice, along with the development of new subject areas, is important.

Another of the ongoing challenges within the university sector is the need to secure the co-operation of the academic community as a whole so as to enable appropriate multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary perspectives to be brought to bear on the study of law. This is particularly important if the study of law is to be understood within broader economic, political, historical and philosophical contexts. It is difficult, however, to accommodate these perspectives within the traditional "pure" law degree format.

The thrust of the observations made thus far support the case for greater integration of both academic and professional legal education and advise against the maintenance or adoption of an overly-compartmentalised, isolationist and narrow view of the educational mission of university law schools and their professional counterparts. They suggest the need for a critical review of Irish legal education in its totality and the development of a strategic vision for the future.

As the result of such a review, it is hoped that the challenges, both disparate and common, that legal educators face will be more effectively met and fundamental issues such as the obligations which law schools have to society at large and the educational standards that should be met by those wishing to become practising lawyers be more fully and critically addressed.