Jirtnriau ilar Nrw5 No.5 Published by the Victorian Bar Council , Owen Dixon Chambers, 205 William Street, Melbourne, 3000.
FIRST QUARTER, MARCH 1973
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READING AT THE BAR "Advocacy in even the simplest of cases is a skilled and highly responsible matter, and it is not to the credit of the Engl ish Bar that the law accepts as qualified to practise as advocates those who are not, in substance so qualified . Regarded from the client's point of view, the present position is indefensible; and it is from his point of view that the position ought to be considered. Is not the remedy simple? Why not prohibit practice at the Bar until the completion of twelve months pupilage?" Megarry, Law and Litigant in England ( 1962). In 1872 a General Meeting of the Victorian Bar resolved "that qualification for admission should be the degree of bachelor of laws and that there should be a requirement of one year's reading." The comment of the Australian Jurist on the resolution was: "The condition which the meeting desired to impose, as to the attendance for at least a year in the chambers of a practising barrister, is an undoubted improvement. No man, however well read, can be competent to practise at the Bar, without a training in the actual transaction of business; and if he has to get it after his admission, he will most likely get it at the expense of his clients and his own reputation ." The Bar Council has reconsidered the objects and requirements of reading and its new rulings are published in this issue. Reading should give a new barrister basic knowledge and training in professional skills and in the professional standards and eithics of a barrister . There has been a lot of evidence that the reading system in many cases has not been doing this. Disciplinary hearings have been told that the barrister concerned was unaware of the existence of some basic principle applicable to the conduct of barristers. Eyidence has been called to show that he was so busy in his own practice during his reading period that he hardly saw his master and learnt practically nothing from him . The amount of work available to very junior barristers has meant that in many cases the only benefit received from reading has been the 6 months' free accommodation in ch\lmbers .. It has long been the policy of the Victorian Bar that there should be no economic barrier to prevent the Bar being open to all qualified persons who desire to sign its Roll. A successful career at the Bar should depend wholly on ability. Class or economic position should play no part. The new rulings mean that in the usual case the period of reading will rem ian at 6 months, but a reader will not be allowed to sign the Roll or accept briefs until he has completed a period of 2 months attendance in his master's chambers. During the two months he will see at close hand the way in which his master condutcts his practice in chambers and in court. The Bar Council policy is in line with what was said by Cox many years ago: "It is while reading thus in the chambers of one who is himself an Advocate that the Student should attend with him the courts, at the trial of the cases that have come before him in Chambers . There he will witness to practical application of the rules he has learned; he will understand more thoroughly the purpose of the tactics that had been recommended o r resolved upon ; he will comprehend the meaning of much that appeared obscure, and , having been behind the scenes, he will trace the skill and tact with which the case is conducted, and which are apparent only to those who are acquainted with its difficulties." The Advocate (1852).