A. Pre-listening activities

Be sure that you know the meanings of the following words and word phrases before listening to the interviewwiththe solicitor.

'O′ and 'A' levels, the GCSE exams, a law degree, the Law Society, conveyancing, employment law, contract law, the sale of goods, consumer affairs and company law, an articled clerk, the amount of solicitor's fees,the drawing up of wills, to be competitive within the market place

B. Listen to the interview with the solicitor and fill in the blanks.

Interviewer(I): First of all, could you tell us exactly what your job is and how you obtained your qualifications?

Solicitor(S): Yes, of course. Well, I'm a 1)… in private practice, quite a small practice as it happens. I left 2)… after doing my 'O′ and 'A' levels.

I: The GCE exams.

S: That's right. They're now called the GCSE 3)…, I think. And then, with those behind me, I was able to get into 4)… and take a law degree. From there, I went to a 5)… … and studied for my solicitor's exams.

I: The exams set by the 6)… … .

S: Yes. You take 7)… or 8)… special subjects for the 9)…. In my case, it was conveyancing, employment law 10)...

I: Sorry, could you explain conveyancing?

S: Yes, well, that means everything involved in the sale of land, house conveyancing, estate developments, and so on.

I: Oh, right.

S: I also specialised in 11)… law, 12)… …, the sale of goods, consumer affairs and 13)… … .

I: Not criminal law?

S: No. Not in my case. Anyway, that had been covered to some extent in my university course.

I: I see. And then you were articled, is that right?

S: Yes, you spend 14)… … articled to a solicitor. It's often called 'sitting with Nelly′.

I: Sitting with Nelly? Nelly being the solicitor?

S: That′s right. I have an articled clerk myself at the moment. He sits with me, watches what I do; we very often discuss the 15)…, and he goes and looks at certain points for me...

I: So, you're 'Nelly'.

S: Yes, that's right.

I: And that hasn't changed since you yourself qualified.

S: No, that hasn't changed at all. Neither has the level of pay for the 16)… … .

I: It's very low, is it?

S: I think you could say that, yes. And I know my articled clerk would agree!

I: But the 17)… itself is changing, isn't it? I mean, there have been quite a lot of developments recently.

S: Oh, yes, indeed. One could say that, for the solicitor, the law is becoming less of a 18)… and more of a business. One has to take 19)… considerations into account much more than in the past. The public, quite rightly, are now questioning the amount of solicitor's 20)…, and want an estimate of costs before going to 21)…. And, in the case of conveyancing, we have to be particularly aware of asking the right price for our services. You have to realise that house conveyancing is really the 22)… and 23)… of a solicitor's business, along with the drawing up of 24)… . Up to a few years ago, we used to have the monopoly on 25)… . But now, building societies, who have their own legal departments, are also authorised to deal with this, so our prices have to be 26)… within the market place.

C. Listen to the interview again and be ready to discuss the following points

• Qualifications

• Fields of specialization

• 'Sitting with Nelly′ or being an articled clerk

• The law is becoming less of a profession and more of a business

Part II

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 722