For over half a century, until the destruction of the Four Courts in 1922, the Society of Attorneys and Solicitors provided legal education for apprentices in a purpose built lecture theatre in the former Solicitor’s Building in the Four Courts (now the Law Library).

As always, it was impossible to please everybody, and the above clipping from the Freeman’s Journal of 2 December 1873 features complaints by a solicitor and an apprentice about various aspects of the service provided – although the complainants understandably differed about the necessity for ‘searching examinations’ of students on a twice-weekly basis.