Despite the bad weather, over 90 new solicitors joined masters, family and friends for the important event in the legal calendar.

The Registrar of Solicitors, Alan Hunter, presented the newly admitted solicitors to the Society’s President Eileen Ewing and the Lord Chief Justice for Northern Ireland, Sir Declan Morgan.

Ms Ewing told them: “You have become officers of the court and you will, from now on, carry with you the duties and responsibilities that your admission in this jurisdiction entails.”

She added: “As a solicitor and an officer of the court you have a duty to be a professional lawyer. In every case you take, whether it is big or small, remember that it is important to someone.

“For better or for worse, your advice and advocacy as a solicitor will affect and change people’s lives.”

She finished by quoting author Oliver Wendell Holmes: “In what other profession, does one plunge so deep into the stream of life, so share in its passions, its battles, its despair, its triumphs?”