To the left, almost opposite the Record Office, are the massive offices of the Law Society (Nos. 100-113), which has about 9000 members and controls the education of articled clerks, the admission of solicitors, and the discipline of their branch of the legal profession. Farther on, also to the left, beyond Chichester Rents, an alley whose name commemorates the London palace of the bishops of Chichester (demolished circa 1489), is the entrance to Lincoln's Inn. To the right diverges the narrow street named Southampton Buildings, containing the Patent Office, a large Government institution rebuilt in 1895. It deals with letters patent for the protection of inventions and also with trade marks, designs, and copyright. Abridgments of specifications may be purchased in Quality Court (2/ per volume). The Patent Office Library (204,000 volume.), the finest collection of technical and scientific works in England, is open to the public daily (10-9). The buildings of the Patent Office adjoin Staple Inn on the south.
