Issues

In line with its greatest single export – live cattle – Ireland’s creative talent was traditionally exported on the hoof. This was particularly so with great literary figures such as Joyce and Beckett. The first legal attempt to reverse this flow was by Charles Haughey when as Minister for Finance in 1969, he introduced a […]

The Law Society will be forced to face down a motion designed to abolish its powers to represent the profession at its annual general meeting in July. Newly formed rival the Solicitors’ Association is drawing up proposals designed to split the society’s representative and regulatory functions. If the motion is passed, the society will have […]

Penningtons is axeing more than 20 jobs including some partners as part of a sweeping cost cutting exercise designed to boost profits and put the firm on a sounder financial footing. But senior partner David Stedman has dismissed suggestions that the firm could seek to sell out to another practice. “We have been independent for […]

Ireland’s position as the fastest growing economy in the European Union has paid dividends for lawyers across the country who are reporting one of their busiest years ever. “Ireland is doing well at the minute,” says James O’Dwyer, senior partner at Arthur Cox. “It is a feature of the low interest rates and low inflation […]

Helen Sage Former Lewisham Council lawyer Jane Ramsey has been appointed head of legal services at the London Borough of Merton. Ramsey has been a lawyer at Lewisham Council for six years since she started there in a junior legal post. Before her move she had risen to principal legal officer. While at Lewisham she […]

There was a sharp intake of breath amongst Northern Irish firms when they heard that London-based Kennedys and Dublin-based Arthur Cox were to open offices in the province last year. As one local lawyer said: “After all the years of people not so much as wanting to stay overnight, it is annoying that they are […]

”All of the market survey done by the Bar Council – and in particular the Behaviour and Attitudes report – established that the public in general is hostile to what they perceive as an outdated, unprofessional and greedy profession.” So reads the so-called Blue Book of proposals for reform of the barristers’ profession in Ireland. […]

In career terms, appointment as a partner represents both an end and a beginning. It ends the period of ambition to achieve the goal of partnership as it begins a new era when motivation is based on a new set of personal and professional goals. Instead of satisfying internal judges, in the form of partners, […]

A damning report on firms’ complaints procedures has prompted the Solicitors Complaints Bureau to urge them to stop ignoring clients. The statement comes in response to a Consumers’ Association survey which revealed that 20 per cent of the firms which responded had no complaints procedure and 62 per cent did not tell their clients about […]