12 solicitors named SC

The latest batch of 12 solicitors join their 17 predecessors who were granted patents of precedence in 2020. Mark McDermott reports.

Law Society President James Cahill has congratulated the 12 solicitors who have been approved by the Government for the granting of patents of precedence. This will allow them to use the designation ‘senior counsel’.

For the first time in 2020, members of the solicitors’ profession were allowed to apply for patents of precedence as a result of provisions of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015.

Mr Cahill said: “We are proud to congratulate our colleagues who have demonstrated the necessary skills, knowledge and experience to become senior counsel, including former presidents of the Law Society – Geraldine Clarke and Stuart Gilhooly – and the Law Society’s deputy director of education, Dr Geoffrey Shannon.

“Solicitors have a unique perspective that they can bring to the role of senior counsel,” the president added, “and we are pleased that the many contributions of our profession to the legal system and administration of justice are once again recognised.”

Of the 12 this year, all are based in Dublin and five are women, while only five of the 25 barristers who have been approved are women.

Raymond Bradley SC

(Malcomson Law, Dublin)

Raymond is managing and senior partner of Malcomson Law, where he leads their health-law litigation team. He is perhaps best known for his representation of victims in the contaminated blood scandal, in which he represented clients in Ireland, Britain and New Zealand. He maintains a cross-jurisdictional law practice in a wide range of health-related areas, including medical negligence, compensation schemes, statutory inquiries, inquests and product liability actions, specifically relating to pharmaceutical and medical-device products. 

Geraldine Clarke SC

(Gleeson McGrath Baldwin LLP, Dublin)

Geraldine is a partner in the litigation and dispute resolution department of Gleeson McGrath Baldwin LLP. She is a past-president of the Law Society of Ireland, and of the DSBA. She has served as chair of the Property Services Regulatory Authority, as a member of the Financial Services Appeals Tribunal, and the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. She is currently a member of the Legal Services Regulatory Authority.

Nicola Dunleavy SC

(Matheson, Dublin)

Nicola has a broad commercial litigation and investigations practice, and co-heads Matheson’s commercial litigation group. She has significant expertise in EU and multijurisdictional cases and in acting as advocate in alternative dispute resolution. In January 2021, she was elected president of Arbitration Ireland – the first female president in the association’s history. She is a court member of the London Court of International Arbitration.

Alison Fanagan SC

(A&L Goodbody LLP, Dublin)

Alison trained as a solicitor with Gore & Grimes. On qualification, she joined A&L Goodbody where, for the past 30 years, she has practised as a regulatory litigator with a particular expertise in planning and environmental matters. She was made a partner in 2000 and became a consultant in 2008, and jointly heads up the nine-strong environmental and planning group at the firm.

Larry Fenelon SC

(Leman Solicitors LLP, Dublin)

Larry co-founded Leman Solicitors LLP in 2007 and managed the firm from 2007 to 2018. He heads up the firm’s litigation department and specialises in resolving construction, commercial property, commercial and sports disputes. He is an experienced dispute resolver and has been a CEDR mediator since 2005. He is a former chair of the Law Society’s ADR Committee, and a committee member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

Stuart Gilhooly SC

(HJ Ward & Co Solicitors LLP, Dublin)

Stuart qualified as a solicitor in 1995 and is a partner in HJ Ward & Co. He practises mainly in the area of personal injuries and sports law. He served as president of the Law Society of Ireland (2017) and the DSBA (2011). He has chaired many Law Society committees, is a member of the Superior Court Rules Committee, and was the Law Society’s nominee for the Personal Injuries Commission, and the Administration of Civil Justice Review.

Damien Keogh SC

(DKA Solicitors, Dublin)

Damien is a construction lawyer, arbitrator, mediator, adjudicator and conciliator with DKA Solicitors, Dublin. He is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, an adjudicator on the minister’s Construction Contracts Adjudication Panel, a CEDR-accredited mediator, and a lecturer at a number of universities and colleges. He co-authored Adjudication Practice and Procedure in Ireland Construction Contracts Act 2013 (Routledge, 2020).

Conor Linehan SC

(William Fry, Dublin)

Conor is a partner at William Fry and head of its environment and planning group. He is active internationally, serving on the IBA President’s Task Force on Climate Justice. Conor was the Government appointee to the panel of environmental law expert arbitrators at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. He is a member of the Advisory Board to the Centre for Law and the Environment at UCC, and the Law Society’s Environment and Sustainability Task Force.

Rachel Minch SC

(Philip Lee, Dublin)

Rachel is a partner in Philip Lee, specialising in planning, environmental and public and administrative law. Her practice to date has primarily involved advising public-sector clients in these areas, with an emphasis on the defence of their decisions in the superior courts. Rachel is a Council member and former chair of the Irish Environmental Law Association (2012 to 2018). She is a regular conference speaker and lecturer (TCD, Law Society and King’s Inns).

Dr Geoffrey Shannon SC

(Law Society of Ireland, Dublin)

Geoffrey is a solicitor and senior lecturer in child law and family law at the Law Society of Ireland. He held the role of Special Rapporteur on Child Protection for the Irish Government from 2006 to July 2019 and was chair of the Adoption Board and its successor, the Adoption Authority of Ireland (2007 to 2020). In 2010, he was appointed by the Government to chair the Independent Child Death Review Group. Earlier this year, Dr Shannon was appointed chair of an independent review into the manner in which complaints in relation to the sexual abuse of children were dealt with in St John Ambulance Ireland.

Helen Sheehy SC

(Helen Sheehy & Co, Dublin)

Helen is the sole practitioner in Helen Sheehy & Co, with offices in Dun Laoghaire. She is an expert in copyright law, particularly relating to recorded music and collective management organisations. Her most significant cases have involved obtaining Norwich Pharmacal Orders against internet service providers to obtain the names and addresses of infringers, site-blocking orders, cases (including the Supreme Court) that involved ‘graduated response’, and others (CJEU) that led to the introduction of new sections of the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000.

Keith Walsh SC

(Keith Walsh Solicitors, Dublin)

Keith is the principal of a four-solicitor practice, author of Divorce and Judicial Separation Proceedings in the Circuit Court (Bloomsbury, 2019), and specialises in family law and mental-health law. He is a multiple recipient of the Irish Law Awards’ Family Law and Mediation Team/Lawyer of Year award. He is an elected member of the Council of the Law Society and a former chair of both the Law Society’s and DSBA’s Child and Family Law committees.

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