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‘Speak up for legal system’, new solicitors urged

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has told newly qualified solicitors that, while it is easy to criticise the legal system, it must be defended. 

Catherine Pierse was speaking at a parchment ceremony in Blackhall Place (24 October), where more than 60 graduates were welcomed into the profession. 

The DPP told the event that her relationship with the law had “ebbed and flowed” during her career, and that, over the years, she had received an education in the system’s imperfections – including problems with access to justice, and delays in resolving issues.

Pierse added, however, that it was important for those working in the legal system to defend it and speak up for it. 

‘Support the rule of law’ 

The functioning legal system in this country was “not a given”, the DPP said. 

She told the new solicitors that they had a role to represent and support the rule of law. 

“The main way to do that is by acting with honesty and integrity,” she stated, adding that this sometimes involved “no small amount of courage, as “hard questions of integrity and honesty” arose. 

Challenges ‘closer to home’ 

President of the High Court Mr Justice David Barniville, who also addressed the ceremony, urged the new solicitors to reflect on the “serious challenges” that lawyers in other jurisdictions faced daily. 

He added, however, that such situations could arise closer to home, referring to the monthly feature on endangered lawyers in the Gazette each month, which recently featured Dublin-based immigration solicitor Imran Khurshid. 

The High Court President said that the solicitor had been the subject of “appalling online threats”, and commended the Law Society for issuing a strong statement in support of Khurshid. 

“We must all stand up to that type of appalling conduct, which amounts to a fundamental attack on the rule of law,” he stated.