The Gazette 1994

GAZETTE

MARCH 1994

N E W S

UCD Appo i n ts Vi s i t ing Fe l l ow

Bars and Law Societies of the European Community. He is also a member of the International Bar Association's committee on Banking Law and on Issues and Trading in Securities. In his capacity as Visiting Fellow and Adjunct Faculty member Mr O'Connor will play a part in the law school's Master in Commercial Law degree by holding a series of seminars on the following: (i) Some Problems of Merger Control (ii) Acquisitions of Business Assets (iii) Aspects of Take- overs of Publicly Quoted Companies (iv) The Role of the Legal Opinion in International Credit Transactions. Apart from enabling the Law Faculty at UCD to welcome back its alumni, the Adjunct Faculty scheme recognises the valuable contribution which distinguished legal practitioners can make to the law school. Mr O'Connor will join Maurice Curran (Mason, Hayes and Curran) who inaugurated the Adjunct Faculty in January, 1993.

Brian J. O'Connor has been appointed a Visiting Fellow of the Adjunct Faculty of Law at University College, Dublin. Mr O'Connor is a senior partner in the firm of McCann FitzGerald and specialises in corporate and banking law. By participating in the UCD law school's Adjunct Faculty Mr O'Connor is making a contribution to his alma mater where he had a distinguished undergraduate and postgraduate career (he graduated with BA MA and LLB degrees). Mr O'Connor has, over the years, in addition to his busy commercial law practice, played an active role in legal education. He lectured in University College Dublin in Company and Commercial Law from 1962 to 1974, and was an examiner in Commercial Law for the Incorporated Law Society. On the inception of the degree of MBA in 1964 he planned the special course in business law and lectured on the topic until 1974. His publications include: Doing Business The Criminal Law Committee in association with the Northern Ireland Solicitors Criminal Bar Association held its first joint seminar in Dundalk from 11 to 13 February. This seminar provided a forum for solicitors with a particular interest in the area of criminal law to meet with their colleagues from Northern Ireland and to exchange information on the methods of approach to a criminal trial and the protection of clients in custody. The first guest speaker was Alistair Duff, Solicitor, Edinburgh, who represents the Libyans accused of involvement in the Lockerbie air disaster. He gave a broad outline of

Brian O 'Connor, Senior Partner, McCann FitzGerald

in Ireland (1987); Defensive Measures Against Hostile Take-overs (1990); International Mergers (1991); Insider Trading (1992). Mr O'Connor is a former Chairman of the Law Society's Committee on Company and Commercial Law and is currently the Irish representative on the Company Law Committee of the Council of the

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J o i n t Nor th / Sou th S e m i n a r o n C r i m i n a l L a w

j forensic evidence in the preparation of a defence to a criminal charge.

the Scottish criminal process before specifically dealing with the rights of clients in custody. This talk provoked an animated question and answer session during the course of which we learnt with considerable interest of the adverse conclusions that can be drawn in the North when an accused elects to remain silent and the undertakings that are sometimes required by the authorities before a solicitor can gain access to a client in custody. The following day, Dr. Noel Spence, a forensic scientist, originally from Belfast and now based in Cambridge, gave an extremely useful and informative talk on the subject of

The Committee would like to thank Dermot Lavery, Solicitor, Dundalk, for a most entertaining after dinner discourse on certain aspects of the Irish Constitution, Roger McGinley, President of the Louth Bar Association for the welcome afforded j by him to all participants, and James MacGuill, Barra Mugrory and Ciaran Steele who undertook most of the work in organising what turned out to be a most successful event and one which the Committee hopes to repeat in the not too distant future.

Criminal Law Committee

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