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GAZETTE
N E W S
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 1996
Careers á La Carte
L-r: Colm Quinn, Centre Reinsurance International Limited; Ann Kelly, Irish Travel Agents Association;
Ceraldine Hynes, Careers Advisor, Law Society and Graham Hanlon, Doyle Hanlon, Solicitors.
On Thursday evening thefirst of August,
six young solicitors, all qualified within
the past four years and all working in
different career areas, came back to
Blackhall Place to address an assembly of
apprentices and recently-qualified
solicitors. The objective was to provide
those who are entering the jobs market
with someflavourof the variety of em-
ployment available to solicitors and to
give these 1996'ers food for thought
and, hopefully, for action about their
own careers.
Thefirst contribution came from David
O'Donnell, Legal Counsel with
Management International (Dublin)
Limited, an IFSC company which is a
subsidiary of Bank of Bermuda and
service provider to the mutual funds
industry. David gave a user-friendly run-
down of the funds industry, describing
his role as a lawyer in the teamwhich
manages "collective investment
vehicles". He also outlined the broader
IFSC picture where some 400 companies
engage in a range of activities including
treasury, insurance, banking and leasing.
On the subject of employment prospects
in the industry, David was very positive
indeed, seeing both legal and
management opportunities for solicitors
in this young and burgeoning sector.
Ann Kelly qualified in 1994 and worked
with A&LGoodbody until she became
Legal Adviser to the Irish Travel Agents'
Association last year. She had a particular
interest in European affairs and languages,
reflected in her degree (BA in European
Studies) and European Law Diploma.
Ann's job with ITAA comprises a range
of functions from representing the
interests of the travel industry by lobbying
European parliamentarians in Brussels to
acting as company secretary and in-house
legal adviser as well as giving direct
advice and information to members of the
association. This latter role involves
presenting legislation in a clear and
digestible form to travel agents and front
line counterstaff in the industry. Ann
described her job as extremely varied and
enjoyable: there is also a constant
challenge involved in working in an
industry which is becoming more and
more regulated while serving an increas-
ingly aware and demanding consumer
base. As a consequence of this trend, tour
operators are increasingly recruiting
j
solicitors for their customer services
divisions. Likewise, other trade associ-
ations outside the travel industry employ
lawyers for both legal and non-legal work.
ColmQuinn was admitted to the roll of
solicitors in 1993, having collected an
MBS en route. In 1995, he joined Centre
Reinsurance International Limited, an
j
IFSC company, where he is employed as
an underwriter. The company had
specifically targeted legally trained
professionals when recruiting for this
position, reflecting the significance of the
legal dimension of the job. Colm's
particular brief involves quantifying the
effects of legislative developments on the
assessment of insurancerisks but also
includes dealing with contracts and
monitoring Regulations. He sees
solicitors as competing with accountants
for jobs in thefinancialservices sectpr in
general, but in his view, there is no
reason why the legal profession should
not be more widely represented there.
When Maria Costellofinishedher
apprenticeship in 1995, she was certain of
one thing: that the life of a solicitor in
private practice was not for her. So, with
a B.Comm, LLB background and
"absolutely no p.q.e", this Limerick lady
set out tofind a job to suit her. It turned
up in the form of an offer from Irish Shell
to join their legal and public affairs
department. The legal content of the job
is concerned with such matters as licence
and agency agreements, site acquisitions
and the business of sales and distribution.
Public affairs for the company can range
from environmental issues in South
America to political concerns in Africa
and managing them can involve attending
conferences in London orfielding the
media at home. Maria clearly enjoys the
variety and challenge of the job and sees
potential for solicitors in similar
organisations to move internally into
areas such as management or marketing,
should they so wish. Herfinal advice to
others in her position was not to become
too obsessed with gaining the magic post-
qualification experience and not to worry
if therightjob does not come along
straight away.
Philippa Howley also offered reassurance
to newly-qualified solicitors who might
despair that they have no "big commercial
experience" on their CV. Her own
apprenticeship with a medium-sized firm
gave her a good grounding in general
legal practice and on this basis she
secured herfirst and current job with AIB
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