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GAZETTE
N E W S
UCD Appo i n ts Vi s i t ing Fe l l ow
MARCH 1994
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
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
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.
•
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
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
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
j forensic evidence in the preparation
of a defence to a criminal charge.
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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