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GAZETTE
A
pril
1989
"Dancing with the
Dinosaurs"
A report on t he Cha r i ty Ball held by t he Irish Solicitors in
London Bar Assoc i a t i on
by
Cl i ona M . O ' Tuama B.C.L., A. I . T . I ., Solicitor,
Pres i dent of t he Bar Assoc i a t i on
The Irish Solicitors in London Bar
Association, founded just over a
year ago, held its first Charity Ball
on Saturday 3 June 1989. The Ball
was held in the spectacular
surroundings of the Dinosaur Hall
at the Natural History Museum,
South Kensington, London.
We were honoured to have as our
principal guest the Honourable Mr.
Justice Niall McCarthy, who
delivered a very witty after-dinner
speech. We were also honoured
that Maurice Curran travelled
especially from Ireland for the event
to represent the Incorporated Law
Society of Ireland. The Law Society
of England and Wales was
represented by Bill Blackburn, a
Council member and the Chairman
of the Society's International
Committee. John Randall, the
Director of the Professional
Standards and Development
Directorate of The (English) Law
Society also attended. Also present
was a most distinguished member
of our Assoc i a t i on, Robert
Johnston, a retired partner of
McCann FitzGerald and the current
President of the Confederation
Fiscale Europeenne.
This Association was founded
just over a year ago, principally to
enable Irish solicitors on a collective
basis to provide an effective lobby
to press for progress on the subject
of our re-qualification in the
jurisdiction of England and Wales.
Over the last few years many Irish
solicitors have come to practise in
England, particularly in London, and
this Association now has approxi-
mately one hundred and fifty
members, all of them practising in
London. Indeed, Irish solicitors have
helped to alleviate the severe
recruitment crisis facing the legal
profession in England and all our
members have been very well
received in this country and have
been made feel most welcome by
our respective firms and by the Law
Society.
Due to the lack of legislative
progress in Ireland in making the
necessary amendments to the
Solicitors' Acts, the respective Law
Societies have been unable to enter
into bilateral reciprocal arrange-
ments regarding re-qualification as
between the two jurisdictions. A
vast amount of goodwill exists on
both sides and representatives of
both Law Societies meet on a
regular basis. However, the EC
Directive on the Mutual Recog-
nition of Higher
Education
Diplomas, which was adopted by
the Council of Ministers in Brussels
on 21 December last, has finally
provided the solution for us. Each
member state will have 2 years
from January 1989 within which to
implement the Directive by the end
of the current year.
From left to right:
Mr. Robert W. R. Johnston, Mrs. Noelle Anne Curran,
Miss Cliona M. O'Tuama, Mr. Maurice R. Curran, Mrs. Meeda Johnston,
The Hon. Mr. Justice Niall StJohn McCarthy, Mrs. Barbara McCarthy.
From left to right:
John Randall (Director of Professional Standards and
Development of the English Law Society) speaking to organising
Committee members of the Ball — Anne Counihan, Philip Lee and Cliona
O'Tuama (President of ISLBA).
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