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GAZETTE
APRIL
.
1993
Meeting with Chief Justice and tour
of Supreme Court
The admission ceremony itself was
followed by a reception during which
there was an opportunity to meet
some of the Supreme Court judges,
including Mrs. Justice
Sandra Day
O'Connor,
whose husband, as you
could expect, is Irish, Mr. Justice
Antonin Scalia,
Mr. Justice
Kennedy
and Mr.
Justice Warren Berger,
a
former Chief Justice. This was
followed by a very interesting lecture
on the history of the U.S. Supreme
Court, after which the immediate
past President of the Society,
Adrian
Bourke,
the Director General,
Noel
Ryan,
and I had an opportunity of
paying a short courtesy call on Chief
Justice Rhenquist. Chief Justice
Rhenquist recalled with fondness his
visit last year to Ireland during
which the Law Society had hosted a
lunch in his honour in Blackhall
Place. He was not at all put out, he
said, by the ferocity of the attack
launched on him earlier that
morning by his colleague Mr. Justice
Blackmun. He seemed to treat it
very much as if it were in the nature
of the job to be subjected to that
kind of criticism from time to time
by a colleague. He told us a little
about the history of the court,
mentioning, in particular, his
predecessor Mr. Justice
William
Howard Taft
who had previously
been President of the United States
(and is the only person in the history
of the U.S. to have been both
President (1909-1913) and Chief
Justice (1921-1930)), and who was
responsible for the building of the
Supreme Court edifice. Before that,
the Supreme Court was, in fact,
housed in the Capitol but Taft had
felt that, in order to underline the
separation of powers and the
importance of the independence of
the judiciary, it should be moved to
a separate building and this was
done in the 1930s.
Lunch and Reception at Irish
Embassy
The events of the day were rounded
off by a lunch hosted by The Irish
Lawyers Association of New York in
the Hyatt Regency Hotel at which we
were entertained by three very
interesting and amusing speeches -
one from U.S. Supreme Court
Justice Antonin Scalia, the second
from our own Mr. Justice
Anthony
Hederman,
who was the principal
guest of the Irish Lawyers
Association at the admission
ceremony, and the third from former
congressman,
Brian Donnelly
(of
Donnelly visa fame) who, as readers
will be aware, now appears to be the
front-runner for the position of
American Ambassador to Ireland. In
the evening, the entire group were
guests at a reception given by the
Charge D'Affaires,
Joseph Lynch,
at
the Irish Embassy.
Conclusion
The events of our visit brought
home to us, if indeed such were
necessary, the success and the very
high profile now achieved by Irish
trained lawyers in the United States,
particularly in New York. They are
now an important force in the city
and many are in positions of
prominence with leading U.S. law
firms. Quite a few are Irish-trained
solicitors, members of the
Incorporated Law Society of Ireland.
As you would expect, they are very
keen to maintain their links with the
Law Society and, to this end - if
for no other reason - the visit to
Washington for the admission
ceremony was a very worthwhile one.
The events in the court itself on that
day also underlined the very political
nature of the U.S. Supreme Court
and caused reflection, in the light of
the reintroduction of capital
punishment in many of the States,
on the life and death nature of some
of the decisions the court is called
upon to make.
Finally, a special word of praise to
Brian Farren
of the New York firm
LeBoeuf, Lamb, Leiby & MacRae
(United Kingdom), who is the
current Chairman of The Irish
Lawyers Association of New York,
for his excellent work in organising
the admission ceremony and for the
invitation to the Law Society to
participate.
•
Raymond T. Monahan
ICEL Programme
The Spring/Summer Programme of
conferences being staged by the Irish
Centre for European Law (ICEL)
has as its theme: 'Doing Business in
the Single European Market'. The
remaining conferences in the
programme are:
Saturday 3 April, 1993. Jury's
Hotel, Cork.
Refresher Course in EC Law for
Munster based
Practitioners/Businesses
Friday 23 April, 1993. 2.00 pm,
Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin.
Company Law
Saturday 15 May, 1993. 9.15 am,
Arts Building, Trinity College
Dublin.
The Legal Control of Public
Undertakings
Friday 28 May, 1993. 9.30 am,
(venue in Galway to be
announced).
Refresher Course in EC Law for
Connaught based
Practitioners/Businesses
Friday 11 June, 1993. 2.30 pm,
Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin.
A European Perspective on Trusts
or
Health and Safety at Work.
Attendance at any of these
conferences costs £45.00 per
conference to ICEL members and
£85 to non-members.
Applications for details of
membership, or reservations for any
of the conferences listed above, may
be made by contacting the Irish
Centre for European Law, Trinity
College Dublin 2. Tel: 7021081. Fax:
6794080.
•
TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS
AND
THE ISLE OF MAN
Samuel McCleery
Attorney - at - Lav and Sofctor of PO Bat 127 In
Grand Turkjufka and Calcoa Itlands, British Wast
Indies and at P. O. Box 7. Castletown. Isle of Man
will be pleased to accept Instructions generally
from Irish SolIcltors In the formation and adminis-
tration of Exampt Turks and Calcoa Island
Companies and Non - Resident late ot Man
Companies as well aa Trust Administration
G.T Office:-
1M: MM 946 2818 Fax: 800 0462819
I. O.M.Office
Tel: 0024 822210 Ttlex: 62828S 8amdan Q
Fax: 0624 823700
48