212 / 462
GAZETTE
JU
LY/AUGUST
1991
mony but the Law Society arranged
a special ceremony for Irish
solicitors, which was held at the
Law Society on 19 March. As well
as the original 68 solicitors
admitted on 15 January, other Irish
solicitors who had been admitted
between then and 19 March also
attended the ceremony. In total 82
Irish solicitors were presented with
their admission certificates by Tony
Holland, the President of the Law
Society, on 19 March. This cere-
mony took place in the very lovely
Common Room at the Law
Society's Hall in Chancery Lane,
London.
The President took the op-
portunity to make a speech about
the Law Society's attitude and
policy to Europe and pointed out
that the Law Society was the first
such institution in Europe to be in
a position to admit lawyers from
another Member State under the
terms of the Directive. Indeed the
Directive also applies to profes-
sionals other than lawyers and no
" . . . the [English] Law Society
wes the first such institution in
Europe to be in a position to
admit lawyers from another
Member State under the terms
of the Directive."
other "competent authority" in any
Member State has been in a
position to allow the relevant
professional people from another
Member State to re-qualify in its
own Member State. The Law
Society can be justifiably proud of
this achievement and certainly Irish
solicitors in London were all
impressed with the courtesy and
efficiency which we experienced
from the Law Society here. Let's
hope that the Irish Law Society
follows their good example!
I anticipate that there will be
several more Irish solicitors
admitted here in the course of time.
There are approximately 150 Irish
solicitors practising in London and,
while they might not all have
rushed to ensure that they were
admitted on the earliest possible
date, they will no doubt apply to be
admitted in due course.
To celebrate the achievement of
the principal aim of this Associa-
tion, we hosted a reception at the
Law Society on the evening of 19
March, to which we had invited, as
well as our members and their
guests, representatives from both
Law Societies, partners from major
London City firms and from major
Irish firms, representatives of the
larger Irish companies and
institutions with a presence in
London and other legal dignitaries.
The reception was a tremendous
success and was enjoyed by all
those present.
The success of the reception is
due in no small way to the
generosity of William Fry, which, as
all Gazette readers know, is one of
the leading Irish firms, who had
very kindly offered to sponsor the
reception. Without William Fry's
help, we would not have been able
to host any form of celebratory
event. We were particularly grateful
to Owen O'Connell and Dan
Morrissey, who had travelled from
Dublin specially for the reception
and to Gerry Halpenny, the resident
partner in William Fry's London
office.
On my own behalf and on behalf
of the Association I would like to
extend our special thanks to Tony
Holland for the way in which he
conducted the admission cere-
mony. All those present were
impressed by the fact that he took
the time and trouble to say a
few words to everyone as he
presented them with their certi-
ficates. We were very honoured
that he and his wife Kay came to
our reception. Thanks are also due
to John Hayes, the Secretary
General of the Law Society, and
John Randall, the Director of the
Professional Standards
and
Development Directorate.
Unfortunately, the President of
the Irish Law Society, Don Binchy,
was unable to attend the admission
ceremony and reception but we
were very pleased that Professor
Richard Woulfe travelled from
Dublin for the events. He was
invited by the Law Society to join
the "platform party" supporting
the President at the admission
ceremony. The President was also
supported by Peter Johnson, the
Chairman of the Law Society's
Training Committee, and Alastair
Nicholson, the Chairman of the
Soc i e t y 's Transfer Casework
Committee, both of whom had
been involved in the re-admission
process.
I would like to thank Professor
Woulfe for his help throughout in
connection with the re-qualification
issue. Also, I would like to thank
Don Binchy for his assistance,
especially when he was Chairman
of the Education Committee. We
are also grateful to Tom Shaw,
Maurice Curran and Ernest
Margetson for the support which
they gave to this Association during
their respective Presidencies.
On a personal level, I am very
grateful to our Honourary Secretary
James Healy for all his help in
connection with the organisation of
our celebratory reception. His
secretary Anne Taylor deserves a
special word of thanks, as does my
own secretary Sarah Wing for all
her help.
The Association was delighted to
hear of the appointment of our Vice
"Although we have achieved our
principal aim, this does not
mean that the Association will
now disappear."
President Anne Counihan as legal
adviser to the newly-established
National Treasury Management
Agency in Dublin. Unfortunately for
us, this means that Anne has had
to leave London but we are
delighted to know that she will be
flying the flag of the Association in
Dublin.
Although we have achieved our
principal aim, this does not mean
that the Association will now
disappear! We intend to continue to
represent the interests of Irish
solicitors in London and to raise the
profile of Irish solicitors here. We
shall of course continue to host our
annual Charity Balls at the National
History Museum, which have been
so successful in raising just under
£24,000 to date to help deprived
young Irish people in London. It is
all too easy to forget in our success
that we have been lucky and have
received the benefit of a good
education in Ireland and that,
although we have worked hard to
achieve our present positions, we
owe a lot to the privileged positions
from which we started. There are
many other Irish people in London
who have not been so lucky. (This
year's Charity Ball took place on
Saturday 11 May 1991)
Finally, the Association has been
re-named "The Irish Solicitors Bar
Association (London)."
•
194