The Gazette 1995

GAZETTE

NOVEMBER 1995

in the Brussels office of Clifford Chance in 1988 but shortly afterwards he established the McCann FitzGerald Brussels office where he is still the partner in charge. Bernard O 'Connor is now a partner in the specialist European law firmof Stanbrook & Hooper. He informs me that he is shortly due to argue a case in front of the European Court of Justice. Not many Irish solicitors have done this. What is even more impressive, however, is that he will be making his arguments in the 'language of the case' which happens to be Italian! Miriam Murphy, the President of BAIL, reception after an hour as she has an early flight the following morning to attend a business meeting in Lisbon. UrsulaO'Dwyer of Coopers & Lybrand is also well-travelled. The last article I saw from her in the European Competition Law Review was based on her experience setting up a company law system in Kazakhstan. Barrister Brian Hartnett is a Brussels-based partner in the US law firmSquire, Saunders & Dempsey. Antoinette Long, now with the | Confederation of Food & Drink Industries, served for a couple of years in the early 1990s as thefirst editor of our | Gazette 's Eurlegal supplement. I However, the majority of the 40-plus Í Irish lawyers attending the reception are not from the 'old guard' but represent a 'new wave' comprising solicitors and a few barristers working for international lawfirms or EU institutions together with i some solicitors' apprentices, students and | stagieres. Most appear to be prospering in | Brussels although there is talk of times | being tough for lawyers here as everywhere else. Almost all Irish lawyers seeking ! opportunities in Brussels will sooner or laterfind their way to the door of John Temple Lang. John has dispensed kindly and practical career advice to generations of Irish lawyers arriving in the capital of | Europe. I overhear him advising yet ! another new settler at the reception. He is ; the most distinguished Irish Euro lawyer | of them all - it is over 30 years since he wrote hisfirst book on the subject - with j decades of experience in the Legal Service of the Commission rising to the position of Director in DG IV, the competition policy directorate general. John would make an excellent judge of j is a legal adviser to ITT World i Directories. She has to leave the

the Court of Justice if an Irish government j had the vision to appoint him. Paddy Glynn particularly enjoys catching up with Michael Collins, formerly of his own firmof Leahy & O'Sullivan in Limerick and formerly also of the front row in the President's beloved Old Crescent rugby club. Crescent are riding high at present and much talk of Limerick rugby ensues. The President's excellent speech is an extempore reflection on the subject of the Irish legal diaspora. In the travels of his ' Presidential year he has encountered Irish solicitors all over the globe. The purpose j of our visit is to show that the Law Society of Ireland has not forgotten its dozens of members in Brussels or its j hundreds of other members scattered else- where around the world for that matter. Damian Collins' speech makes it clear that the BAIL members deeply and genuinely appreciate thefirst ever visit from the President and Director General of the Law Society with its proof that the Irish solicitors in Brussels are remembered in Blackhall Place. Should we put a light in the window? Thursday, 26 October Theflight back to Dublin is not until the afternoon which allows time for a pre- arranged courtesy call on European Commissioner Padraig Flynn in his office on the eighthfloor of the Breydel Building. The Commissioner for Social Affairs is in his usual ebullient form. As a former Minister for Justice, he has a good grasp of issues affecting the solicitors' profession. Yes, he readily agrees, there are far too many entering the profession each year. No, however, he is unable to comply with our tongue-in-cheek request for a grant from the EU Social Fund for this hard pressed profession! We are joined at the meeting by Karen Banks, a solicitor with many years' experience in the Legal Service of the Commission. She is now both the only lawyer and the only female member of Commissioner Flynn's cabinet. Karen, like the other Irish lawyers we met generally in both Luxembourg and Brussels, is working hard but enjoying life in an immensely challenging international legal environment. Their success is something of which the Irish legal profession can be justly proud. Ken Murphy 315

A VISIT TO THE IRISH LAWYERS IN LUXEMBOURG AND BRUSSELS Continuedfrom page 310 Nial Fennelly subsequently confides that, j while there was no difficulty on the bench when the submissions were being made in French or English, a switch to German caused most of the judges to reach for their translation headsets only tofind that there was not a sufficient number to go around! All of the Irish legal staff gather to say ! farewell. After photos and speeches from Judge Murray and Paddy Glynn, we depart reflecting on the substantial amount that we have learned, on the extraordinarily generous hospitality we have enjoyed and on the very able team i with which the Irish legal profession is represented in Luxembourg. Brussels The pace of the train from Luxembourg to Brussels is reminiscent of Paddy Glynn's party piece 'The West Clare Railway'. It seems to actually get slower the closer we come to Brussels. When we eventually arrive wefind the centre of Brussels paralysed by marches and demonstrations by the teachers and students of Wallonia who are protesting against cutbacks. Many streets are cordoned off by riot police. Accordingly, we arrive a little late for our reception for the Irish lawyers in Brussels. This reception is being hosted by the Law Society though organised by the Brussels Association of Irish Lawyers (BAIL). The reception is held in the office of Maurice Byrne. Maurice has relatively recently done something probably unique for an Irish solicitor by establishing the law firmof Byrne, Devries, Feron & Wouters. The firmoccupies spacious premises on the very elegant Square Vergote. I view Maurice as one of the Brussels 'old guard', although he is younger than I am, as he was already well established when I arrived here in 1988 for my four-year Brussels posting with A & L Goodbody. It is a pleasure to meet up with him again together with many other familiar faces from that exciting period in Brussels. Damian Collins, secretary of BAIL, was