The Gazette 1995

GAZETTE

MARCH 1995

N E W S

The New Director General

number of years he organised conferences in Windermere, Glasgow, Cork and Mullingar. In 1986-87, as Chairman of the SYS, he initiated and organised a joint conference of solicitors and barristers which was apparently the first ever to take place in the British Isles. From 1978 to 1981 he served his solicitor's apprenticeship with Hickey Beauchamp Kirwan & O'Reilly. Following qualification he worked for a further 18 months with his former master, John F. Buckley, in the areas of conveyancing and landlord and tenant law. In 1983 he joined the Litigation Department of A & L Goodbody and for the next five years dealt with a very wide variety of contentious matters involving all sizes of cases in all courts. In 1988 he was chosen by his firm to go to Brussels to set up and run A & L Goodbody's office there. There are over 100 non-Belgian law firms with offices in Brussels and accordingly he was able to meet and get to know lawyers from many different countries, thereby gaining insights into the problems and changes underway in the legal profession internationally. In the course of his four years in Brussels he advised Irish clients on a wide range of EU law matters, particularly on competition law. He also gained experience of lobbying which he can now put to use on behalf of the Law Society. During his years as a practitioner in Brussels and subsequently he wrote and lectured regularly in Ireland, Europe and the US on various legal subjects. He was made a partner in A & L Goodbody in 1990 and returned to the Continued on page 57 Professional Career

Ken Murphy's career to date has in many respects constituted an ideal preparation for the challenging role of Director General of the Law Society. Over a decade on the Law Society Council has given him a sound understanding both of the Law Society and of the issues facing the profession. He has received the support of over 1,000 voters in each of the last three Council elections which suggests that he is in touch with the His background in a variety of practice areas, his feel for the media gained through years of writing in The Irish Times and elsewhere, his years in Brussels and his management and administration experience as a partner in a solicitors firm with a staff more than three times larger than the Law Society, will all be of use to him as Director General. It seems appropriate that, after a break of some decades, a solicitor should, once again, be the Law Society's chief executive. It is fitting also, given the current age profile of the profession, , that the Law Society should turn to a Director General in his thirties. It seems a reasonable assumption that, at 38, he has been appointed Director General at a considerably younger age than any of his predecessors. views of the Society's members, something crucial for a Director General. Having been educated at Terenure College and University College Dublin, where he obtained an Honours BA in English and Philosophy in 1978, he qualified as a solicitor in 1981. He j is married to Yvonne Chapman and they have three children, Gavin (4), Charlotte (3) and Rebecca (6 months).

Ken Murphy, Director General

Chairman of the Education Committee. He was first elected to the Council in 1983 as one of the youngest ever Council members. Over the years, his Law Society committee membership has included Education, Education Advisory, EU and International Affairs, Younger Members and Justice Media Awards (all as Chairman) Registrars and Parliamentary (both as Vice-Chairman), together with Compensation Fund, Public Relations, In 1993, he was the only Council member to serve on both the Compensation Fund Policy Review Committee and the Education Policy Review Committee. As a Council member he was responsible for a number of initiatives including the Law Society stand at Professional Purposes, Practice Management and Bar Liaison.

successive Brighter Homes Exhibitions and the Eurlegal

supplement to the Gazette. He also initiated and has organised the Justice Media Awards for the last three years.

; Law Society Career j

In November, 1994, Ken Murphy was j elected to the Law Society Council for ! the eleventh time and was re-appointed

As a Committee member of the Society of Young Solicitors for a

55