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Wigs on the Green

Simeon Burke BL, brother of one Enoch Burke, picketed the Law Library of Ireland because no one would allow him to be their pupil, or ‘devil’ as they are affectionately known.

ANNUAL 2024: PEACE BREAKS OUT IN FOUR COURTS

November 14, 2024

As the world around us descends not-so-slowly into a veritable state of chassis, it must have been a source of great comfort to... Read more »

Gerry ‘the Monk’ Hutch walked free from the Special Criminal Court after being cleared of the murder of Kinahan gang member David Byrne in the Regency Hotel in 2016. Legal

ANNUAL 2023: WIGS ON THE GREEN

November 15, 2023

THE THEME of the legal system this year was very much a religious one so the end of year round-up fits very nicely.... Read more »

ANNUAL 2022: WIGS ON THE GREEN – TWO JUDGES, A TOUT AND A TEACHER

November 17, 2022

MUCH COURTROOM drama took place in Irish courts in 2022, with that haven of human rights, Dubai, proving irresistible to two of Ireland’s... Read more »

LAW SOCIETY SPLIT

June 30, 2022

WHAT A fascinating Law Society council meeting its members can expect when it eventually meets to discuss a startling motion demanding that the... Read more »

MALCOLM BYRNE IN LABOUR COURT FEUD

June 30, 2022

IT LOOKS like the board of Wexford primary school, Gaelscoil Moshíológ, which got trounced at the Labour Court recently for unfairly dismissing its... Read more »

ANNUAL 2021: WIGS ON THE GREEN – SUPREME JOUST FOR TOP JOB

November 18, 2021

This year, it seems that we will have to put up with a post-Christmas surge and the more traditional pre-festivities rush of that... Read more »

SUPREMELY AMBITIOUS JUDGES

June 17, 2021

THE ANTICIPATED elevation of Supreme Court judge Donal O’Donnell recently to the post of chief justice received the equally anticipated panegyric from Irish... Read more »

SILENCE… AS TROOPS FACE AFRICA DANGER

June 17, 2021

DESPERATE ATTEMPTS by the government to ingratiate itself with western powers, especially France, has led to the involvement of the Defence Forces in... Read more »

HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM

February 11, 2021
A DECADE-LONG legal offensive by barrister Eugenie Houston against members of the Bar Council, the Professional Practices Committee (PPC), the Professional Conduct Tribunal (the tribunal)... Read more »

MELLON LOLLY

February 11, 2021

NO DOUBT, like other charities, the fundraising activities of the Mellon Township Trust operation, set up by Niall Mellon many moons ago, have... Read more »

Even the most seasoned of learned friends in the Four Goldmines were in awe of Chief Justice Susan Denham’s ability to say so little with so many words . The High Court refused to authorise the extradition of Ian Bailey (below) to France over the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier.

ANNUAL 2020: INJUDICIOUS JUDGES

November 19, 2020

IT WOULD be easy to think that nothing much happened in 2020 beyond the pesky coronavirus. In one way, that is right, but... Read more »

WILLIAM JONES VS JOHN MAGNIER

October 16, 2019

SPARE A thought for Goldhawk’s favourite ex-employee of John Magnier’s all-powerful Coolmore Stud operation – the irrepressible William Jones. Having set out to... Read more »

LEGAL LIGHTS

October 16, 2019

LAW SOCIETY president Patrick Dorgan will be hoping that the bad vibes engendered by some of his ‘filthy’ trainees last week will be... Read more »

LEGAL AMBUSH FOR IAN BAILEY?

June 12, 2019

IAN BAILEY’S predictable conviction, in absentia, by a vengeful French judicial system will proceed to the more difficult process of a third attempt... Read more »

GO TO JAIL – AGAIN!

June 12, 2019

THAT MOST tenacious barrack room lawyer and former haulage contractor, David Walsh, is still at large after fighting an order to jail him... Read more »

LOWER-RANKED JUDGES

May 16, 2019

LEO VARADKAR delivered a speech at the Law Society’s annual bash last Friday, but a slight frisson went through the room following an... Read more »

PATRICK QUIRKE’S LAWYERS

May 16, 2019

THE Patrick Quirke murder trial was noteworthy in that the wealthy farmer – who established a company called Breansha Farms Ltd that only... Read more »

‘INDO’S’ K CLUB COCK-UP

October 4, 2018

THE LITIGATION between former K Club catering manager Peter Curran and the K Club, its head of security and one Mick Smurfit is... Read more »

‘DISCIPLINARY MATTERS’

October 4, 2018

HOLLOW LAUGHTER from solicitor Colm Murphy in Kenmare could surely be heard all the way to the Law Society’s HQ in Blackhall Place... Read more »

OLAF TYARANSEN’S LIBEL LETTERS

June 28, 2018

IT WAS interesting to see music journalist Olaf Tyaransen post on his Facebook page recently about being “cast out of several realms that... Read more »

HELEN LUCEY’S LUCRE

June 28, 2018

LISTOWEL solicitor and coroner for Kerry North and West Helen Lucey awaits her sanction from High Court President Peter Kelly, who may decree... Read more »

SEE VENICE AND DINE

May 3, 2018

LEGAL EAGLES in the Dublin Solicitors Bar Association (DSBA) take their annual conferences seriously and there is none of the raucous, time-consuming wrangling... Read more »

ANOTHER BUM DEAL FOR THE TAXPAYER

May 3, 2018

Nu couché (Sur le côté gauche) by Amedeo Modigliani, which is to be auctioned this month in New York for an estimated $150m,... Read more »

SUPREME COURT GALA PERFORMANCE

November 2, 2017

CHIEF JUSTICE Frank Clarke and most of his peers turned in an impressively choreographed performance for the cameras last week in the historic... Read more »

BIG TOBACCO, BIG LEGAL THREATS

September 7, 2017

IT will be interesting to see if Big Tobacco now proceeds to carry out its threats of shock and awe legal action against... Read more »

Paul McGarry v Maura King

July 27, 2017

Maura King THE poll topping performance of dissident barrister Maura King who argued for greater transparency and accountability in recent elections to the... Read more »

WILL DINNY GO FOR BROKE?

July 27, 2017

Denis O’Brien NEXT MONTH’S annual general meeting of Independent News and Media (INM) will be a bumpy affair and awkward questions will be... Read more »

KING OF THE BAR COUNCIL

July 13, 2017

CONGRATS to rebel barrister Maura King whose vociferous critique of the Good ’Ol Boys that run the Bar Council saw her top the... Read more »

Invincible Profit

July 12, 2017

THERE IS an interesting figure buried in the 2016 accounts, filed this week by the Irish National Stud (INS), revealing the huge income... Read more »

KING TAKES ON BAR COUNCIL

June 29, 2017

BANE of the legal establishment Maura King BL has launched her latest offensive against the Law Library bigwigs by standing in elections to... Read more »

LITIGIOUS LEGAL EAGLES

June 29, 2017

JUNIOR vice-president of the Law Society James Cahill was a driving force behind the society’s volte face on Shane Ross’s judicial appointments bill... Read more »

DPP Study Law Society file

June 29, 2017

WHAT on earth is happening in the Law Society? Quite apart from the internal battle between it and its junior vice-president James Cahill... Read more »

LEGAL EAGLES’ FACTION FIGHTS

April 19, 2017

BAR Council chairman Paul McGarry took the unprecedented step recently of posting on the Law Library notice board a rather censorious open letter... Read more »

THE QUEEN OF KING’S INNS

January 25, 2017

IF barrister Maura King’s elders and betters thought she was an irritable crank in her recent polemic against the Bar Council’s autocratic MO... Read more »

JAMES CAHILL’S LAW SOCIETY PROSPECTS

January 25, 2017

A RATHER unusual precedent has been set by the junior vice-president of the Law Society, Castlebar solicitor James Cahill, who has taken the... Read more »

BARRISTERS BEARDED

November 16, 2016

THE energetic and voluble barrister, Maura King has swamped the Bar Council and Law Library with allegations of all manner of deficiencies in... Read more »