On the 6th and 7th of April, I spent two days in the Four Courts and the criminal courts in Dublin as part of my work experience week. The two days were designed to give me an overview of what’s it like being a barrister.
A very kind senior barrister, who is a friend of ours, organised for me to follow a barrister specialising in civil law matters on the first day and a barrister specialising in criminal matters on the second day.
On the first day I arrived at 9.30am and was introduced to Brendan Donelon, an extremely kind and patient young barrister. He is known as a Pupil or Devil as he was in his first year of practice. During this time he is not paid and he must follow a Master or Mentor.
The first thing he did that morning was to adjourn a case. We then went to one of the High Courts where a Harry Potter star was being sued by his agent for non-payment of fees. Unfortunately the case was postponed until later that afternoon, so instead we sat in on a court case that was being heard in the Supreme Court but as it turned out to be highly emotional, we soon left. After a quick lunch we headed back to the ‘Maze of Courts’, the Fourt Courts, to Court no.6 to listen to a case where a former postman was suing An Post for what he claimed was unfair dismissal. What made it so interesting to me was hearing the case from both the defendant and prosecution’s point of view. I was amazed at how ruthless cross examination could be.
Brendan was so interesting and helpful as he would explain and answer any questions I had. Whats more, we often discussed the cases we had sat in on in a court both giving our views on what would happen in the end.
The following day I met another barrister, John Ferry. This time I was taken to the Criminal Courts which are about a 10 minute walk from the Four Courts. As soon as we arrived to the impressive ad recently built Court building, we noticed a number of what appeared to be defendants waiting outside talking to their lawyers. We stopped by a court room where a case involving Anglo Irish Bank was being heard but we did not stay for long as we then went to hear another case involving a Garda who broke his leg following an assault by a young man. The defence barrister was a friend of John’s It was a fascinating case in which the barrister did a very good job defending his client who was clearly guilty. It must be tough defending clients with conviction when you know full well that they have committed the crime in question. After lunch we went back to the Four Courts to find out what was happening to the postman’s case. After half an hour, both parties left the court room and it turned out that they agreed to settle.
Overall the two days provided me with more information about law than I could have possibly imagined. Everyone I met and was introduced to was so kind and very helpful. It was an amazing experience and insight into how the court system worked and even just listening to a case was extremely enjoyable. I really loved the experience and it is something I might definitely consider doing so as a future job.