Well known solicitor, James MacGuill, has died at the age of 63. He died in hospital following a short illness.
Mr MacGuill, who was also a senior counsel, was involved in many high profile and significant cases during his 40 year career as a lawyer.
He recently represented a father who was wrongfully convicted of the female genital mutilation of his daughter.
The convictions of the man and his wife were overturned and were subsequently declared a miscarriage of justice by the Court of Appeal earlier this year.
Mr MacGuill was also involved in a case which led to the reform of the compensation scheme for victims of crime.
Mr MacGuill was a former president of the Law Society in 2007 and 2008. The society said it was saddened at the news of his death.
In a statement, it said he made an immeasurable contribution to the solictiors’ profession and to Irish law.
Current president, Rosemarie Loftus said Mr MacGuill “embodied the core of what it means to be a solicitor – to achieve the object of justice for any person who needs it”.
The society said he had been one of the country’s most prominent litigation solicitors with a particular focus on public law and criminal defence law.
Mr MacGuill studied in UCC and became a solicitor in 1986. In 2020 he became one of the first solicitors in Ireland to be granted the title of senior counsel.
He was also a member of the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board and the board of the Legal Services Regulatory Authority.
Ms Loftus said he had made an immeasurable contribution to the Law Society, the solicitors’ profession and Irish law. And she said his sound judgment, advice and wit would be missed by his colleagues.
Mr MacGuill gave an interview in 2007 in which he said the greatest satisfaction for him in being a solicitor was when “your client is the person against whom all the odds are stacked but has justice on their side”.
He is survived by his son, Conor Kirby MacGuill, his brothers Ciarán, Daire and Conor, and his sister Eithne.