Bar of Northern Ireland

The Bar of Northern Ireland is the association of barristers for Northern Ireland, with over 600 members. It is based in the Bar Library, part of the Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast, together with the Bar Council of Northern Ireland (the professional body of the members of the Northern Irish Bar) and the Executive Council. The Executive Council has taken on many of the functions formerly exercised by the Benchers of the Inn of Court of Northern Ireland,^[1] which was established at a meeting of the Bench and Bar held on 11 January 1926.

Relationship between the Bar of Ireland and the Bar of Northern Ireland[]

Before 1920, Northern Ireland was part of the Irish legal system and there was no separate Bar of Northern Ireland. After the Government of Ireland Act 1920, the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland called members of the Bar to the Inner Bar in Northern Ireland as King's Counsel.

From 11 January 1926 there were:

1. the Inn of Court of Northern Ireland governed by the Benchers of the Inn;^[2] and
2. the Bar Council.^[3]

Practising members of the Bar of Northern Ireland are eligible to join the Bar of Ireland without taking any further exams. Practising members of the Bar of Ireland have a reciprocal eligibility.

Development of the Bar of Northern Ireland[]

The present constitution was adopted on 5 October 1983, and also governs the Bar of Northern Ireland and the Bar Council.

For many years the Inn of Court was a rather theoretical body, lacking as it did the physical premises for social and professional interaction provided by the comparable Inns of Court in London or the King's Inns in Dublin. The redevelopment of the Bar Library, officially opened by Her Excellency Professor Mary McAleese, The President of Ireland, on 29 April 2005, to provide not only enhanced library facilities but also suitable rooms for Continuing Professional Development, meetings, dining and receptions, has afforded the Inn the means of providing the Northern Irish Bar with the reality of association it had hitherto been lacking.

Why are there no barristers' chambers in Northern Ireland?[]

Until 1885, all intending Irish barristers were obliged to "keep terms" in one of the English Inns of Court before being called to the Bar of Ireland and being entitled to practise as barristers in Ireland. Following on from these close historical links to the English Bar, for much of the nineteenth century it appeared that a system of barristers' chambers would develop in Ireland.^[4] Initially, the benchers of the King's Inns (which trained barristers in Ireland) made plans to build chambers for Irish barristers, in the vicinity of Dublin's Henrietta Street. From about 1793, the benchers went so far as to decide to have chambers built, funded both by the King's Inns and by barristers who would lease building land from the benchers for their own chambers. Deposits were levied annually from new barristers and solicitors, and rules were even agreed by the benchers for the regulation of tenancies by Irish barristers in chambers. However, despite this levying of the profession, following practical objections raised by the architect James Gandon concerning the difficulty of building the main King's Inns building at the same time as private chambers, the barristers' chambers were never built. To this day, no system of barristers' chambers has ever been developed in Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland.

Notable barristers from Northern Ireland[]

• Frances "Fay" Kyle was the first woman barrister in either Ireland or Great Britain. She was born in Belfast in 1893. She was called to the Bar of Ireland on 1 November 1921. She had graduated from Trinity College Dublin with a BA in French in 1914 and an LLB in 1916. She had commenced her studies at the King's Inns in Dublin in January 1920. From 1922, she practiced on the Northern Ireland Circuit.^{[5][6][7][8][9]}
• Mary McAleese was born in Belfast and was called to the Bar of Northern Ireland in 1974 and practised in Belfast. She went on to be elected President of Ireland and served from 1997 to 2011.^[10]
• Donal O'Donnell was born in Belfast and was called to the Bar of Northern Ireland in 1989. He was also called to the Bar of Ireland in 1982. He was appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court of Ireland in 2010 and was appointed as Chief Justice of Ireland in 2021.^[11]

Notes[]

Sources[]

• Bar Library, Belfast