Gerry spoke at two conferences on aviation in Dublin

06 Sep 2018

Commercial and Regulatory, Inquests and Inquiries

Gerry spoke at the 11th Annual McGill Conference on International Aviation Liability, Insurance & Finance (2018) on Friday 19 October. Please find more information here.

He also spoke on the panel of the Law Society of Ireland’s conference on Does The Law Ensure Fair Civil Trials? An International Panel Perspective as part of the European Lawyers Day on Thursday 18 October. Please see the programme here

In his speeches, Gerard spoke about several issues related to the importance of the rule of law including: 

  • The importance of the ‘cab-rank rule’ for barristers to maintain access of justice for all.
  • Funding of cases – particularly for those of limited means.
  • The continued erosion of legal aid in the UK and the effect that this aspect is having on society generally.
  • The increasing use in the UK of litigation funding which is not allowed in Ireland, as the Irish legal system considers this as offending the ‘law of Champerty’.
  • The increasing use of government investigation reports in criminal and civil litigation, for example, AAIB reports in aviation matters being used in civil and criminal trials.
  • The impact of Brexit on legal services and the opportunities this may create for Ireland and France amongst others. Interestingly,  many EU Jurisdictions are actively planning for this and France has recently established a new Commercial Court where parties can file documents in English and English can be used in trials.
  • The erosion of the use of juries, as they are now only used in crime and inquests in very limited circumstances.