blog
Nicholas Blake Knox
Post PPC1 - Working in our Litigation Department
After finishing the PPC1 course down in Blackhall Place, I returned to Earlsfort Terrace to join one of our litigation departments. Prior to going on the PPC1 course I spent time in one of Arthur Cox’s commercial departments and found this rotation to be quite different.
Litigation was not one of the law subjects on offer during my degree and as it does not form part of the FE-1 examinations, my first introduction to this area of law was during my time in Blackhall. It seemed relatively complicated from a procedural point of view but understanding the basic litigation concepts such as pleadings, discovery, motions and judicial review definitely made things easier when I joined the department.
After six months down in Blackhall, the first day back was always going to be a slow one. The other trainee in the department and I were taken to lunch so that we could be introduced properly to the rest of the department. We were told that we would be allocated to different solicitors and partners within the group and that these people would delegate work to us as required. The department deals predominately with commercial disputes but is not confined solely to this area and other work such as medical negligence, class actions, insurance, defamation and State agency prosecutions are also undertaken by this department.
The first project which I worked on in the group involved a case which was taken by a US client of ours against a number of defendants including a former employee who had run a branch of their company in Ireland. It was alleged by our client that this employee had fraudulently dispossessed the company of large sums of money which eventually resulted in the Irish company ceasing to trade as well as suffering large losses and a number of redundancies.
It was explained to me that cases like this are difficult to prove and the quality of evidence and witnesses in particular will very often determine the matter. I was asked to go through various company documentation dating back to the mid-1990s in order to identify any materials which were relevant to the claims being made by our client. Initially the task appeared to be somewhat boring and straightforward, however, I found myself going back through correspondence and emails which gave me a much better understanding of the details of the case and the parties involved. Secondly, it was a useful exercise in analytical thinking and often the importance of a document was not immediately apparent until it was read in conjunction with another letter or email.
Eventually all the relevant information was compiled and the solicitor overseeing the matter was satisfied with the Statement of Claim and supporting evidence. The next move was to apply for the matter to be heard in the Commercial Court. The Commercial Court will only hear cases that have a monetary value in excess of €1 million and are essentially ‘commercial’ in nature. In addition to the monetary requirements, the length of time before the case will be heard at trial is considerably shorter and this is often appealing to the plaintiffs in the case.
In front of Justice Finlay-Geoghean, several barristers advocated their respective positions on the merits of admitting the case to the Commercial Court. Several journalists were also in the courtroom reporting on the matter. I was asked to take an attendance note of the legal submissions in order to provide our client with an update as they were not present in court. A decision was adjourned for two days to allow the Judge time to consider the points raised by the respective parties.
I was sent to the Four Courts two days later to find out whether or not the case had been admitted to the Commercial Court. I was also requested to examine the national newspapers and identify any articles which had been written about this case before sitting in on a conference call with one of our solicitors and the US clients.
Working on this case with one of our senior solicitors provided me with excellent hands-on experience and gave me a practical example of how proceedings develop from a client meeting in our offices to the benches of the Four Courts.
The following week one of our partners asked if I would be able to travel down with her and our barrister to the District Court in Monaghan for a case that was being taken by a government body against a local farmer for allegedly labelling meat with counterfeit certificates. All meat that is sold in Ireland must provide evidence of origin and testing so that the meat may be withdrawn from the shelves if it is subsequently found to be contaminated with any disease or bacteria.
When the hearing commenced, I sat at the front of the court with our barrister so that I could pass up documents to the judge when needed and take an accurate transcript of his judgment when it was finally delivered as this would be needed for a press release.
Several witnesses were called on behalf of the prosecution and defence to give expert testimony and/or to verify the authenticity of documents which were being exhibited as evidence. Counsel for both sides cross-examined the witnesses and then made closing submissions. Due to the serious nature of the offence, the Judge had discretion to issue custodial sentences of up to six months in prison and/or to impose monetary penalties.
After deliberating for some time, the Judge imposed a three month custodial sentence on both directors of the company and also issued the maximum financial penalty prescribed under the legislation. This was the first time a prosecution had been successfully brought under this piece of legislation and significant coverage was given to it in the media.
Although the department predominately deals with commercial disputes, it was very interesting to be involved in a case which involved a criminal prosecution and this demonstrated the variety of work that a litigation solicitor in Arthur Cox encounters.
During the remainder of my time in the department I gained exposure to a significant number of other cases. The work was always varied and in addition to going down to the Four Courts, whether to meet a barrister, take an attendance of a case or issue a summons in the Central Office, there was plenty of other work to do such as providing discovery, carrying out legal research, liasing with clients and witnesses, organising experts to carry out inspections of accident sites or machinery, drafting letters and emails and serving summonses and subpoenas.
I finished my rotation here in mid-August after almost four months and despite spending time in Blackhall studying litigation, I feel that it is only after you gain some practical experience that the whole process starts to make sense. The work done by our litigation department is in many ways different to some of the other departments in the firm yet there are striking similarities such as the importance of recognising the underlying commercial value, or cost, of a particular transaction or court case before deciding whether or not to take action.
