Litigation in Ireland

by Will Newman

I’ve been to Ireland a few times now and it’s a wonderful country filled with interesting people, rich history, and, better weather than I expected. But even though I have visited many of the country’s pubs, I have not visited any of its courts (despite visiting many of the country’s pubs). That’s a shame because the Irish court system has many interesting similarities and differences from its American counterpart. And so I was very lucky to speak with Jody Cantillon, a partner at Cantillons Solicitors in Cork, to learn about Irish litigation.

Why should you continue reading this post about litigation in Ireland?

  • You are familiar with American law firms with Irish names like Sullivan & Cromwell and O’Melveny & Myers and you’d like to learn about their ancestral roots.

  • You’d like to learn about the different roles of solicitors and barristers in Irish litigation.

  • You need to file documents in hard copy in Dublin, but you’re not there, and you want to learn about people whose job it is to help.

Jody Cantillon is a partner at Cantillons Solicitors in Cork. This interview has been lightly edited.

Can you tell me about the kinds of disputes you handle in your legal practice? 

We are a litigation firm and we handle all kinds of disputes. We do everything from contract disputes to invasive species claims to judicial reviews.

A big part of our practice is medical negligence and personal injury. We also practice in the area of education law - getting kids with special needs access to schools. We also litigate to ensure appropriate services are provided for people with special needs.

What type of clients do you generally represent in disputes?

Before, I worked at a commercial litigation firm that focused on big companies and insurance companies.

At this firm, we act for anyone from the man on the street to police and prison officers, lawyers and doctors. We mostly represent plaintiffs.

Besides Microsoft Office, what software do you use in your practice? 

We don’t use a case management system, just Microsoft Office. We do use Partners for time records, but it’s more of a piece of accounting software.

What books and websites do you use for legal research? 

The legislation is on a website called Irish Statute Book. The Law Society also has a library which we access.

We also cite two books:

The Court Services website also has access to a lot of decisions

Image credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courts_of_the_Republic_of_Ireland#/media/File:Four_Courts,_Dublin,_Ireland.jpg

Do practitioners cite cases from courts outside of Ireland?

The most commonly cited law outside of Ireland is UK and English law. They don’t use exactly same principles, but they are aligned. Foreign decisions are not binding, but they can be considered.

We are getting to a point now in Irish law where there is a good body of case law for a wide variety of matters.


Do you electronically file pleadings with the court?  Or must you send paper copies of them to the courthouse?

We file papers in hard copy at the courthouse. Ireland has three main courts:

  • The District Court, for disputes whose value is less than 15,000 Euros;

  • The Circuit Court, for disputes between 15,000 and 60,000 Euros (and for Personal Injuries matters within those parameters); and

  • The High Court in Dublin (although it also travels around the Country), which hears Personal Injuries matters over more than 60,000 Euros. Medical negligence cases, though, need to be heard in Dublin.

We use a town agent to files our High Court papers in the central office in Dublin. We sometimes also send papers directly to the central office, but it is slower to do that, so if we are tight on time, we use a town agent.

Are there courts in Ireland that focus solely on commercial cases?

Yes, we have the commercial court. Cases in that court must be worth a certain value. If the case is taken into the commercial list, the judge micromanages it and moves the proceedings faster.

Both English and Irish are spoken in Ireland. Do court proceedings only take place in English or do they take place in Irish as well?

Cases are heard in English. You have a right to have case heard in Irish, but it rarely happens.

Who decides the facts in a commercial case?  Is it a judge or a jury? 

A judge. We are lucky that we do have judges who are good at their jobs and they call it fair.

Generally speaking, how many pages are the complaints or initial pleadings you see in your work?

The initial document that gets filed is the Personal Injuries Summons, and those could be an average of six to eight pages. The barrister assists with that document.

At the start of a case, we solicitors draft a brief that contains the facts of a case and the barrister uses to draft a summons. The brief could be 30 pages for a smaller case and 100 for a bigger case. The brief says who the parties are, what happened, what we think the strong and weak parts of the case are, what the injuries are and a summary of relevant reports. That document stands alone, but is supported by a book of documents which, for a medical negligence case, could fill bankers boxes.

Generally speaking, how long does it take for a case to go from complaint to judgment?

Typically two to three years once it is filed. And in Ireland for a personal injury case, you usually have two years to file the claim.

Generally speaking, how is evidence exchanged between the parties before trial? 

You set out your case in your summons, who the parties are and a summary of what happened. Then you set out the particulars of the negligence claim and a summary of the injuries. Next, a defendant will will ask the plaintiff a series of questions, called particulars, and then the Plaintiff responds to them, such as whether the plaintiff has had an accident before. The Defendant then enters a Defense.

If liability is in issue, then there will be a discovery process - the parties will ask for and exchange documents. There is voluntary discovery first and, if the parties can’t agree on what to exchange, a party can bring a motion in court and the judge will decide what is fair and necessary to be furnished.

In the High Court only, there is a disclosure rule, called SI391/1998. It is basically an “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours” rule. It requires an expert witness list exchange and the exchange of expert reports by email at the same time.

But in the Circuit Court, it is trial by ambush. You don’t know what experts the other side will call until the trial itself.

Do you get to interview the opposing witnesses before the trial?

There is generally no examination of witnesses or depositions until the witness is in the witness box.

If you win, does the other side reimburse your attorneys’ fees?

Yes, costs generally follow the event and, if you win, the other side is liable for majority of the costs.

If parties can not agree the costs, there is another court process and someone called an “adjudicator” decides the legal costs.

Are courts in Ireland open to the public?  Can ordinary people watch a commercial trial?

Yes. But cases involving family law or criminal sexual complaints may not be open to the public.

Do you believe that Irish courts have a particular strength for resolving commercial disputes? 

Yes. Irish courts are respected.

How about a weakness? 

The delays aren’t ideal, but for personal injury litigation, it would be almost impossible to settle a case within a few months since the plaintiff often doesn’t know what the extent of injuries and treatments will be.

Irish courts have also appointed a lot of new judges, which has brought the delays down, but it is still hard to tell people how long it will be from when people come in to when they could recover.

The first step in a personal injury case is for a plaintiff to go to a personal injuries board, which is designed to take pressure off of the courts. The board sends the plaintiff to its own doctors. The board then sends a proposed settlement figure to the parties and, if both parties accept the figure, they can avoid court. This process can take nearly a year and a half.

How often do you go to the courthouse? 

If I were in Dublin, I would go at least once every week. But because we are in Cork and the High Court is only here for two weeks, four times each year, I am not in Court everyday. During those 2 weeks, I am there every day, and maybe one other time every two weeks.

Barristers are in court with judges all day.

Could you tell me a bit more about the difference between barristers and solicitors?

My barrister colleague Michael Gleeson says that it is a team sport. We have different skillsets, and there are different “horses for courses.”

A solicitor’s job is to work every day, hands on, with the client. We then instruct the barrister with the brief document and the barrister drafts the summons and solicitor may amend it.

Barristers sometimes are more familiar with the judges since they are with them all day. The barrister’s main skills are in evidence and advocacy. In court the barrister presents the case to the court. The barrister comes in almost as a contractor for drafting and proceedings.

If I were writing legal submissions all day, I would have no time to work with the clients.

This division lets us give more time to be face to face with clients.

While you are in court, are you required to wear a robe or a wig?

Solicitors wear suits and barristers wear certain gowns. Wigs are not required anymore, but some people still wear them.

Interviews law