| Leading barrister to address BPW Summer Lunch |
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| Written by Staff Reporter | |
| Wednesday, 08 April 2009 | |
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Constance Cassidy SC is to be the guest speaker at this year’s BPW summer lunch, which will take place on Thursday, 14 May at The Ardilaun Hotel. Constance Cassidy SC is a barrister, author, wife and the mother of seven young children. She also owns Lissadell with her husband, Eddie Walsh SC. As a barrister, Constance specialises in Licensing Law, like her father before her. Her first book, ‘The Licensing Acts, Ireland’ is a seminal licensing reference work, and she has published two handbooks for the licensed trade. Constance was educated at Killashee in Naas (where she was one of the first girls in what was then a boys’ school) and at Cross & Passion College in Kilcullen, Co Kildare. She read law at Trinity College, followed by a spell at Kings Inns. To fund her studies she worked for a firm of solicitors as a Law Clerk. Her first pay packet was £18. The following week she got £22 as she had served a summons, which earned her an extra four pounds. Constance was called to the Bar in 1985 and, as a young barrister waiting for briefs, she assiduously collated all the licensing statues and licensing cases she could find. This led to her first book, the Licensing Acts, which has been continuously updated and in print since 1995. Constance took silk in 2001. Today she has an extensive and countrywide practice in licensing matters, and is, in addition, a frequent adviser and lecturer on licensing issues. Thirty-four per cent of barristers in Ireland are women, while only nine per cent are senior counsel. As a mother, Constance has seven young children, including three teenagers, one of whom is doing his Junior Cert this year. Constance and her husband bought Lissadell House and Gardens in Sligo in 2003. Their vision was to transform the estate into a flagship for tourism in Sligo and the North West, to provide a secure environment for their seven children and to interest them in continuing this work at Lissadell for the next generation, but funding from Sligo County Council has been withdrawn this year. Console has been nominated as the charity that will receive funds generated by the raffle at the event. Console was established in 2002 by families that had experienced the grief of losing a loved one through suicide. Every suicide has a serious impact on at least six people and devastates entire communities, and with an average of 500 suicides per annum in this country, there are very few residents in Ireland who have not in some way, been touched by the knock on effects of such a tragic death. For further information and to purchase tickets for this event contact Collett Nugent on 087 -9034765 or Aine Feeney on 091-534200. | |
