Hail Mary

Mary Keane is a native of Swinford, Co Mayo. A barrister by profession, she is the hardworking Deputy Director General of the Law Society. Most recently, Mary was appointed as Chairperson of the National Gallery of Ireland. Here she chats to another proud Swinford native, Julie Doyle, about her recent appointment and her career to date

Hi Mary, thank you for talking to me today. As a fellow Swinford person, I am delighted to have this opportunity to chat to you for the Parchment about your career and your achievements! Can you tell our readers a little bit about your background and where you grew up in the idyllic county of Mayo?! I grew up on our family farm between Swinford and Foxford. My parents were primary school teachers and, until I was 12, I was taught in a tiny rural school of -5 pupils with only my two parents as teachers. y brother still farms the land in Culduff. I am delighted to have grown up in the country with a farming background, although I have studied and worked in Dublin since I was 18. I went to boarding school in Claremorris from the age of 12, to the same school my mother attended. I was a bit of a wild child and I am certain that I would never have got a decent Leaving Cert if I hadn’t been a boarder. It was real boarding school back then – you got home once a term, were allowed visitors once a month and studied every day, including weekends. But I loved it really. I made great friends there and became very independent at a very young age.

You began your career in the civil service before deciding to choose to study law in UCD. What prompted that change for you? I was successful at the Junior Ex Civil Service exam and was assigned to the Industrial Within the profession, there are many women in leadership, whether as sole principals or managing partners. Personally, I have never regarded my gender as relevant to my ability to do anything that I want to and I have not encountered any barriers based on my gender

Policy Division of the Department of Industry & Commerce. I was delighted to be working and earning money, but I was really bored with the work and, after two years, I decided to take special leave without pay – there was no such thing as a career break back then. My choice of law was definitely inuenced by the fact that my boyfriend at the time was a law student and he seemed to be having a great time at college. I followed suit and had a great three years in C , graduating in 195 with a BCL degree.

Following that, you trained as a barrister. When did you begin your role in the Law Society and what did you perceive were the greatest challenges for the profession at that time? After C , I spent five happy years working in the Companies Registration ffice in Dublin Castle. I completed the BL at the Kings Inns during that time and then spent two years in the Tax Department of Craig Gardner/Price Waterhouse. It was in 1992 that I answered an advertisement for a position at the Law Society, working closely with Noel Ryan, the Director General at the time. The first two maor reports that I worked on were a submission to a Government Working Group considering the capping of damages in personal inury actions (a topic ust reported on by the Law Reform Commission, 27 years later) and a Report of a Law Society Review Group examining all aspects of the

Julie Doyle is a proud native of Swinford, Co Mayo and she is a member of the DSBA’s Parchment committee

The profession will need to stay ahead of technological developments, use the positive aspects of IT to enhance the efficiency of the services they deliver but also ensure that the essential human skills, training and experience brought by legal professionals stay front-and-centre in all aspects of the legal world

Compensation Fund. A substantial number of the recommendations in that Report ended up as provisions in the Solicitors (Amendment) Act 1994, which had the effect of limiting the cover provided by the Fund and protecting it from claims that could have threatened its very existence.

You were appointed as Deputy Director General in 1996, almost 24 years ago now. Your appointment was the first time a woman had been appointed as director in the history of the Law Society! Do you think the role of women in leadership in the legal profession has changed much since your appointment? Women have always had the capacity to be leaders but not perhaps the same opportunity as men. That is changing, thankfully, and we now have three women on the Senior Management Team in the Law Society. Within the profession, there are many women in leadership, whether as sole principals or managing partners. Personally, I have never regarded my gender as relevant to my ability to do anything that I want to and I have not encountered any barriers based on my gender.

Can you tell us about your Deputy Director General role and what it encompasses? I suppose it is exactly as it says on the tin – I deputise for the irector eneral when he is away or unavailable and we work together on most things when he is not. On a practical level, those who know myself and Ken Murphy would probably say that we have a very good working relationship, complementary skills and a strong sense of loyalty to the Society and the profession.

How has the growth of digital technology within the past 25 years changed your role? Like most people, I am more ‘connected’ now than ever and my working life is ruled by my Outlook Calendar, Zoom calls, email and the iPhone. But I still cling to my O’Brien pocket diary – its my comfort blanket and I would be lost without it.

The Law Society is constantly adapting to change. Since your appointment in 1996 there was a long period of substantial growth for the profession, followed by a recession and eventual recovery which has been hampered by the pandemic. What have been the standout challenges for you throughout that time and how has the Law Society adapted to dealing with the pandemic? On 21 September last, I was 28 years at the Society. During that time, there has almost always been a crisis, a threat or a challenge in some form or other. The profession is very resilient and adaptable. So is the Society. But March 2020 brought a challenge like none

before. I honestly could not be more proud of the way my work colleagues in the Society have stepped up to the plate in the face of this pandemic. They have worked tirelessly over very long hours, for days, weeks and now months, in extraordinary circumstances, to deliver support, services, training and strong representation to the profession and they have maintained the highest standards throughout. I know the story is the same within the profession and across the country. It is a very difficult time, but it will end, and we will move on to the next challenge.

What do you consider the key role of the Law Society as regards the provision of services to its members? In terms of the services that we provide directly, I would regard the most important to be information. We interpret, analyse, summarise and deliver information constantly, whether through Committee Practice Notes, Presidential eBulletins, Policy papers, submissions to Government, lectures, seminars, the Gazette, the eZine, website, Library, press releases. The profession, the public, politicians, policymakers are all our audiences and our ob is to distil and deliver information in digestible chunks, in a timely fashion. Even the many supports that the Society provides to members, whether in terms of their careers or their practices, involve the distillation and sharing of information.

What challenges do you believe lie ahead for the future of the profession? Technology is a great enabler but it also has the capacity to disrupt the way that legal services are provided and will embolden those without legal training to push them into the legal space. The profession will need to stay ahead of technological developments, use the positive aspects of IT to enhance the efficiency of the services they deliver but also ensure that the essential human skills, training and experience brought by legal professionals stay front-and-centre in all aspects of the legal world.

You are also the Director of Policy and Public Affairs in the Law Society. What does this role entail? It primarily involves the co-ordination of the work of the Society’s Committees and Task Forces and our dealings with the Oireachtas and other policy-makers. It also involves relationship-building with other professions, other Law Societies and at EU level and a number of discrete policy areas, including AML and eConveyancing.

You are obviously extremely busy with your role in the Law Society, however, we must also extend our congratulations to you as you have been recently appointed as Chairperson of the National Gallery of Ireland! Have you always had an interest in art? It’s an extraordinary privilege for me to be Chair of the Board of the National Gallery of Ireland. If my parents were still with us, I think they would feel so happy that their many years of bringing all five of us on caravan trips around ‘the Continent’ in the 1970s to the capital cities of Europe and to every gallery, museum, chateau, schloss and cathedral they could find has been worth it. And they would be right. What might have seemed like an over-immersion in the arts and culture in my teenage years was actually an extraordinary gift that has given me immense oy in later years. As Chairperson of the National Gallery, what challenges do you face as a result of the pandemic? Can the public currently access the Gallery? Regrettably, our principal challenge has always been funding. While the State provides funding to all of the National Cultural Institutions, it is never enough to provide the resources for the acquisitions, exhibitions, research and conservation programmes that we need to provide. We are a charity and we rely on commercial, sponsorship and philanthropic income to fund much of our programming. The pandemic has made a difficult situation worse and, because Level 3 restrictions close all museums and galleries regardless of size, our main sources of revenue are completely closed off. e would welcome a more nuanced application of the Government restrictions that would distinguish those Galleries and museums, like ourselves, with a significant footprint and a pre-booking ticketing system that can admit and monitor numbers and social distancing restrictions with ease.

If you had to choose one piece of art in the National Gallery as a personal favourite, what would it be and why? There are many but my current favourite is a recent acuisition – er First Communion by Sir John Lavery. I love the wispy veil, the grey background and her bored look. It is so Irish and traditional and reminiscent of days-gone-by but also notso-long-ago. I always pay a visit to her when I am in the Gallery and it has the added benefit of bringing me into the Irish rooms, which I love, and I can then have a quick dip into the Shaw Room, which is always good for the soul.

When and if you manage to find any spare time, what do you like to do to unwind? Almost 20 years ago, I bought an old property in Wexford and I have been restoring it very slowly ever since. I love spending time there. I have learned loads over the years about lime mortar and corbel stones and dovecotes and the rhythm of old things. There are many more years of work to bring it back to what it should be and that’s where I go to switch off whenever I can. Finally, what are you planning next? Survive the pandemic, continue my work at the two great institutions in my life, learn more about lime mortar and travel the world some more when it opens up again. P