The new BLM recruit calls for real social diversification within the profession
Sharon Moohan has recently joined insurance and risk law specialist BLM as an associate in the abuse claims team.
What was your route into the profession?
I joined the profession through the traditional route, though somewhat belatedly.
I studied for my Law Degree and Masters in European Law at University College Dublin in the early nineties and then worked with the European Commission in Brussels before returning to Ireland to work as a lecturer in European Law in County Donegal. When I was working as a lecturer in 1994, the Law Society in Ireland decided to introduce entrance examinations for all graduates who wished to train as solicitors. Up until that point all law graduates were automatically entitled to train as a solicitor.
What has been your biggest career challenge so far?
In 2003, I was presented with a very unique opportunity when I was appointed as the sole solicitor to the Residential Institutions Redress Board in Ireland. The Irish Residential Institutions Redress Board was set up to make fair and reasonable award to persons who, as children, were abused while resident in schools and other institutions subject to state regulation.
The establishment of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse in May 2000 and the Residential Institutions Redress Board in December 2002 put Ireland at centre of the emerging worldwide conversation in the area of historical child abuse. The biggest challenge I faced was how to manage that conversation in the context of the day-to-day workings of the Redress Board and the associated expectations of the very diverse stakeholders. I dealt with over 16,000 applications from 33 different countries. With the Goddard Inquiry now taking effect in England & Wales, I’m using that experience, working with BLM’s renowned international abuse specialists, to help ensure a transparent, accessible and efficient system of redress for survivors.
If you weren’t a lawyer, what would you choose as an alternate career?
Although I have absolutely no artistic ability, I have always been greatly interested in the world of advertising. I have always been fascinated by how advertising can inform our choices and how, at its best, it gives expression to people’s hopes and dreams. Imagine how different our images of Christmas would be if we hadn’t experienced the Coca-Cola’s Christmas advertising in the 1930s.
Who is your favourite fictional lawyer?
As a fully committed Al Pacino fan I would have to say Arthur Kirkland in And Justice for All, where we see all too clearly how each of us has a responsibility to fight against corruption regardless of how it might impact on us professionally and/or personally. In more recent times, I greatly enjoy watching Alicia Florick in The Good Wife; she doesn’t always win her cases but she will, more often than not, be the best dressed person in the courtroom!
What change would you make to the profession?
While there is a lot of talk and indeed backslapping about how diverse we have become as a profession I am not at all sure if that diversity has real social depth to it. A lot of good work has been done to promote women within the industry but we still struggle as a profession to be open to all comers from all classes. Things have certainly improved since I entered the profession over 18 years ago but real social diversification in the profession has still a distance to travel.
How do you relax?
Going to the cinema. What’s not to like? A few hours in a dark room, your mobile phone turned off and reality suspended. I also watch a lot of sport, especially football, although as a lifelong Manchester United supporter that hasn’t been very relaxing since Sir Alex retired.
