A Dublin law firm set aside €60,000 a year to spend on Google Ads and spent tens of thousands more on website development in a failed attempt to corner the market for personal injuries litigation, a partner in the firm has told an employment tribunal.
But the venture flopped after the solicitor hired to lead the digital marketing push neglected to spend the budget for months, the witness said.
The witness was giving evidence at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) in an unfair dismissals claim brought by solicitor Joseph McNally against Ferrys Solicitors LLP, which has multiple branches in the capital handling civil and criminal work.
McNally claims he was subject to a “sham” redundancy when his employment was terminated in October 2024.
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His barrister said on Tuesday the solicitor went from the prospect of being made an equity partner inside three years to being told he had “no future” in the firm.
Giving evidence under examination by barrister Cathal McGreal, for the respondent, Ferrys partner Barry O’Donoghue said the complainant put himself forward on the basis that he had built a “very successful practice almost exclusively through his efforts with online marketing”.
Ferrys had been prepared to offer McNally a €120,000 salary, but an arrangement was reached whereby McNally took an €40,000-a-year job contract and €80,000 was to be paid for services to Venus Bell Ltd, a company where Mr McNally was a director.
McNally was to “build/improve and manage” Ferrys’ web presence while the firm’s legal staff took charge of his practice’s clients, O’Donoghue said.
“If someone put into Google: ‘Had a car accident last night and had an injury – what solicitor?’ the idea would be Ferrys would be high up the search results,” he said.
Ferrys set aside a €60,000 per annum marketing budget for Google Ads – some €5,000 a month for digital advertising – on top of the fees to Venus Bell and McNally’s salary, he said. Ferrys also hired an experienced solicitor to handle the “significant upswing” in work hoped for, the witness said.
By the fourth quarter of 2024, the new website was not ready, and the ad budget had not been spent, Mr O’Donoghue said.
McNally told the partners he was “left to deal with old clients” but the senior lawyers at the firm did not accept that, O’Donoghue said.
He said it was made clear to McNally in November 2024 that an “immediate and substantial improvement in how the websites are being operated” was required. The law firm was “10 months in and €100,000 in costs” with “nothing to show for it”, he said.
Correspondence from McNally in reply to these points was opened to the hearing in which he remarked “the hustle is on”.
The website was generating inquiries by the following spring, but O’Donoghue said these were “Citizens’ Information-type queries” rather than fee-earning work.
Ferrys terminated its commercial agreement with Venus Bell Ltd on September 20th, 2024. Mr O’Donoghue said this was for “failure to deliver”. Mr McNally was made redundant the following month, the tribunal heard.
McNally’s barrister, Tiernan Lowey, said on Tuesday: “We say that the redundancy was a sham; he had been told he had no future in the firm; that the appeal was unfair and prejudicial, and he was offered unsuitable [alternative] roles.”
The case is continuing.
