Courts

Solicitor and former South Dublin mayor ordered to repay legal fees to ex-client

Edward J O’Brien failed to co-operate with Legal Services Regulatory Authority inquiry and ‘offered no excuse whatsoever’ for not complying with its ruling

Edward J O’Brien was ordered by the President of the High Court, Mr Justice David Barniville, to repay fees paid by a former client who engaged him for a property transaction. He has also been ordered to pay the more than €1,500 the client had to pay another solicitor to do the work he failed to carry out.
Edward J O’Brien was ordered by the President of the High Court, Mr Justice David Barniville, to repay fees paid by a former client who engaged him for a property transaction. He has also been ordered to pay the more than €1,500 the client had to pay another solicitor to do the work he failed to carry out.
Colm Keena
Sun Oct 20 2024 - 06:00

A solicitor and former Fianna Fáil mayor of South Dublin County Council has been ordered by the High Court to repay legal fees to a former client for work he failed to do.

Edward J O’Brien was ordered by the President of the High Court, Mr Justice David Barniville, to repay fees paid by the former client who engaged him for a property transaction. He has also been ordered to pay the more than €1,500 the client had to pay another solicitor to do the work he failed to carry out.

Mr O’Brien, formerly of Edward J O’Brien, solicitors, Lucan, Co Dublin, was elected mayor of South Dublin County Council in June 2020, when he represented the Lucan area. He is no longer a public representative.

A divisional complaints committee of the Legal Services Regulatory Authority (LSRA) decided in September 2023 that Mr O’Brien had failed to complete work he was engaged to do, that his client was obliged to get another solicitor to complete the work, and that Mr O’Brien had poorly communicated with his client and her new solicitor, the court was told by James Daly, for the authority.

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The committee told Mr O’Brien he had eight weeks to comply with the authority’s finding that he should repay the fees and compensate his former client but he had not complied, Mr Daly said. As a result, the order was being sought from the court.

In response to a query from Mr Justice Barniville, Mr Daly confirmed that Mr O’Brien was not currently practising as a solicitor. Papers associated with the case were served on Mr O’Brien at his own address, Mr Daly said. The judge noted that Mr O’Brien had displayed a pattern of failing to co-operate with the LSRA inquiry and had “offered no excuse whatsoever” for his failure to comply with its ruling. He issued the order sought and awarded the costs of the application to the authority.

Colm Keena

Colm Keena

Colm Keena is an Irish Times journalist. He was previously legal-affairs correspondent and public-affairs correspondent