Drinan’s (Padraigin) Application
| Jurisdiction | Northern Ireland |
| Judge | Morgan LCJ |
| Judgment Date | 24 January 2014 |
| Neutral Citation | [2014] NICA 7 |
| Date | 24 January 2014 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Northern Ireland) |
| Year | 2014 |
1
Neutral Citation No. [2014] NICA 7
Ref:
MOR9139
Judgment: approved by the Court for handing down
Delivered:
24/01/2014
(subject to editorial corrections)*
IN HER MAJESTY’S COURT OF APPEAL IN NORTHERN IRELAND
________
Drinan’s (Padraigin) Application [2014] NICA 7
IN THE MATTER OF AN APPLICATION BY PADRAIGIN DRINAN FOR
JUDICIAL REVIEW
________
Before: Morgan LCJ, Higgins LJ and Coghlin LJ
________
MORGAN LCJ (delivering the judgment of the court)
[1] This is an appeal by the Northern Ireland Legal Services Commission (“LSC”)
from a decision of Mr Justice Treacy on 16 October 2012 allowing an application for
judicial review by Padraigin Drinan, the respondent, of a decision by the LSC
communicated to her on 15 November 2011 refusing to pay fees on foot of a legal aid
certificate for representation at the First Tier Tribunal of the Immigration and
Asylum Chamber. The basis of the refusal was that the work was carried out by a
non-qualified member of staff. Mr Lyttle QC and Mr McLaughlin appeared for the
appellant and Mr Bassett for the respondent. We also had a short submission in
support of the appeal from the Bar Council. We are grateful to all counsel for their
helpful oral and written submissions.
Background
[2] The respondent is a qualified solicitor who, in partnership with another
qualified solicitor, operates a practice in Belfast which specialises in immigration
law. The respondent’s firm employs two non-legally qualified staff, one of which is
Ms Barbara Muldoon. She has been employed by the respondent since 2002 and has
appeared before Immigration Tribunals for many years in numerous appeals. In
October 2009 she was accepted as a trainee solicitor under the Solicitors Admission
and Training Regulations 1988.
[3] In early June 2010 the respondent spoke by telephone to Paul Andrews, Chief
Executive of the appellant, in relation to legal aid bills which had been disallowed by
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