Alan Raftery solicitor (left) and Bill Holohan SC (right) at the Irish Law Awards ceremony.
At the Irish Law Awards ceremony held at the Clayton Hotel Ballsbridge Dublin on Friday evening 29 October, Bill Holohan, Senior Partner of Holohan Lane LLP, was presented with the Award for “Irish Lawyer of the Year”.
This is the third time Bill Holohan has been given such Irish Law Awards, having won the Alternative Dispute Resolution Lawyer of the Year Award in 2013, and Munster Law Firm of the Year in 2016. This year’s Award follows Bill Holohan having been granted a Patent of Precedence in September 2020 entitling him to use the title Senior Counsel.
The Award recognises Bill Holohan’s excellence in advocacy, legal specialism, demonstrable expertise/excellence and a significant contribution to legal practice. Mr. Holohan, who in addition to being a solicitor is also a Notary Public, Trademark Agent, EU Trademark Practitioner and Accredited Mediator / Arbitrator, is the author of some eight books on Bankruptcy / Insolvency, Professional Negligence, corporate and civil law, et cetera.
A past pupil of Coláiste an Spioraid Naoimh in Bishopstown Cork and UCC, Mr. Holohan holds 2 honours law degrees from UCC and a First Class Honours Masters in Advanced Legal Practice from the University of Northumbria in the UK. He is also a Fellow of the Centre of International Legal Studies (Salzburg Austria) and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, (London). An Accredited Mediator, he is also currently pursuing a doctorate in the area of mediation. He is a former Chair of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators in Ireland. He also served as a director of the Mediators Institute for a number of years.
In 2015 he was appointed by the Minister for Justice to the Complaints Adjudication Panel for Personal Insolvency Practitioners for a three-year term and in 2018 was reappointed for a further three-year term. In 2016 he was appointed to the Charities Appeals Tribunal, (a statutory body established under the Charities Act 2009), for a five-year term and was reappointed in 2021.
He was elected to the Council of the Law Society in 2019 and was re-elected last week with the second highest vote of the poll. He has been a member of the Law Society’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee, the Curriculum Development Unit and the Professional indemnity Insurance Committee of the Law Society.
Commenting on his appointment, Bill Holohan said that he was “honoured” by the Award.
