In Ireland, one of our members is specialised in Childcare law. It’s a difficult field that requires very particular skills. Read his story and learn how to be an efficient lawyer in cases involving minors in trouble. Cases involving children may be the biggest challenge for lawyers, as it implies a high degree of emotional damages. Niall McGrath (EJ Ireland) is familiar with it, as he has become one of the leading specialists of Childcare cases in his country.
'I got started in this speciality because I do a lot of private, family law', Niall explains. 'In 2007 I was asked to represent the interests of a child. It grew from there. It takes a while to build up a speciality in such a field because it is a niche here in Ireland. We are a small country with a lot of specialised people working in big lawfirms. We at MacCarthy & Associates are a small, boutique-like firm. With the difficult economic times we are going through, small firms like ours can only survive through specialisation. So we work on family-related cases, employment, and so on. And in my case, childcare.'
How does Niall tackle the challenges of working on such a delicate thing as the interests of a child? 'First of all, we are usually hired by a person who has been appointed as guardian of the child. This means that sometimes I would not even meet the child, which is probably for the best, because it is not always necessary to meet them to defend them efficiently, and us lawyers are not trained to have social interactions with children in difficult situations. If they are old enough, like late teenagers, then it may be possible.”
Still, he has enountered his fair share of heartbraking situations. 'I had to represent the interests of a very young child who was seriously ill. The court was requested to allow the child's life support to be stopped. That was the most emotional case I had to deal with. I'd like to think I have made a difference for every child I was asked to represent, but I remember in particular the case of a 6 year-old boy. He had been diagnosed with being in the spectrum of autism, but we got for him a very specific and crafted care plan carefully overseen by the court. When we were out of it, they re-examined him and determined he was not autistic at all. He just had behaviourial issues. So we made it possible for him to no longer face the barrier of any clinical diagnosis.'
Niall has represented children at every level of jurisdiction, from the local courts to the Irish Supreme Court, and even the European Court. 'There was the case of a child who had been placed into a secure unit because of behavioural issues. Such placements happen when children are a risk to themselves and potentially to the community. But it is not a criminal process, it remains in the field of civil law. In Ireland, such cases are rare so we do not have such facilities. We ask the United Kingdom, who has good secure units, to take care of them instead, and our government pays the British a compensation for it. The case went as high as the European court because there were concerns about foreign nationals being placed into such a unit in another country. In the end, the court decided it was allowed, and that we had correctly interpreted the regulations to provide for secure care outside of our jurisdiction.'
For those who are tempted by such a career, Niall offers some specific advics: 'If you want to work in any kind of niche sector, watch and learn from the people who are already working in this field. In the precise case of Childcare law, there are two paths: either you do like I did and you start with family law, or you start working in juvenile crime, because the same people are often involved with the public lawcare system.' In any case, we can only congratulate Niall for his good work in such a difficult field.
