Donald Binchy (born 1963[1]) is an Irish judge and lawyer who has served as a Judge of the Court of Appeal since March 2020. He previously served as a Judge of the High Court from 2014 to 2020. He formerly practiced as a solicitor, and was the President of the Law Society of Ireland between 2011 and 2012.
Donald Binchy | |
|---|---|
| Judge of the Court of Appeal | |
| Assumed office 18 March 2020 | |
| Nominated by | Government of Ireland |
| Appointed by | Michael D. Higgins |
| Judge of the High Court | |
| In office 30 October 2014 – 18 March 2020 | |
| Nominated by | Government of Ireland |
| Appointed by | Michael D. Higgins |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1963 (age 60–61) Waterford, Ireland |
| Spouse | Claire Cusack (m. 1999) |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | Clongowes Wood College |
| Alma mater | |
Early career
Binchy was born in Waterford in 1963, but is from Clonmel in County Tipperary. His father Don, was a solicitor who was the President of the Law Society of Ireland from 1990 to 1991.[2] He attended Clongowes Wood College and received a BCL degree from University College Dublin in 1984.[3][4] He qualified as a solicitor from the Law Society in 1987 and spent two years practising at a commercial firm in Dublin, Cawley, Sheerin, Wynne, practising in the areas of funds and re-insurance law.[3] He subsequently joined the firm founded by his grandfather, Binchy Solicitors, in Clonmel. He was appointed solicitor to Clonmel Corporation in 1995.[1]
In his practice, he specialised in particular in aspects of company and commercial law, in addition to administrative law and planning law.[5]
He became President of the Law Society of Ireland in 2011 to serve a term until 2012.[2] He had previously served on various committees of the Law Society prior to becoming president.[1]
Judicial career
High Court
Binchy became a High Court judge in October 2014.[6] He was the first solicitor from Clonmel to be appointed to the High Court.[3]
In the bench in the High Court, he heard extradition cases including those arising out of the Essex lorry deaths and the death of Sophie Toscan du Plantier.[7][8] He also heard applications for injunctions,[9] and a commercial dispute involving Jedward.[10]
In 2015, he granted an injunction against RTÉ taken by Denis O'Brien to prevent the broadcast of details of his personal banking arrangements contained in a news report.[11] He subsequently held that what was said about O'Brien in Dáil Éireann was reportable.[12]
Court of Appeal
He was elevated to the Court of Appeal in March 2020.[13] A vacancy arose following the appointment of Marie Baker to the Supreme Court of Ireland.[14]
Personal life
He is married to Claire Cusack with whom he has three children.[1]
References
Wikiwand in your browser!
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
