PROBATE INTERACTIONS- CRA, LSRA AND COURT
14th May 2025: 2.00pm to 5.00pm
Remotely by webinar
This seminar will hear from the Charities Regulator and Legal Services Regulatory Authority on how probate practitioners might interact with those bodies during the course of an administration. This will be followed by an update on recent caselaw relevant to probate practitioners.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL BROCHURE AND APPLICATION FORM
Chair: Zoe Hughes. Zoe is a member of the DSBA Council and previous Chair of the DSBA Probate and Taxation Committee. She was admitted to the Roll of Solicitors in 2017. She worked in private practice, specialising in probate, wills and wardship / capacity law prior to joining the CSSO in April 2025.
Speakers
Seán O’Connor is Regulatory Legal Counsel for the Charities Regulator. He was appointed as Legal Advisor in February 2021, to provide legal advice across the organisation and lead the Charity Services Unit (CSU). The CSU deals with statutory applications from charitable organisations or executors of wills containing charitable bequests for the authorisation or direction of the Charities Regulator in respect of practical matters such as the sale or transfer of charity property, changes to trustees, litigation, or changes to the application of charity assets. Seán is Secretary to the Charity Services Committee (CSC) which considers these applications, before it makes a recommendation to the Board for decision. He is involved in strategy, policy development and digital transformation. Seán is from Waterford City. He trained and worked as solicitor in top tier law firms in the private sector for over 7 years, specialising in charity governance, trusts, private client property and tax. He is a solicitor, a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) and an AITI Chartered Tax Advisor. He holds a BCL Degree (Law & French) from UCC, a Diploma in Trust and Estate Planning, and a Professional Diploma in Creativity, Innovation and Leadership from UCD.
Brian Doherty is the Chief Executive Officer of the Legal Services Regulatory Authority. A former barrister, Brian was called to the Bar in Northern Ireland in 1996 and initially practised in Belfast. He joined the Office of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland when it was set up in 2000 as one of the first civilian investigators, working on allegations of misconduct against the then RUC, later the PSNI. In 2007 he moved to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission as a Senior Investigating Officer, later progressing to Acting Deputy Director of Investigations. He returned to the Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland in 2014 to run the Current Investigations Directorate. Brian took up post as the CEO of the LSRA in September 2017. Brian holds a Masters in Criminology and Criminal Justice Management from Queens University Belfast and a Doctorate in Criminology from the University of Portsmouth.
Mark O’Riordan BL is a barrister and mediator specialising in the areas of succession, probate, equity and trusts. He is a graduate of University College Dublin (BCL 1999, LLM 2003) and King’s Inns (BL 2001). He was called to the Irish Bar in 2001. He is a former legal researcher at the Law Reform Commission. He has tutored land law at University College Dublin, the law of torts at Trinity College Dublin, has lectured constitutional law at Griffith College Dublin, and has lectured on the Law Society of Ireland’s professional practice course and its Diploma in Civil Litigation. Mark is also a CEDR accredited mediator. He is a member of the Council of The Hon Society of King’s Inns, a member the Probate Bar Association of Ireland, and a member of the Medico-Legal Society of Ireland.