Legal eagle alison keane following fathers footsteps
LEGAL practices have changed dramatically in the last 40 years, with practitioners now laboured with the task of tax collectors. That is the view of Alison Keane, a solicitor with the firm of Michael Keane & Co., Claremorris, writes Tom Gillespie.
Alison joined the firm run by her father, Michael, in early 2014 and is enjoying the day-to-day challenges that the business attracts.
The Keane family has been involved in the business, professional and social life of Claremorris and the surrounding area for over 150 years. Michael Keane set up his own practice in November 1974 having graduated from University College Dublin in 1972 and from the law school of the Law Society of Ireland in 1973. He acquired the practices of the late F.W. Conway, Solicitor, of Claremorris, and the late P.J. McIntyre, Solicitor, of Kiltimagh.
The company has grown and prospered over the past 40 years and now provides expert and discreet legal services in the areas of conveyancing, probate and wills, commercial and personal injuries litigation, district court and circuit court road traffic, criminal cases and family law.
When Alison was going through college she had no idea that she would end up working with her father. She explained: “When I went through college I never put any thought as to what I would do and then it just happened. I finished college in 2010 and went straight on and did the entrance exams to get into the Law Society and started the apprenticeship. The standard in the Law Society, particularly in training for general practices like this, is absolutely brilliant. They really train us up very well.
“There is an awful lot more law now that when my father started. When he started in the ‘70s there was none of those Capital Tax Acts, family law to the extent there is today, and employment law was not an issue back then and it is huge now. For any solicitors’ office in general small practices, to have a newly qualified solicitor is a great asset as they are fresh and there is so much more law now that we are trained to deal with.
“I started doing the district court last February in Castlebar, where the courthouse is fabulous. I like the court work. It is definitely challenging. You have good days and bad days down there like anything else. The client management side of it is definitely interesting.
“When we were kids it was very busy time for the firm. It was just a constant stream. It is quieter now and there is definitely not the same buzz. People are not flying in but the work is there and people are buying and selling houses again, which is what I do primarily here. You are hand holding people through something that they are not used of doing. Young couples coming in buying a house have never done it and don’t know what to expect.
“What is a big complaint for solicitors now is that we have become tax collectors. We are dealing with septic tanks, the NPPR charge and local property tax. It is not what we should we doing but you have to get a sale closed, get it over the line and make sure you are buying a house for somebody that won’t be stuck with a tax that should have been paid five years ago.
“People are always surprised with the amount of work involved. It is not just coming in and signing a contract. From the day a couple get a mortgage and walk in here to when the sale is completed would be about three months.”