Simeon Burke, the younger sibling of Enoch, seems to have some undisclosed intentions in mind, but it seems highly unlikely that modernising the Bar Council features prominently among them. In fact, considering the conservative mindset of his family on various matters, it may not even be a part of his agenda altogether.
Despite his ulterior motives, Simeon has submitted a letter to the head of the Bar Council expressing his difficulty in locating a senior or master barrister who’s open to instructing him on court proceedings.
“I find it highly alarming that there appears to be a disparity in the way I am treated compared to other Law Library membership aspirants who haven’t yet secured a pupillage agreement,” Simeon communicated to Sean Guerin SC. He then expressed his worry about potentially being effectively excluded from the Law Library and legal practice due to this predicament.
Let’s recap the antiquated traditions of The Bar of Ireland as context: fundamentally, to offer legal representation in court for a fee in Ireland, one must earn the barrister qualification to be allowed to practice at The Bar of Ireland. This necessitates “a period of study at The Honourable Society of King’s Inns, established in 1541 in Henry VIII’s reign”.
After completing that, you are then required to “devil” or work pro bono for at least a year under a seasoned barrister to comprehend the workings of the court. This senior figure serves as your “master”, while you are the “pupil”.
The Bar Council states that “securing a Master is primarily the duty of the pupil who’s entering. It’s neither the responsibility of The Bar of Ireland’s council nor the Committee Chairs to find a Master for any pupil”.
They provide a “register of Masters”, with a current list of 174, of which just 18 are presently available.
More than 2,000 individuals constitute the Bar Council’s membership.
The most plausible explanation is that the majority of students discover their mentors through pathways not listed, such as academic merits and networking. Burke, it appears, doesn’t object to how the master-student system is structured per se, but rather the fact that it doesn’t serve his purposes. Burke isn’t focusing on the significantly more profound issue of the inherent discriminatory nature of the master and pupilage concept that could potentially prevent minorities from entering the field.
Burke’s educational performance is outstanding. His legal education spans the University of Galway, Cambridge University, and the previously mentioned Honourable Society of King’s Inns. He has won awards and was top of the class when he graduated in October 2023.
It can be surmised that the negative publicity around his brother’s support could be a factor in his struggles to find a mentoring relationship. His brother Simeon was convicted for a volatile public disturbance after a scuffle related to their brother Enoch Burke’s trial at the Four Courts in Dublin in 2023, but this was later overturned due to insufficient evidence of criminal activity.
Considering the Burkes’ intense religious convictions, one might be reminded of a biblical verse, Galatians 6:7, at this point: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap”. In simpler terms, if one wishes to advance in the legal profession, engaging in misconduct or what the judge on his appeal defined as “unseemly” behaviour is unwise.
However, this point of view is rather simplistic and somewhat hypocritical. There are numerous members of the bar and judiciary with unsavoury histories. There are also conservative senior barristers who might align with the Burkes’ ideologies, if not their approaches.
It’s also worth noting Michelle Smith de Bruin, a three-time Olympic medallist, who was disqualified for four years by Fina, the international swimming federation, for tampering with a urine sample. After retiring from swimming, she trained as a barrister and established a successful practice. She located a mentor and qualified in 2005.
Significant changes have swept over the years, including heightened censorship in public discourse, largely fueled by the amplification of social media. The implications of dissenting from the increasingly loud consensus in the public sphere can be quite severe, particularly for business entities; it is worth noting that barristers are essentially self-employed entrepreneurs.
It is supposed that barristers are reluctant to engage with Burke – who, in theory, would be an exemplary trainee and whose opinions they might secretly support – simply because they do not want their individual reputation tied to his family’s behaviour.
While one might find it challenging to empathise with Burke, his situation brings up issues relating to professional entry for those whose perspectives deviate from the markedly restricted view prevailing in society. This lack of diversity is not conducive to any democratic system that sources its judges from such a limited group, especially ours which is undergoing substantial and widespread transformation.