BRIAN O’NEILL

Managing Partner Gore & Grimes Solicitors

ACTIVITY Fee income in calendar year 2020 was down against income for the same period in 2019. The areas that were most adversely affected included litigation, due to the prolonged closure of courts and limited access to remote hearings. Corporate advisory, commercial, conveyancing and private client work have been resilient.

The main Covid-related issues our clients have sought advice and assistance on concerned employment law, particularly with the introduction of emergency legislation relating to redundancy. In addition, issues in relation to the performance of contracts delays and/or force majeure, particularly in the areas of construction, have been issues we have had to deal with frequently.

REMOTE WORKING While practitioners and support staff alike appear to enjoy coming back into the office from time to time, remote working seems to have worked well and suits a number of our staff.

Remote working has not negatively affected all aspects of service, though transactions are

‘Commercial, conveyancing and private client work have been resilient’

ertainly more of a challenge. For example, the collection of signatures on documents from multiple parties working in multiple locations adds significantly to the time it takes to close out transactions.

LITIGATION The perception that the courts are closed for business is somewhat misplaced; certain types of commercial disputes can still be advanced at significant speed. Last year, we represented a large insurer in a multimillion euro policy dispute, where the proceedings issued in the Commercial Court in May and the matter was resolved in December.