Ballylanders student secures Mary McAleese for inaugural summit
Bailey Lane from Ballylanders is credited with being the brains behind the recent Intervaristy Law Summit, an inaugural event that brought together all seven university law schools and law societies in the country, as well as thirteen of Ireland’s leading law firms. The 3rd year UCC law student co- founded the summit with Anna O’Doherty, and they secured former Uachtarán na hÉireann Mary McAleese to deliver the keynote address for the summit.
Under the theme of ‘Breaking Barriers: Let the Law Unite’, Mr Lane says his decision to embark upon law was helped with local research.
“It was great to meet and talk to local barristers and solicitors back when I was making my decision on which career path to take. I definitely owe a lot to my parents who encouraged me to go for it and have supported me all the way through this.”
He had the idea for the summit 18 months ago, recognising that there was no direct contact between the Law Societies in Ireland, and to have Ms McAleese give the keynote address was a huge boon for the founding pair.
“It was a tremendous honour to have Mary McAleese at this event to showcase both the importance and nature of something like this. Former president McAleese herself acknowledged this and her huge support for seeing something like this, in particular the fact it was student-led. It also gave students the opportunity to meet and hear from someone in person that they may only get to meet a couple times in their life. She added to the credibility, stature and importance of the Summit.”
During the summit, Ms McAleese was awarded the ‘Orientem Solem Award’, in acknowledgment of the barriers that she has broken throughout her career as an academic, author, barrister and journalist and for being an inspirational figure to law students. Professor Louise Crowley of the UCC School of Law chaired a ‘Q&A’ event with Ms McAleese where she spoke on a variety of topics, including her childhood and education, growing up during the Troubles, the future of Ireland and the future of children’s rights.
Mary McAleese is not the only former president that Bailey has been responsible for bringing to the table, as during his time as elected auditor of the UCC Society, he has secured engagements from former President Mary Robinson on the topic of climate action, as well as actor and author Stephen Fry, on his life and career.
Mr Bailey says he hopes to build on 2021’s Intervarsity summit: “Myself and Anna’s hope is that the Summit will become one of the biggest events in the Irish legal calendar each year.”