Editorial

• Date: 01 January 2023
• Author: Joshua Kieran-Glennon

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Editorial

Since its foundation in 1999, the Hibernian Law Journal has served a dual purpose:

rstly, to provide an opportunity for trainee solicitors to involve themselves in the

production of a rst-rate academic journal; secondly, to serve as a forum for trainee

and newly-qualied solicitors, as well other junior practitioners, law students,

and early career academics, to contribute their scholarship to a peer-reviewed and

rigorously edited publication. At its foundation it was an ambitious endeavour,

and so it remains today. As both a nation and a legal jurisdiction, Ireland lives

in changing and challenging times. As our role within various international

organisations develops, as new social and cultural issues challenge contemporary

understandings of right and wrong, as the shadow of climate change looms ever-

lengthening over the national political and economic debate, the role of lawyers

and the legal system must constantly self-evaluate. is tumultuous world is the

backdrop against which Volume 22 of the Hibernian Law Journal comes to press,

and the self-evaluation process I have just described is the fray into which the

Editorial Board, and the authors whose work they have curated, seek to enter.

In all corners of the legal profession, and wider society, evidence of this self-

evaluation is clear to see. A recent survey of the solicitor’s profession, carried

out by the Law Society, revealed that articial intelligence, data protection and

environmental and planning issues are the leading areas in which members of

the profession expect to see growth over the next ve years.1 Meanwhile on the

international stage, Ireland looks to re-situate itself as a jurisdiction of choice in

the post-Brexit European legal landscape. e Ireland for Law initiative, a joint

venture between the Law Society, the Bar Council, the IDA and the Department

of Justice has sent regular trade missions to Europe and North America, advertising

Ireland as a venue well-equipped to deal with areas of law ranging from commercial

disputes and cross-border insolvency processes to complex nancings and data

privacy regulation. I look forward to reading the words of my successors in these

pages over the coming years, as they consider the impact of these developments on

the profession. In the meantime, the Editorial Board of Volume 22 has made what

is, in my admittedly biased view, a valuable contribution not only to scholarship in

each of the elds of law addressed in these pages, but a snapshot of the wide range

of issues facing solicitors in practice today.

Elaine Dunne considers the lasting impact of Brexit on the competition law

landscape in these isles, with particular regard to merger control. She advocates

for greater alignment between the UK and EU approaches, though it remains

1 Mark McDermott and Angela Flanagan, ‘Helicopter view’ (Law Society Gazette, 12 July 2023)

rvey-of-law-society-profession> accessed 10

September 2023.