A solicitor made redundant less than two years after a Dublin law firm bought out his legal practice claims he was stuck "firefighting" to keep clients instead of drumming up new business because office staff were leaving after being denied remote work arrangements.
The solicitor, Joseph McNally, found himself in "firefighting mode" as clients of his former practice in Ballymun were phoning him "upset" and "irate" after he passed over responsibility for day-to-day case work upon the merger of his firm with Ferrys LLP in early 2023, his barrister has said.
A partner at the firm has denied this was the case.
Mr McNally is pursuing a complaint under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 against Ferrys Solicitors LLP, alleging a "sham" redundancy in October 2024. The company denies the claim and says Mr McNally was let go on foot of a proper redundancy process, having turned down alternative work.
Mr McNally's legal team has said their client agreed to the merger on the basis that he would be made a partner at Ferrys within three years. The company’s position is that Mr McNally had pitched the use of digital marketing to secure new clients, but that this failed to yield substantial fee-earning business.
At the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), Tiernan Lowey BL, continued his cross-examination of Ferrys partner Barry O’Donoghue yesterday (WEDS).
Mr Lowey pointed to an email from his client’s business development work being "hampered by staff shortages" at its Ballymun branch, where Mr McNally’s files and former staff had been sent.
"It’ll be my client’s evidence that the staff shortages arose because … they did not want to accommodate remote working and they wanted them to work at the office," counsel said.
"That’s not what happened," Mr O’Donoghue said. "There was no dispute with any of the existing staff in Ballymun in relation to their terms and conditions," he said.
He said a trainee solicitor had moved on to pursue "a different area of law". Mr O’Donoghue said he thought "geographical reasons" may have been the reason that a senior administrator Mr McNally had called his "right hand" had left, he added.
The only solicitor left in the practice "continues to work remotely for most of the week", he added.
Mr Lowey put it to Mr O’Donoghue that seven office staff had left and Ballymun was "haemorrhaging staff".
"A number of staff left, but a number of staff were hired," the witness said.
Mr Lowey said the three staff hired in "would not have been a fair substitute for those seven staff, who’d had a lot of experience working in the Ballymun office".
"Joe wasn’t dealing with files on a day-to-day basis," Mr O’Donoghue said.
"My client will completely reject that assertion. His evidence will be that owing to the fact you were haemorrhaging staff… he was forced into dealing with old clients to ensure they were retained, and that is where his attentions were by necessity drawn," Mr Lowey said, referencing a memo sent by the complainant in late 2023.
"That is simply not the case, Mr Lowey," the witness said.
Mr Lowey said the complainant "had to work in firefighting mode" to retain the clients – something the previous administrative staff could have managed themselves.
"This arose because clients were complaining, they were concerned that there was no movement on their files, and he will say it’s because Ferrys were not doing the heavy lifting," Mr Lowey said.
Adjudicator Christina Ryan asked Mr Lowey to point out "which clients" were involved. Mr Lowey said there were "hundreds of files" his client could be referring to in the memo.
Mr O’Donoghue said that to say "hundreds of files" were involved was "completely outrageous and simply untrue".
"I would ask that Mr Lowey retract that comment, because it’s completely unjustified," he added.
"I will retract the reference to 'hundreds’, unequivocally. I don’t know the exact figure – a large number of clients," he said.
"You don’t have a figure, so you should unreservedly withdraw the word ‘large’," Mr O’Donoghue said.
Quoting from the memo, Mr Lowey said his client had set out that he was "left to deal with a lot of the old clients".
"They were ringing through to my work mobile. They were confused because the office name had changed, they were very upset, irate in some cases, because they hadn’t had calls returned and didn’t know what was happening with their files," Mr McNally had written.
Mr Lowey asked the witness whether he was aware of what his client had raised. Mr O’Donoghue said he didn’t think he was, and that the joint managing partners, Padraic Ferry and Deborah Crowley, had been liaising with the complainant.
"I’m not aware there was any significant level of irate clients or dissatisfied clients… that would have required any significant amount of time being spent by Joe," he said.
"Do you not believe that issues were being raised by a lot of old clients?" Mr Lowey asked the witness later.
"I don’t accept that as of October 2023 that the level of client engagement required of Joe was such that it was negatively impacting his ability to perform his contractual duties," Mr O’Donoghue said.
The case, before adjudication officer Christina Ryan, has been adjourned to May.
