Hail Mary!
Mary Keane is a native of Swinford, Co Mayo. A barrister by profession, she is the hardworking Deputy Director General of the Law Society. Most recently, Mary was appointed as Chairperson of the National Gallery of Ireland. Here she chats to another proud Swinford native, Julie Doyle, about her recent appointment and her career to date
Hi Mary, thank you for talking to me today. As a fellow Swinford person, I am delighted to have this opportunity to chat to you for the Parchment about your career and your achievements! Can you tell our readers a little bit about your background and where you grew up in the idyllic county of Mayo?! I grew up on our family farm between Swinford and Foxford. My parents were primary school teachers and, until I was 12, I was taught in a tiny rural school of - 5 pupils with only my two parents as teachers. y brother still farms the land in Culduff. I am delighted to have grown up in the country with a farming background, although I have studied and worked in Dublin since I was 18. I went to boarding school in Claremorris from the age of 12, to the same school my mother attended. I was a bit of a wild child and I am certain that I would never have got a decent Leaving Cert if I hadn’t been a boarder. It was real boarding school back then – you got home once a term, were allowed visitors once a month and studied every day, including weekends. But I loved it really. I made great friends there and became very independent at a very young age. You began your career in the civil service before deciding to choose to study law in UCD. What prompted that change for you? I was successful at the Junior Ex Civil Service exam and was assigned to the Industrial 28 the Parchment
Within the profession, there are many women in leadership, whether as sole principals or managing partners. Personally, I have never regarded my gender as relevant to my ability to do anything that I want to and I have not encountered any barriers based on my gender
Policy Division of the Department of Industry & Commerce. I was delighted to be working and earning money, but I was really bored with the work and, after two years, I decided to take special leave without pay – there was no such thing as a career break back then. My choice of law was definitely in uenced by the fact that my boyfriend at the time was a law student and he seemed to be having a great time at college. I followed suit and had a great three years in C , graduating in 19 5 with a BCL degree. Following that, you trained as a barrister. When did you begin your role in the Law Society and what did you perceive were the greatest challenges for the profession at that time? After C , I spent five happy years working in the Companies Registration ffice in Dublin Castle. I completed the BL at the Kings Inns during that time and then spent two years in the Tax Department of Craig Gardner/Price Waterhouse. It was in 1992 that I answered an advertisement for a position at the Law Society, working closely with Noel Ryan, the Director General at the time. The first two ma or reports that I worked on were a submission to a Government Working Group considering the capping of damages in personal in ury actions (a topic ust reported on by the Law Reform Commission, 27 years later ) and a Report of a Law Society Review Group examining all aspects of the
