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Proctor : December 2015
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38 PROCTOR | December 2015 Neil Joseph Macgroarty, (‘Kel’) 31 August 1934 – 17 October 2015 In the early hours of the morning of 17 October 2015 a legend of the Queensland legal profession was found still, peaceful and lifeless in his unit at Henley. With the passing of this exceptionally talented legal practitioner an era of Queensland legal history also came to an end – an era which was graceful, civilised and rich in language. It was an era which I fortunately was exposed to in my formative years training to be a lawyer. Neil Joseph Macgroarty (or ‘Kel’ to his family and friends) was and will always be a legend in our profession. Kel had a great eye for detail which was the epitome of his five years of training under legendary solicitor Jack Currie before Kel was eventually admitted to the Bar. Kel was a formidable advocate who would argue his client’s case without fear or favour. Most importantly, Kel was the best trainer of lawyers who understood the pressures of everyday practice for a solicitor and accordingly he did everything possible to assist his instructing solicitor in all facets of the case which Kel was briefed to argue. Kel was also my uncle, my friend and my mentor. I first encountered Kel in the workplace when I participated in work experience with him in December 1987. Kel was briefed by Chris Nyst in a police tribunal hearing. Kel was representing a police officer charged with misconduct. As a criminal defence advocate, Kel would normally be vigorously cross- examining police officers. Nevertheless, he taught me a valuable lesson, namely when a person is your client you provide to them nothing less than 100% of your ability, training and knowledge to represent them. Over the next eight months I worked extensively with Kel in a number of cases as a result of being employed by Chris and I witnessed Kel’s fierce determination to each case he was briefed in; that same determination was also a feature displayed by the solicitor working with him. Goodbye our friend, goodbye I was to subsequently stray from the flock for a period of nine years, but when I came back to the law in 1997 I very quickly resumed learning under Kel. I was employed by Legal Aid Queensland when Kel in 1999 accepted a brief from me to argue a difficult case of dangerous driving causing death. Although Kel was only being paid a fraction of his private fee, he devoted himself to that case in the same manner as he would if briefed in a private paying case. During this case Kel taught me how to be a competent future lawyer – attention to detail and, most importantly, listening to your client as opposed to being dismissive of their instructions. Kel’s greatest asset, which we lawyers benefited from in instructing him, was that unlike a lot of other barristers, he did not disregard the views of his instructor; rather, Kel worked with the instructor for the greater good of their respective client, including right down to such basic matters as the content of a good legal letter. Kel worked with his instructor so that there could never be any recourse against that person in relation to the job they had done on their file. In working with Kel you always felt secure as he would digest the case, nurture his instructor and forever teach the great art of our profession. Subsequently, I had the good fortune of continuing to be taught the practice of the law by Kel when I worked for my former master, Terry O’Gorman. Although Kel was in his late 60s, I witnessed and learnt from his ferocious devotion to his client’s case in R v McGrane followed by the six-year epic of R v Stevens; all of that time Kel did nothing else than encourage and teach me as his instructor. It was this nurturing attitude of Kel’s which made him a practitioner revered by such experienced solicitors as Terry O’Gorman and Chris Nyst (just to name a few). The invaluable skills which Kel taught me carried me through to my change of legal life when I switched over to practise in commercial litigation five years ago. So when I received that dreaded call on the morning of 17 October 2015 I knew that an era of our great profession had unfortunately come to an end. At Kel’s funeral six days later I witnessed a vast legion of pupils come to say goodbye to their friend and mentor. For me, a great teacher of the art of being a solicitor had passed into history. Tonight a legal question which Kel could answer popped into my mind. To my dismay I look at my phone and realise a mentor will not be there on the other end of the line. I look into the night sky and wonder whether a solicitor will ever have such a good friend in a barrister ever again. Michael Springer is a special counsel in the commercial litigation wing of Rostron Carlyle Lawyers. In memoriam back to contents
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