Irish solicitor James MacGuill is the new president of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE).

A past-president of the Law Society, Mr MacGuill took office on 1 January after his election during a plenary session of the CCBE last month.

James is managing partner at MacGuill and Company, a five-solicitor  practice based in Dublin city centre.

He was admitted to the Roll of Solicitors in 1986, and was appointed a Notary Public in 1996.

Senior counsel honour

Mr MacGuill has been in private practice ever since as a litigator, with an emphasis on public law – especially criminal law and human rights.

In 2020, he was one of the first Irish solicitors to be granted the title senior counsel by the Irish Government.

He has been actively involved in the Law Society, and has chaired many of its committees and served as president in 2007/08. 

Mr MacGuill joined the CCBE in 2008 and was head of the Irish delegation twice between 2012 and 2018. He also chaired the CCBE Criminal Law Committee from 2013.

Presidential support

His presidency will be supported by Panagiotis Perakis (Greece) as first vice-president, Pierre-Dominique Schupp (Switzerland) as second vice-president, and Thierry Wickers (France) as third vice-president. The CCBE represents the bars and law societies of 45 countries, and, through them, more than one million European lawyers.

Founded in 1960, the CCBE is recognised as the voice of the European legal profession by the EU institutions and other leading institutions, such as the Council of Europe.