Law Society public lecture series continues
The next talk in the 2025 Law Society public lecture series will take place at 6pm on 8 April at the Moya Quinlan Theatre in Blackhall Place.
The speakers are Dr Barry Whelan of the Law Society and historian and lawyer Cormac O’Malley, son of influential republican and writer Ernie O’Malley (1897-1957).
The topic is ‘The Solicitor and the General’ on Lithuanian-born Irish solicitor Michael Noyk and Ernie O’Malley, the Irish republican revolutionary and writer.
Born in Castlebar in 1897, O’Malley became devoted to Ireland’s fight for freedom at an early age.
Captured three times
As a 23-year-old IRA commandant-general, leading 7,000 volunteers in the brutal War of Independence, and later IRA senior commander during the Civil War, he was captured three times, severely tortured, escaped twice, wounded 14 times and survived a 41-day hunger strike.
Following his dramatic life as a soldier, he embraced the bohemian world as an intellectual and renaissance man.
Cormac KH O’Malley was born in Ireland, moved to the USA in 1957, studied history at Harvard and law at Columbia, and enjoyed a successful 30-year international legal career.
In retirement, he has pursued research on modern Irish history and the legacy of his parents Ernie O’Malley and artist Helen Hooker O’Malley. He has lectured broadly on his family legacy and Irish history.
The Law Society Public Lecture Series brings together legal experts, historians, and academics to bring to life the connection between the law and Irish history.
This series is open to the public, free of charge.