Partner at M.W. Keller & Son Solicitors

Background

I have no family background in law but first developed an interest in doing law when my older brother went into the profession. From my discussions with him, I formed the view that this was a job that would suit my personality and academic strengths.

I obtained a BCL Degree from UCC and then did my apprenticeship with Walsh Harte & Company on Pembroke Road in Dublin. My apprenticeship was very broad based where in a small firm like that you were exposed to conveyancing, litigation, probate and commercial work in equal measure and in my view, gave a very good grounding.

Career

After qualifying I worked for one year with Walsh Harte & Co., before moving to Waterford City where I commenced employment with M.W. Keller & Son at Gladstone Street in Waterford. This was a firm established in the 1940s by Maurice W. Keller the father of Mark Keller who was the managing partner in the firm when I arrived. I was immediately diverted to the area of property law exclusively. At that time the firm was a panel Solicitor for Irish Permanent and there was a huge volume of residential property mortgages passing through the office and also acted for a number of property developers.

I became a partner in M.W. Keller & Son in the mid-2000s and I have two fellow partners Margaret Fortune and Tom Norris. Mark Keller the former managing partner is now employed as a Consultant. We have three other Solicitors working with us and now have a young and energetic team of Solicitors to drive on the firm.

Mark Keller and his father before him always felt that a small firm could not cover every area of law excellently and that it was important to concentrate on strengths. Our firm has developed a focus on property, advice to the business sector together with a strong litigation and family law practice.

I have been extremely lucky since I started with M.W. Keller & Son that Mark Keller and Margaret Fortune and Tom Norris have always been very easy people to deal with and we have always had common goals. We have regular partner meetings, and everything is done on a very democratic basis. This team spirit feeds down into the support staff where we have a loyal team, many of whom have been with us for a substantial number of years.

Advice

We are in recent years looking more and more to the modern ways of advertising and marketing but are still firmly of the view that the most consistent source of business and repeat business that we benefit from is recommendations from existing clients. 

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