I sometimes mutter to myself when some bewigged windbag is described “as one of the finest legal minds of his generation.” Given the absence of any real benchmarks for performance at the Irish bar, such a description can be charitably interpreted as describing a barrister who loses less than 50% of his or her cases. However, it is questionable whether it is even necessary to win at least the moiety of one’s briefs to attain the status of legal superstar. For example, profiling senior counsel Paddy MacEntee, who recently headed a commission that examined the Garda’s investigation of the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings, the Irish Independent colourfully asserts:

“During the 15th century, people accused of murder who wanted to be saved from the gallows were forced to memorize the 51st Psalm. Today, they brief Paddy McEntee. McEntee, a senior counsel and Godfather of Irish criminal law, is arguably the country’s most successful criminal defence lawyer.”

The paper then goes on to list some of the clients MacEntee has “saved from the gallows”:

“Killer Catherine Nevin, Judge Brian Curtin and convicted murderer Malcolm MacArthur have all been represented by the Monaghan native. . . He has defended the killers of Garda Jerry McCabe…Although cases such as the Veronica Guerin murder trial (he defended Paul Ward) have made McEntee a household name…”

Perhaps my memory fails me here, but didn’t everyone mentioned above, with the exception of Judge Brian Curtin (who did some pretty heavy legal lifting himself) all get sent down, and with hefty sentences?

Now, I don’t expect legal representation to perform Johnny Cochrane/Barry Scheck class of miracles as a matter of course, but you have to wonder whether the fates of those represented by MacEntee would have turned out any worse if their counsel were merely some wet-behind-the-ears sprat from the Law Library.