Solicitor Gary Lee has been endorsed by the Independent Law Centres Network to run for re-election in the Law Society Council election.
Gary is the Managing Solicitor at Ballymun Community Law Centre, a not for profit organisation which provides legal services to the Ballymun community. His main areas of legal practice are housing, disability, employment and social welfare law.
Gary has a particular interest in access to justice, especially for the more vulnerable and marginalized. He said that “Solicitors play a critical role in access to justice in terms of information, advice and representation. The civil legal aid system in Ireland is woefully under-resourced - before our Law Centre opened in 2002 there were no solicitors in Ballymun, yet it has a core population of 22,000”.
Gary went on to say that “we deal with people’s basic human needs in terms of housing, welfare and health. We get really great support from solicitors’ profession and also have a panel of barristers, indeed without this support law centres like ours would not be able to open their doors”.
Describing his work at Ballymun Community Law Centre Gary refers to clients dealing with the most basic of human needs such as housing, welfare and health issues and observed that “solicitors have a proud tradition of assisting the most vulnerable and marginalised in Irish society, and without their generous support Law Centres such as Ballymun could not stay open.”
Gary Lee is running for the Law Society Council Election which is ongoing at present. The ballot papers were sent out last Monday 18th October and must be returned no later than 5pm on Thursday 28th October.
In addition to his role as Managing Solicitor at Ballymun Community Law Centre, Gary is a member of the Law Society’s Human Rights and Equality Committee and Chairperson of the Mental Health Tribunals since 2006.