Donald Binchy (born 1963) is an Irish lawyer who is currently a Judge of the Court of Appeal. He was formerly a solicitor and was the President of the

Law Society of Ireland The Law Society of Ireland ( ga, Dlí-Chumann na hÉireann) is a professional body established on 24 June 1830 and is the educational, representative and regulatory body of the solicitors' profession in Ireland. As of 2020, the Law Society had ...

between 2011 and 2012. He was a Judge of the High Court between 2014 and 2020.

Early career

Binchy is from Clonmel in

County Tipperary County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after t ...

. His father Don was a solicitor who was the President of the

from 1990 to 1991. He attended

Clongowes Wood College Clongowes Wood College SJ is a voluntary boarding school for boys near Clane, County Kildare, Ireland, founded by the Jesuits in 1814, which features prominently in James Joyce's semi-autobiographical novel ''A Portrait of the Artist as a Yo ...

and received a BCL degree from

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 33,284 student ...

in 1984. He qualified as a solicitor from the Law Society in 1987 and spent two years practising at a commercial firm in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

, Cawley, Sheerin, Wynne, practising in the areas of funds and re-insurance law. He subsequently joined the firm founded by his grandfather, Binchy Solicitors, in Clonmel. He was appointed solicitor to Clonmel Corporation in 1995. In his practice, he specialised in particular in aspects of company and commercial law, in addition to administrative law and planning law. He became President of the Law Society of Ireland in 2011 to serve a term until 2012. He had previously served on various committees of the Law Society prior to becoming president.

Judicial career

High Court

Binchy became a High Court judge in October 2014. He was the first solicitor from Clonmel to be appointed to the High Court. In the High Court he heard extradition cases including those arising out of the

Essex lorry deaths On 23 October 2019, the bodies of 39 Vietnamese people — 31 men and 8 women — were found in the trailer of an articulated refrigerator lorry in Grays, Essex, United Kingdom. The trailer had been shipped from the port of Zeebrugge, Belgiu ...

and the

death of Sophie Toscan du Plantier Sophie Toscan du Plantier, a 39-year-old French woman, was killed outside her holiday home near Toormore, Goleen, County Cork, Ireland, on the night of 23 December 1996. British journalist Ian Bailey, who lived near Toscan du Plantier's home i ...

. He also heard applications for injunctions, and a commercial dispute involving

Jedward John and Edward Grimes (born 16 October 1991), collectively known as Jedward (a portmanteau of their first names), are an Irish singing and television presenting duo. They are identical twins who first appeared as John & Edward in the sixth ...

. In 2015 he granted an injunction against RTÉ taken by

Denis O'Brien Denis O'Brien (born 19 April 1958) is an Irish billionaire businessman, and the founder and owner of Digicel. He was listed among the World's Top 200 Billionaires in 2015 and was Ireland's richest native-born citizen for a period of several ye ...

to prevent the broadcast of details of his personal banking arrangements contained in a news report. He subsequently held that what was said about O'Brien in Dáil Éireann was reportable.

Court of Appeal

He was elevated to the Court of Appeal in March 2020. A vacancy arose following the appointment of Marie Baker to the Supreme Court of Ireland.

Personal life

He is married to Claire Cusack with whom he has three children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Binchy, Donald Living people Alumni of University College Dublin Judges of the Court of Appeal (Ireland) High Court judges (Ireland) 21st-century Irish judges People from Clonmel 1963 births Irish solicitors