We always had a safety net in that we were able to call on staff members who had expertise in the different areas of law, and then of course we could refer people to the clinics where they could get legal advice rather than information. There were two lines, I answered one and an intern answered the other, we would each have a copybook and we would write down all the calls that came in, including the nature of the query. I sat just inside the door of the office, answering the phones and providing basic legal information to the people who phoned the FLAC information line. The sheer volume of work that was being done by such a small group of committed people was really impressive. Legal aid was up and running, but it wasn’t available then to people who had a net income of more than 13000 euro per annum so clearly the thresholds needed to be raised and FLAC was doing that work, putting pressure on to improve legal aid and ensure that it was accessible.
Access to Justice was at the heart of all FLAC were doing. It was exciting as well to see all the campaign and policy work that was happening. The staff had such great energy and they all had an interest in seeing change. What was your impression of FLAC at the time? That was 2004 and I have been working there ever since. Catherine was very encouraging and facilitated me straight away. Catherine Hickey was the CE at the time and she came downstairs and I introduced myself and asked if there was any chance that I could get some work experience. The legal aid board had been set up around 1995 (with the Civil Legal Aid Act) so I had been thinking maybe I could get some work experience there, when a friend of mine said but what about FLAC? So one day early in 2004 I drove to FLAC office on Dorset Street, walked in and asked to speak to whoever was in charge. It was very difficult, like starting all over again. I could also see friends of mine all whizzing along in their careers and I thought I need to go back.Īnd how did you find going back to work after being at home with your daughter? Then at that stage I decided that if I didn’t go back and pick up on the law it would get harder – things were changing a lot, legislation was changing. I worked there for 11 years and then when my daughter, Lizzie, was born in 1992 I stopped work and I stayed at home. called Black & Co, it was a small office and I was in the general litigation area so I would have gotten experience in lots of different areas.
I qualified then in 1981 and started working with a firm on South Frederick St. I wouldn't have been face-to-face with any clients, also, I was very young, just turned 18, with no experience of anything so it was good to get to actually meet people who had issues and problems. Well it was quite different to the work I was doing during my apprenticeship which was with an old established firm. Volunteering with FLAC was just a thing that students did at that time you know, it’s different now because FLAC volunteers are all fully qualified. There I would have met the different clients, I remember there would always have been a qualified solicitor or barrister available to help if there was a case that had to be done in court like a barring order or something. So as a law student, I would have gone along to the FLAC clinic in Rialto one evening a week. Well FLAC was obviously up and running at that time.
Back to mine flac professional#
It was the old system of law at that time - Blackhall Place hadn’t yet started - so I had a five year apprenticeship in a solicitors office in Dublin and I had to do what they called the solicitors professional exams. Following a year working in Brussels as an au pair, I started doing lectures in Trinity in 1976.
I finished school when I was just barely 17. Tell me a little bit about your background. In this interview Jackie reflects on her time working on the FLAC Phoneline and the nature of the thousands of callers and queries she has dealt with over the years. In February 2021, Jackie officially stepped down from her role as Telephone Information and Referral Line Coordinator. Jackie Heffernan has been an indispensable and highly regarded member of the FLAC team since 2004.
0 kommentar(er)
