The Inn of Court of Northern Ireland was established at a meeting of the Bench and Bar held on the 11th January 1926.
History of the Inn of Court
Prior to that date and following the coming into force of the Government of Ireland Act 1920, the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland had, under appropriate warrants, called members of the Bar to the Inner Bar in Northern Ireland as King's Counsel. Accordingly, subsequent to the 11th January 1926 there were both:-
- (a) The Inn of Court of Northern Ireland governed by the Benchers of the Inn (a body consisting of all the Judges of the Supreme Court, the Attorney General and at least nine practising members of the Bar of Northern Ireland); and
- (b) The General Council of the Bar of Northern Ireland (the "Bar Council")
At a General Meeting of the Inn of Court of Northern Ireland on the 5th October 1983 it was resolved that the present Constitution (See Code of Conduct:Constitution and Bye Laws) be adopted as the Constitution of the Honorable Society of the Inn of Court of Northern Ireland. The Bar of Northern Ireland and the General Council of the Bar of Northern Ireland are governed by the Regulations of the same Constitution. Under the present Constitution most of the powers formerly exercised by the Benchers are now effectively exercised by the Executive Council of the Inn of Court of Northern Ireland of which the majority of the membership is comprised of practising barristers.
New Venue
While the Inn of Court of Northern Ireland had therefore existed for some time as a concept, it had lacked the physical premises to conduct social gatherings such as the dinners hosted by Inns of Court in England. There the Bar and Bench could mix, and an aspiring barrister would be expected to have dined a number of times at the Inn before entry into the profession. Crucially an Inn provides a venue for a variety of functions, some of which have involved the wider business community and offers new training opportunities.
The redevelopment of the Bar Library Rooms in the Royal Courts of Justice provides a new set of services for the modern legal professional: a proper research library where members of the Bar can work in a quiet and studious environment; facilities for modern legal research through internet access; a space for conducting negotiations with other members in privacy and comfort; facilities for new education and training programmes; and a new "physical" Inn of Court for Northern Ireland where the Bar and Bench can meet and which has been opened up to members of the wider business community.
New Function
The new function room on the first floor of the Royal Courts is designed to facilitate meetings of the Bar and Bench, to entertain other invited guests to dinners, and to host meetings of all kinds. It has also afforded the Bar Library the opportunity to establish a formal continuing professional development (CPD) programme for barristers, as it is an adaptable space which can be used for education and training events of all kinds. The first floor is also home to a comfortable lounge in which members can meet for negotiations without disturbing their colleagues. Between this lounge and the function room, two glazed partitions create a hallway. When the function room is full, the voice of the speaker can be relayed to the hallway and lounge so that a larger audience can be accommodated. The reading room dominates the ground floor: a long sweep of book-lined shelves, but with greatly improved furnishings, significantly more shelf space and brighter colours, making maximum use of the available light in the deep room and complementing it with stunning chandeliers. The room makes the clear architectural statement that a quiet study area need not be gloomy. At the end of the reading room, a smaller space houses a suite of computer terminals for online research and more shelf-lined walls.
Facilities
The reading room has upwards of 40,000 volumes in stock, from 16th century Irish tomes to modern reference works, and the clear purpose of the reading room redevelopment has been to make them all readily accessible. Prior to the refurbishment the issue desk was known to all (not affectionately) as "the cage". Now the library staff welcome members at the entrance to the refurbished rooms from a spacious reception desk. As with all modern libraries, the focus has changed from merely issuing books to offering research services and assistance with study.
Mary McAleese, President of Ireland, opened the new facility on 29th April 2005. She noted the progress that the profession had made in recent years: first it had changed from a Bar Library based on physical books to one which is more than 50% computer based; and now it had developed from an Inn of Court which was notional rather than physical to one which has its own rooms as an integral part of Belfast's Legal Quarter.