Michael Boylan named top civil litigation firm at law awards

The title of Civil Litigation Law/Lawyer Firm of the Year has been awarded to Michael Boylan Litigation Law Firm at the 10th annual Dye & Durham Irish Law Awards. The outstanding Dublin-based firm secured the accolade of overall winner, having also been named regional winner for the Leinster area including Dublin.

On accepting the award one of the founding partners Michael Boylan paid tribute to the team at the firm, which has an established and esteemed track record specialising in the area of medical negligence.

“It’s a marvellous achievement for us as a relatively small, niche practice to win this national award for Best Civil Litigation Law Firm, particularly in the face of such stiff competition from so many other firms,” said Boylan. “It makes me and the entire team feel very proud of all the hard work we put in for our clients.”

The core ethos at Michael Boylan Litigation Law Firm is the belief that access to justice is a fundamental right, not a privilege and it’s something that lies central to the work carried out by the dedicated team, led by founding partners Michael Boylan and Gillian O’Connor, who between them have more than 60 years of experience specialising in medical negligence and litigation.

That passion for access to justice was established early on when, in 1986 while working as an assistant solicitor in a small firm, Boylan commenced working on a birth injury case that, to many, was considered a lost cause and next to impossible to win.

The case – William Dunne v The National Maternity Hospital – went on to become one of the most famous landmark cases in Irish legal history. It was the first successful case brought against an Irish maternity hospital and a consultant obstetrician for hypoxic brain damage caused to an infant at birth as a result of a mismanaged labour.

“We have a proven track record of not being afraid to take on complex, difficult cases which have merit,” revealed Boylan. “I’m very proud of taking on the first birth injury case, Dunne v NMH, which settled the legal principles for all medical and professional negligence claims. “In recent times we have successfully sued the state and vaccine manufacturers on behalf of 95 children badly injured by a defective flu vaccine,” Boylan continued. “We have achieved the two highest ever personal injury awards in the history of the state, both in excess of €30 million, and we know our work has been instrumental in bringing about changes to outdated defective hospital practices.”

Medical negligence claims are often complex and will inevitably involve the interaction of legal issues with complex medical science. Thanks to the expertise honed over years dedicating themselves to this specialist area, Michael Boylan Litigation Law Firm is able to offer clients a service they can trust.

“We specialise in medical/clinical negligence litigation, and this proven expertise we bring to bear on every case we take on for injured patients,” explained Boylan. “This means our clients have the best chance of getting a good result in their case.”

He added: “It is vitally important in any fair society or just legal system that the ordinary person has proper access to the courts and can get the same level of legal expertise and representation as is available to the state, HSE, doctors or hospital boards.”

It’s a belief that continues to inform the cases being taken on at the Michael Boylan Litigation Law Firm, based in the heart of Dublin at 97 St Stephen’s Green. Later this month Ciara McPhillips, partner with the firm, will bring to trial the first action in Ireland for a child who has suffered a serious brain injury, including autism, as a result of in utero exposure to Epilim/sodium valproate, a medication given to control epilepsy. The firm is acting for scores of other children and their families who have suffered injury from the toxicity associated with this drug.

It’s this dedication to pursuing these major cases that Boylan believes is acknowledged with the firm achieving such an impressive win at this year’s Dye & Durham Irish Law Awards. He said: “It’s a recognition that we can – and do – ‘punch well above our weight’ and can provide legal representation of the highest quality to the ordinary person who has a good case and who wants to hold the state or the HSE to account.”