Philip Lee Solicitors are Public Law Experts. We are ranked as Tier 2 in Legal 500 for our public sector profile, and we expect to be ranked as Tier 1 next year due to our continued development in this area. We provide sophisticated, expert advice on extremely complex areas of law, in relation to healthcare, disability, education, pharmaceutical, IT, finance, employment, regulatory compliance, competition, procurement, waste, energy, telecommunications, environment and similar technical and complex sectors and industries.

Constitutional Law

Because much of our work is for public bodies, we have advised extensively on Constitutional law issues, including in relation to fair procedures in fulfilling statutory functions. Most of our public body clients are statutorily constituted, and so, again, we are always required to factor in the impact of the relevant piece of constituting legislation, and examine whether our clients’ activities conform to their statutory functions. We are also conscious that other non-statutory obligations are imposed on public bodies by the Department of Finance in the areas of corporate governance and accounting, and we take such matters into account in providing our advice.

European Convention on Human Rights

The implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights into Irish law, coupled with the existing constitutional right to privacy, means that the privacy of citizens will come to the forefront in the next decade. All public bodies need to ensure that their actions do not imperil the right to privacy.

The firm also coordinates the Rule of Law Project, which forms part of the Connect Ethiopia charity’s group of projects in Ethiopia. The Project was first rolled out in September 2007. Training on human rights is a key component of the project, and has involved the firm organising a number of eminent, specialist human rights lawyers (with whom we have close links) to travel to Ethiopia and provide seminars on the subject to members of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission and their invitees. Lawyers from our firm have also spoken at these human rights seminars.

Governance of State Bodies

We understand the needs of public organisations, because we have advised and assisted them for over fifteen years. We understand that good governance means having an understanding of the law, its purpose and application, and the observance of procedural requirements. We have steered organisations like the Health Service Executive, the four Dublin local authorities, RTE and the Marine Institute through the pitfalls of sometimes conflicting legislation applicable to those organisations. Our work for public organisations such as these has given us a deep understanding of their needs and requirements, as well as a thorough understanding of the regulatory frameworks in which they operate.

Public Interest Litigation

Abandoning a tender process and re-tendering is often an efficient solution and in the public interest. If litigation is the unavoidable outcome of the challenge then we make available our dedicated procurement litigation team and select counsel with whom we have worked on numerous occasions in procurement challenges. Our approach includes advising the client to consider an early meeting with the European Commission to prepare the groundwork against the claimant submitting a complaint to the EU Commission. If a client is beneficiary of EU funds the consequences of a complaint and investigation can be considerable. Even if the client is not in receipt of funds it is preferable that the EU Commission does not initiate its own legal proceedings or does not give support to the challenger. Therefore “winning them over” at an early stage is an important strategic approach.

Freedom of Information

We have extensive experience in this area of law and regularly advise public sector clients on their obligations when responding to FOI requests. We are also extremely familiar with the exceptions that permit a public body to refuse access to data.

We regularly provide assistance to clients in responding to third party Freedom of Information requests, which involves the interpretation of client obligations under Freedom of Information legislation and decisions of the Freedom of Information Commissioner, including the preparation of submissions to the Information Commissioner in circumstances where the client considered certain sensitive information to be exempt from disclosure and this was appealed by the requestor. (FOI advice brings to bear similar considerations to those which apply to data protection advice.)

Statutory vires

Philip Lee specialises in providing publicly funded organisations, unconstituted groups and voluntary sector bodies with advice in relation to their public law obligations and their statutory powers. The firm has advised numerous statutory bodies in relation to the powers, functions and duties derived from their founding statutes, and has extensive expertise in relation to the construction and interpretation of such legislation.

Issues relating to the interpretation of their statutory functions and vires arise daily for our public sector and local authority clients. In order to discharge their statutory functions, such entities must ensure at all times that their actions are within their mandate. Frequently such bodies require legal advice in order to determine whether they can take action on certain issues or in certain ways.

Regulatory Impact Analysis

The revised guidelines for regulatory impact analysis take into account recommendations of an independent report on the subject, published in July 2008, and particularly focus on the need for improved methodological guidance and for further knowledge on the use of regulatory impact analysis within the context of EU decision-making processes. As part of our continuing knowledge development, our lawyers have attended training courses and seminars on the implementation of the guidelines, and are fully aware of their impact on proposals for primary legislation, significant statutory instruments, draft EU directives and significant regulations.