Address by Dr Bryan McMahon, Judge of the Circuit Court
At the Conferring of Commerce and Law Degrees at University College, Cork
On Thursday, 14 December, 2000 at 10.00 am
 
Setting Forth

The conferring address is a new institution since I left University College, Cork in 1986. When asked to speak to you this morning, I wondered what I should say and equally important, how I should say it. I agonised a good deal about it, but now it is my job to deliver my prepared remarks and your job to listen. I only hope we both finish our work at the same time.

Looking back at my own association with University College, Cork, which commenced in 1967, I recall those early days clearly. I was teaching in England when I was told there was a vacancy in the Law Faculty at University College, Cork. I was called for an interview and when asked where and when I was told that two part-time Professors (Professor E.F. Ryan and Professor Brian Murphy) would meet me in the foyer of the Victoria Hotel on a Saturday morning about 12.30. I attended and located the said gentlemen, not in the foyer, but in the lounge bar where they were having two pints of Guinness. After the introduction Professor Ryan asked me what I would like to drink and after a moment's hesitation, a long moment I confess, I took the plunge. "A pint of porter". I answered, at which both said gentlemen relaxed and proceeded with the interview such as it was.

In the 20 years I served here things changed dramatically for the better. When I left it there was about eight full-time teachers, a dedicated library and a couple of hundred law students.

It is not my intention, this morning, to bore you with personal reminiscences about the good old days. It is, however, appropriate that today's conferring is for both Law and Commerce graduates, since at least half of my teaching in those early days was to Commerce students.

In the short time available to me I suppose it is proper, on the day you are setting forth on legal and business careers, that I should, in Polonious style, give some pointers that I have learned over my career which I found helpful.

The first thing I want to draw your attention to is the power of the narrative. It has been said that "Everything is a story and the story is everything". Is there anything more sure to get our attention than those four simple magic words, "Once upon a time …"

As a biographical aside, I should say I was fortunate that the man who told me many stories when I was growing up was none other than the Seanachai himself, Eamon Kelly. Eamon, who at that time was developing his special skills experimented on me and my brothers with his story telling techniques which later won international acclaim. Little did we realise at that stage that we were listening to an outstanding artist who found his material under his own fee. I should say, moreover, that I never heard Eamon open his story with the "Once upon a time…" formula. A much more likely opening was: "In my father's time, everyone kept a pig".

And strange as it may seem, the power of the story and the form of the narrative is deeply engrained in all our thought processes. This I found to be true in all three stages of my professional life to date. As Professor of Law there was nothing more sure to grab the students' attention than the dramatic narrative whether it concerned the snail in the bottle or the boy stealing detonators from the abattoir. As a practitioner I have found that even in especially complex problems involving heavy litigation one cannot hope to manage vast amounts of material and evidence without the strong spine of a convincing narrative. More recently, as a Judge, my deliberations are frequently guided by what I conclude to be a plausible or reasonable explanation. A story that hangs together helps me to select and sift through the conflicting evidence, and ultimately determine the issue.

Closely related to the magic of the narrative is the power and beauty of language. One must realise that the impact of a story is directly related to the power and the eloquence of the narrator. As a comedian says "It's the way I tell them". Lawyers, of course, are keenly aware of the importance of accuracy in language, when interpreting and applying the law; they must also be aware of language power if properly used to promote their cause. The articulate and eloquent advocate, whether in law or in business, knows not only how important it is to be right, but also how important it is to be able to convince others of the correctness of the proposition. Much of the dramatic literature relating to law, focuses on the powerful plea to the court or to the jury for example, but the point is as equally important for the businessman who has to make a presentation or sway a meeting whether it is by way of written or oral presentation. You would do well to appreciate the power of language and the importance of style in this regard. Read Cicero or Socrates or St Thomas Moore or Burke or O'Connell. "It belongs to him who says it best". You must spend time not only in identifying what you wish to say, but also in how you are going to say it.

Another piece of advice worth mentioning is the fact that there usually is an alternative. One should always contemplate the alternative. In teaching Law I used to try to disabuse students of the inevitability of a particular rule or solution by forcing them to ask whether there was a different way of handling the matter. That well-known philosopher, Maurice Chevalier, was asked on the occasion of his birthday how it felt to be 81. "Great" he replied rolling his Gallic "r" "especially when you contemplate the alternative". There are few things in life that are inevitable in my experience, and you would do well in going through life to question such inherited rules and patterns and ask yourself "Is there another way?".

The joy and the interest of alternative thinking was brought home to me recently when I was strolling through a West of Ireland town, where I spotted a notice in a small jeweller's shop: "Ears pierced, while you wait" [PAUSE.. The delay in response, indicates that you have some work to do in this area.] When I looked across the road at the cobbler's window, the source of the jeweller's inspiration became evident. His sign read "Shoes heeled, while you wait".

There's also a lesson there for you.
 
Humour too, you must bring with you.

Let me now live up to my conviction and tell you a small story. Once upon - no, no, let me be more specific. On 16th March, 1998, I found myself in Heathrow airport returning from a conference in Germany. As my flight back to Ireland was not till the following day, I travelled to Oxford to stay overnight with a brother of mine. After dinner he turned to me and said "Come on, there's an Irish party down at one of the college's tonight. Some music and some Irish poetry". I rarely said no to an invitation which commenced with the tree-worded phrase "Will you come?", so off we went. Because we had no advance booking we had to cajole our way into the grounds of the college where a marquee had been erected to house the event. The Master of Ceremonies was a 60-year old builder from Bohola. He managed his audience like an experienced lion-tamer, demanding hush and respect for such tunes as "Geese in the bog", "Pigeon on the gate" and "The Mason's apron". The audience itself sat around small garden tables, with iced buckets for the white wine by their sides. White linen jackets, long silk scarves and jaunty headgear were much in evidence - and that was only the men! Unfamiliarity with ladies' fashion terminology prevents me from describing the fairer sex in the audience. Suddenly, the MC banged the table and announced that the poet Bernard O'Donoghue would read one of his poems. Silence fell and a quiet, cool, confident gentleman stood, and without introduction, explanation or apology recited his poem Munster Final. When he was finished he sat down to tumultuous applause. I turned to my brother and said "My God, how far we've come". There we were at the very heart of English establishment, the old heart centre of the vanished empire, singing our songs, saying our poems and being cheered for our efforts.

So that you can fully appreciate the extraordinary scene. I will now recite the poem. I recite it also so that if any of you would-be lawyers or businessmen are ever asked did you ever discuss poetry when you went to Law School or Business School, you can truthfully look the querest in the eye and firmly say "yes sir".

Munster Final
 
In memory of Tom Creedon, died 28 August 1983

The jarveys to the west side of the town
Are robbers to a man, and if you tried
To drive through The Gap, they'd nearly strike you
With their whips. So we parked facing for home
And joined the long troop down the meadowsweet
And woodbine-scented road into the town.
By blue Killarney's lakes and glens to see
The white posts on the green! To be deafened
By the muzzy megaphone of Jimmy Shand
And the testy bray to keep the gangways clear.
 
As for Tom Creedon, I can see him still
His back arching casually to field and clear.
'Glory Macroom! Good Boy, Tom Creedon!'
We'd be back next year to try our luck in Cork.
 
We will be back next year, roaring ourselves
Hoarse, praying for better luck. After first Mass
We'll get there early; that's our only hope.
Keep clear of the carparks so we're not hemmed in,
And we'll be home, God willing, for the cows.

You're embarking on a great event adventure. You're moving out from the comfort of a safe harbour into uncharted waters. You're launching into the great adventure of Life. You can be confident as you do so, however, that your barque is carefully crafted and that you have been well instructed in the required navigational skills necessary for a successful voyage. This knowledge gives you every chance of success. Like any good sailor, however, be sure you know where you want to go in life, and what values you should bring with you. Do not take your destination from others. Set your own course and pull to your own rhythm. Look into your own heart: we all row to a different stroke. Louis McNeice in his wonderful poem Thalassa puts it this way:

"By a high star our course is set
Our end is Life. Put out to sea".

And as you set forth bring with you a sense of the story, a feeling for language, literature and art, and a keen awareness for the alternative. As you set forth bring humour, a sense of your own place and confidence in the validity and significance of your own experience. Remember the story of the mild-mannered poet from Cullen - one of your own - and how he took the City of the Spires by storm with his poem "Munster Final".