Up to 60 members of the Irish American Law Society of Cleveland are in Dublin and Galway this week for the society’s 2016 Business and Legal Symposium, which will take place at the King's Inns in Dublin and at the National University of Ireland Galway.

On Thursday, September 29, the opening event of the symposium will feature a presentation at the King’s Inns of the 1916 Roger Casement trial by two U.S. attorneys, Terrence Kenneally from Cleveland and New York’s Martin Galvin. One lawyer will represent the state’s position and the other the defendant’s position.

Two barristers from Dublin, Michael McDowell, a current senator and former attorney general (whose father was involved in the Rising), and a junior barrister will be making the same presentation from their point of view.

The comments and judging will be by Mr. Justice Donal O’Donnell and Mr. Justice Peter Charleton, and Maureen O’Connor, chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, and her colleague, Justice Judith Lanzinger.

A cocktail party will take place at the King’s Inns following the presentation, and on Friday, participants will travel to Galway to take part in a number of panel discussions with Irish counterparts. Topics over the two day event at the National University of Ireland Galway include the death penalty in the U.S. and the EU; same-sex marriage comparison between the U.S. and Ireland; EU and U.S. software protection methods, and obtaining discovery in international litigation.

On Saturday evening, NUI Galway President James Browne will host cocktails and dinner for the participants.

“We have an impressive array of experts making presentations on interesting and timely subjects,” said Thomas J. Scanlon, president of the society’s Executive Committee and one of its founding members.

The Irish American Law Society of Cleveland is comprised of judges, lawyers, law students and their friends.  The society provides a forum for educational, cultural and social activities concerning Irish heritage and tradition.  Visit www.irishclevelandlawyers.com for more information.