INTRODUCTION  

My qualifications and broad experience

My Name is Linda O’Shea Farren.  Having studied law in University College Cork, I qualified as a Solicitor both in Ireland and England & Wales and as an Attorney-at-Law in New York.  I also hold a 1st Class Hons. Master's Degree in Public Policy (MEconSc) from the Institute of Public Administration awarded by University College Dublin. I am also a CEDR-accredited Mediator.  I practised law in New York and London from the mid-1980s to mid-1990s with Debevoise & Plimpton and, since returning to Ireland, I have worked in the public, private and voluntary sectors across a broad spectrum of Law, Corporate Governance, Human Rights, Government, Higher Education, Banking, Health and the Arts.  

My background

I have had a life-long commitment to public service.  This stems from my parents’ careers in the civil service, until the ‘marriage bar’ stopped my mother in her tracks.  Unfortunately, my father died shortly before my Leaving Cert., leaving my mother, at age 48, with seven of us.  As Limerick didn't have a university at the time, I headed off to UCC at age 17 to study law with a much-appreciated grant from Limerick City Corporation.  While local council grants enabled many people of my generation to obtain a third level education that would otherwise not have been possible (especially outside the then university cities, and especially women), we graduated into the so-called ‘brain drain’ that marked Ireland of the 1980s.  My legal journey brought me from a solicitor’s apprenticeship in West Cork to New York, to which I emigrated and qualified as an Attorney-at-Law. 

Running for Seanad Éireann in 2025     

I was extremely honoured to be nominated to run for Seanad Éireann by Professor John O’Halloran, President of UCC, and Professor Bryan McMahon, retired High Court Judge who is also a Solicitor, past Chair of UCC’s Governing Body and former Professor of Law and Head of the Department of Law at UCC.  

Professor John O’Halloran, President of UCC:  

‘Linda is someone who manages to effect real change in her every endeavour.  I have served with her for many years on both UCC's Governing Body and the NUI Senate, and her capacity for work is boundless.  I have witnessed Linda persuading people of varied dispositions to arrive at workable solutions in situations that are both complex and sensitive, even when others considered progress extremely remote.  If elected to Seanad Éireann, I have absolutely no doubt that Linda will use her significant qualifications and extensive experience in Higher Education, Law and Public Policy to deliver meaningful change for the greater good.  That is why I was delighted to nominate Linda for Seanad Éireann.'  

Professor Bryan McMahon, retired High Court Judge:  

‘I have known Linda for more than four decades, first as a law student of mine and, more recently, when she was Chair of UCC’s Audit & Risk Committee.  Linda has immense initiative; strong analytical, troubleshooting and leadership skills; and unflinching perseverance.  I have personally observed her, through her innovation and tenacity, devise solutions to problems that had long bedevilled others, all achieved with minimum friction.  These talents have enabled her to have a distinguished and varied career in law and well beyond.  I am confident that, if elected to Seanad Éireann, she is fully equipped to effect reform for the benefit of all.  I also have no hesitation in vouching for Linda's integrity and her honesty.’  

MY TRACK RECORD AS A CAMPAIGNER

Change does not happen on its own.  It takes courage to pursue change and tenacity to persevere until improvements are delivered.  I have shown initiative and tenacity in every role that I have undertaken, and I have a strong track record of getting things done.  By way of illustration, the following summary is indicative of the level of change that I have been able to achieve or influence, mostly on my own initiative and in voluntary roles:

• I was one of the first Irish lawyers to prove to the New York State Board of Law Examiners that Irish law degrees are quantitatively and qualitatively equivalent to US graduate law degrees (Juris Doctorate / JD), which set the precedent entitling Irish law graduates to sit the New York Bar Exam

• In 1985, the year in which I qualified as a solicitor and emigrated to New York, I founded the Irish American Bar Association of New York (IABANY) to meet the need of Irish immigrants in the USA for pro bono legal advice

• I applied to my law firm, Debevoise & Plimpton, to take IABANY on as a pro bono client, which enabled me to set IABANY up as a 501(c)(3) charitable organisation and put it on a permanent footing; IABANY is still thriving today, almost 40 years later, and I have been awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award for services to IABANY

• Led by me, IABANY was the only organisation to oppose an application in the late 1980s by the New York Bar Association to the New York Court of Appeals to remove New York’s recognition of  certain Common Law law degrees (including Irish) as equivalent to US Juris Doctorate degrees; we were successful in opposing this application, thereby securing Irish law graduates' eligibility to sit the New York Bar Exam to this day

• When I was practising in the London office of Debevoise & Plimpton, I was involved in the group that obtained reciprocity for Irish and English solicitors in 1991  

• In 1993, IABANY organised a large group admission of our members to the United States Supreme Court 

• When I was Programme Manager & Adviser to former Minister for Justice Nora Owen in the Rainbow Coalition in the mid-1990s, I promoted reciprocity between the State Boards of Law Examiners of states other than New York and Ireland, thereby increasing possibilities for Irish lawyers to practise in the US 

• Following my experience registering our first child born in Ireland, I successfully fought for enactment of the Registration of Births Act 1996, which equality-proofed registration of births

• Later in the 1990s, I also successfully fought a plan by Dublin Bus to replace half its fleet with inaccessible buses, and ultimately they were all made accessible 

• Having campaigned for people with disabilities throughout my adult life, I was instrumental in getting Ireland’s first disability law on the statute books in 2005

• I have also been actively involved in a campaign to save mature trees in Dublin that were slated for felling as part of Bus Connects - Irish Examiner  

• In more recent years, I have devoted much of my time to the arts in Ireland - see my CV below  

MY SERVICE TO THE NUI COMMUNITY

For the past 22 years, I have been serving the NUI community with a graduate’s perspective and on a voluntary basis. I have been elected to the NUI Senate by Convocation (NUI graduates, academics and Senate members) for the past five consecutive 5-year terms (2002 to 2027). I have also served as inaugural NUI Chair of Audit & Risk for 13 years (2009-2022).  Concurrently elected to UCC’s Governing Body (2012-2015), I served as UCC’s Chair of Audit & Risk throughout that term.  I am, therefore, very familiar with the challenges that affect NUI students, graduates and academics as well as the country generally.

My varied professional and voluntary roles within and outside a university context have placed me in an ideal position to be an active contributor and independent voice on the NUI Senate throughout my five terms. This has included a range of important issues, including serving on the Senate Sub-Committee established by Senate to oppose (successfully) dissolution of the NUI proposed by Government in January 2010, championing equality and diversity, promoting the Irish language, ensuring matriculation requirements are appropriate for today’s students, honouring Ireland’s artists and sportspeople.

MY CV

Education

• Educated at Presentation Convent and at Laurel Hill in Limerick

• Studied law at University College Cork, graduating with a BCL degree

• Qualified as a solicitor, after studying at Law Society of Ireland and an apprenticeship in Clonakilty, West Cork

• Qualified as a New York attorney, having sat and passed the New York Bar Exams

• Admitted to practise as a Solicitor in England and Wales

• Admitted to practise before the United States Supreme Court

• Accredited Mediator, Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR)

• Graduated with 1st Class Hons. MEconSc in Policy Analysis (and 1st in class) in November 2019 (IPA/UCD) - Master’s Thesis: Does It Pay The Composer To Put The Dots On The Page?  State fostering of  composition of contemporary classical music in Ireland: sound as a pound?

Professional Experience – Past & Present

• Worked as an Attorney-at-Law in New York and London (Debevoise & Plimpton)  [1985 to 1993]

• Founding President of the Irish American Bar Association of New York, which successfully (and on its own) fought off a New York Bar Association court challenge to recognition of Irish law degrees by New York State

• Member of American Chamber of Commerce in Europe (AmCham EU)

• Manager in Kredietbank Financial Services Ireland, negotiating finance for infrastructure projects  [1993]

• Programme Manager and Adviser to Minister for Justice Nora Owen in Rainbow Coalition 

• Director of Legal and Corporate Affairs, Irish Wheelchair Association

• Set up O’Shea Farren Solicitors, with an emphasis on advocating for, and pro bono representation of, people with disabilities and others suffering discrimination, musicians and other artists, et al. 

• Nominated by members of the Educational Building Society following the 2008 banking crisis, and elected to the Board of EBS in May 2009 

• Member of Board of the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA)

• Assessed applications to ORAC/IPO by asylum seekers for refugee status 

• Arts management in contemporary music from Ireland since 2017 

Voluntary Work – Past & Present

Examples of Leadership Roles across the Education Sector

• Member of the Senate of the National University of Ireland (NUI Senate), and former Chair of its Audit and Risk Committee  [ Elected for the past 5 x 5-year terms, from 2002 to 2027]

• Member of the Governing Body of University College Cork (UCC), and Chair of its Audit Committee  [ Elected from 2012-2015]

• Member of Mary Immaculate College Foundation, Limerick  [2012 to 2017]

• Member / Chair of a range of primary and secondary school Boards /PTAs [1998 to 2009], including Gonzaga College SJ, Ranelagh Multi-Denominational School, Scoil Bhríde, Sandford National School, St. Patrick’s Cathedral Choir School 

Examples of Leadership Roles in Disability and Equality

• Own solicitor’s practice with pro bono legal work for people with disabilities, equality, artists  [2000 to 2010]

• Pro Bono Legal Adviser to Forum of People with Disabilities

• Successfully campaigned for introduction of disability legislation in Ireland (Disability Act 2005)

• Successfully campaigned against inaccessible Dublin buses in the 1990s, all which were ultimately made accessible

• Appointed Member of European Year of People with Disabilities (EYPD 2003), Sub-Committee on Rights and Responsibilities

• Addressed United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Geneva re: Irish government’s record on rights for people with disabilities

• Successfully campaigned for equality in registration of births (Registration of Births Act 1996)

Examples of Leadership Roles in Music & the Arts

• Chairperson of the Board of Dublin International Chamber Music Festival (formerly Great Music in Irish Houses)  [2009 to date; Chair since 2019]

• Board Member of The Galway Music Residency  [2018 to date]

• Board Member of Dance Cork Firkin Crane  [2020 to date]

• Founder and Curator of the Audrey Chisholm Award at Birr Festival of Music  [2020 to date] 

• Founding Chairperson of Music Education Action Group in January 2001, which produced a Report Music Education: The Poor Relation (April 2002) that the Government piloted and ultimately led to the foundation of Music Generation

• Member of the United Arts Club and its Fundraising Committee

• Member of the Dublin Philharmonic Society and concert host

• Host Family for Dublin International Piano Competition, Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition, Pipeworks International Organ Competition, Beethoven Bootcamp, etc.

• General supporter of a range of music organisations including Royal Irish Academy of Music; Dublin Youth Orchestras; National Youth Orchestra of Ireland; Feis Ceoil, etc.