It was with great regret that the IWLA learned of the death
of our president, Her Honour Judge Miriam Reynolds S.C. after
a recent illness.
Judge Reynolds was called to the Bar in 1981. This was at
a time when, from the mid- 1970s on, women were coming to
the Bar and for the first time in numbers staying in practice
after marriage and having children. She and her colleagues
from that time were juggling the still difficult job of working
both inside and outside the home, and doing both jobs to the
highest level.
Judge Reynolds’ practice took her out of Dublin on the
Northern Circuit and much of her time was spent in practice
in Donegal. This travel also made demands – as it does
with all circuit practitioners – on the precious time
allocated for work and family but Judge Reynolds carried out
her duties in the most professional of ways while still being
good company to be around when not working.
Judge Reynolds was called to the Inner Bar in 1998, having
been called to the Bar in Northern Ireland in 1993. The late
1990s was also a time when she first became ill but worked
throughout this period with good cheer and the normality shown
when in the whole of her health. She spoke to me of visiting
a hairdresser to get her hair cut at a time when she was undergoing
chemotherapy, having decided to get rid of the hair before
it disappeared in any event. The young hairdresser became
upset when she found Judge Reynolds’ hair coming away
in her hands and the Judge ended up comforting the hairdresser
by the end of the session!
It is the example of women such as Judge Reynolds that has
made it easier for women who have come after her to stay with
careers that they love but no longer have to sacrifice on
marriage or motherhood.
Again in her role as judge, and public servant, Judge Reynolds
served to illustrate that the legal profession was more than
the stuffy old straitlaced (male ) image of the judiciary
loved by fiction writers over the years. And certainly not
from the Judge Judy school of judicial profiles! Her recent
involvement in one of this country’s most disturbing
cases showed a jurist with a concern far beyond the legal
constraints and reflected the common revulsion felt on hearing
the facts involved.
Judge Reynolds was taken from us too early but the loss to
her friends and colleagues is incomparable when compared with
that of her family. She will be greatly missed by those who
knew her.
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