VOLUME 3, NUMBER 2
'BE A PART OF THE CELTIC WAVE'
MARCH 1993
A Crusading Irish Lawyer
Paul O'Dwyer Fights for Justice in North America and Ireland
Paul O'Dwyer, an internationally known New York lawyer, has spent over three decades fighting for liberal causes in the United States, in Ireland and beyond.
The passion for public service runs in the O'Dwyer family. His brother William (Bill) O'Dwyer was elected mayor of New York and later, as a general in the U.S. Army. He also served as U.S. Ambassador to Mexico.
I aul O'Dwyer, whom I interviewed by phone J from Vancouver, has spent some 35 years giving new meaning to the phrase "the fighting Irish."
Just look at his track record:
* While still in law school, he worked on the Brooklyn waterfront; as counsel to a member of
he longshoremen's union, he attled to win employers' recognition of waterfront unions and their low-paid workers.
* In 1964 he spent his vacation in Kentucky as an unpaid defender in a long trial on behalf of jobless, impoverished coal miners.
* In Mississipi in the sixties, O'Dwyer defended civil rights demonstrators and campaigned for black candidates.
* As early as 1955, he won acquittal for Harry Barrett, charged with aiding freedom fighters in Northern Ireland.
The list of O'Dwyer's courageous actions is long — ranging over a dozen countries, including Ireland, Spain, Vietnam, Cyprus, and Chile.
O'Dwyer who was born in County Mayo, Ireland is now with the law firm of O'Dwyer and Bernstein. He immigrated to the United States in 1925 and
INTERVIEW BY CATHOLINE EGAN
studied law at Fordham University and St. John's University in New York. He established the Brehon Law Society in the U.S. and served with the United Nations General Assembly.
Since the Brehon Laws were an ancient system of law and order practised in Ireland, I asked O'Dwyer about the Brehon Law Society and the relevance of these laws to the modern world of North America.
"Many of the old Irish families stayed with the Brehan Laws for centuries," O'Dwyer replied. "There were law schools under the Brehan system and a Brehan was selected to make the decisions. He was a recognized expert, a judge."
Under these laws, women were accorded many more privileges than the common laws of England permitted. Divorce was recognized by the Brehans and there was a strict code of behaviour regarding the obligations of men and women to maintaining themselves and their children. The Brehans recognized that what affects the mother, affects the child.
Essentially, O'Dwyer used the
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PAUL O'DWYER — ONE OF IRISH-AMERICAS TOP CIVIL RIGHTS ADVOCATES
His honesty and integrity have brought him international recognition and support
FEATURES IN THIS ISSUE
MUSIC
THE BATTLEFIELD BAND..................................3
BLACK '47.............................................................5
ALTAN.................................................................27
THE SAW DOCTORS........................................28
CAPE BRETON FIDDLER.................................38
BOOKS
A GUIDE TO EARLY CELTIC BRITAIN.............9
TOGETHER IN EXILE.......................................41
CULTURAL
IRISH IN BRITAIN..................................8
ST. PATRICK CELEBRATIONS.....15,31
HIGHLAND ARTS FESTIVAL..............10
SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCE...........10
JAMES VI OF SCOTLAND..................10
GENEALOGY.......................................13
DYLAN'S LAUGHARNE........................14
REPORT ON GROSSE ILE.................29
IRISH SET DANCING...........................36
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