Talk:A. M. Sullivan (barrister)

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Barrister-at-Law or Serjeant-at-Law?

Latest comment: 2 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

Should the title of his article describe him as a barrister or a serjeant-at-law? Sullivan had qualified as a barrister in Dublin, and later in London, before becoming first a King's Counsel and later a Serjeant-at-law, both in Ireland. In England, barristers had been expelled from their Inn of Court on entering Serjeants' Inn, but that did not happen in Ireland, where there were only three serjeants and they had no Inn of their own.

He was already famous as "Serjeant Sullivan" before he was forced to leave Ireland and took up the practice of law in London. There the judges addressed him by his title of Serjeant, but as a junior barrister (since his rank of KC did not transfer with him to England) he had to speak from outside the bar of the court. He is notable also for his disastrous last case in England, which was the capital trial of an Irish patriot.

As Wikipedia is not written from a specifically English viewpoint, it may be more appropriate to name his article "A.M. Sullivan (serjeant-at-law)." It's best to ignore the fact that Serjeants-at-Law had precedence before Knights Bachelor, since Wikipedia has the American hostility to titles of honour. NRPanikker (talk) 18:19, 9 April 2022 (UTC)Reply

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