In the latest instalment of our Alumni Spotlight series, we speak to BA in Law and Accounting graduate, Aisling Meehan, who runs her own agricultural legal and tax practice and a family farm in Co Clare. A familiar face to many within the farming community due to her legal advice column in the Irish Farmers Journal, Aisling also plays an active role in shaping agricultural legal and tax policy in Ireland, as well as advocating for women in agriculture. Aisling shares the reasons why she chose Law and Accounting at UL, how her co-op experience helped to define the direction of her career, and her fond memories of student nights out in the Lodge.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I grew up on an award-winning dairy farm – Rathlahine Farm in Newmarket-on-Fergus, County Clare. My parents would have been well known in farming circles being one of the first pioneers of grass-based dairying in the west of Ireland.
Growing up we took an active part in the family farm and were encouraged to make a way of life in rural Ireland. We developed a fishing lake on the farm that I managed from the age of 12, which helped develop my entrepreneurial spirit and contributed to my decision to move home in adulthood and set up my own legal and tax practice, which is now located in Sixmilebridge in Clare.
After my leaving certificate, I did the BA in Law and Accounting in UL and graduated with an honours degree in 2004. Following this I applied for a dual traineeship to train and qualify as a solicitor through the Law Society of Ireland, qualifying in 2008, and also a chartered tax adviser through the Irish Taxation Institute, qualifying in 2007. I also undertook the Green Cert, which is an agri qualification, and qualified as a young trained farmer in 2006.
My husband Brian and I have four young children – two boys and two girls ranging in age from 8 to 3 years old – and together we farm 26 hectares of land in Sixmilebridge and a further 40 hectares of land in the Burren. We contract rear replacement stock operating as a Registered Farm Partnership. I loved growing up on a farm and this contributed to our decision to purchase our own farm.
Why did you choose to study Law and Accounting at UL?
I loved accountancy as a subject in secondary school in Laurel Hill in Limerick. English was my worst subject in my leaving cert while accountancy was my best.
I came from an entrepreneurial background and felt that having a background in law and accounting would always stand to me in business. I wanted to have my own business some day and did not necessarily see myself working as a professional in accountancy or law.
I wanted to do something a bit different than your traditional business undergrad. When I researched the offerings available to study law and accounting in Ireland, UL had the best offering. I equally loved the campus when I went to the Open Day as it was close to the city and to home.
What did you enjoy most about your course?
The course was varied and challenging but rewarding. Drifting between such diverse modules such as law, economics, financial accounting and tax, you’re using so many different parts of your brain.
I had never been really exposed to tax before, but my tax electives were probably my favourite electives during the course. The tax lecturers at UL helped instil in me a love for tax, as they did for many other students in UL.
What was your co-op experience like?
I did my co-op placement with William Fry Solicitors in Dublin and as well as being my favourite part of the course, my co-op placement helped me decide which direction to take after graduation.
I much preferred my tax electives than the law electives but having done practical work experience in a law firm completely changed my perspective on law. I still loved tax, and when I discovered that William Fry offered a combined tax and law apprenticeship it was the perfect combination I was looking for and something that I decided I wanted to pursue upon graduation from UL.
I loved the problem-solving aspect of law and being in a busy dynamic work environment in a top tier commercial firm. It was career defining and I felt I matured tenfold following my co-op experience.
Why did you decide to start your own agricultural legal and tax practice?
I started my own practice, Aisling Meehan Agricultural Solicitors, in June 2008 and the practice has grown over the years and currently employs 10 people. Given my entrepreneurial and farming background, the practice has combined my passion in both areas.
Our office is based on the family farm in Sixmilebridge so I have a good work life balance with no commute. My parents instilled in me a love of rural life, especially living in the west of Ireland, so I could not see myself living and working anywhere else. Having my own practice on the family farm has given me the quality of life that my parents and us as children enjoyed.
I needed to do something differently to thrive rather than survive as I wasn’t from a legal background. I didn’t have a bank of existing clients but did have access to a wonderful mentor, solicitor Oliver Ryan Purcell, who was one of the only specialists in agricultural law at the time. I leaned in on what I considered my positive attributes and agriculture was a big part of that. I saw an opening for specialising in that area of law and tax. I could see it first hand with my own family how law and tax as it impacts farmers was becoming more prevalent in day-to-day business dealings and the potential catastrophic consequences of not getting it right when it comes to succession planning.
I love dealing with farm families as clients as I often learn a lot from their lived experience on farms rearing families. Being a farmer in my own right and continuing to work with farmer clients has enabled me to keep up to date with current developments on farms, and the challenges and opportunities that all family farms face on a daily basis.
You’ve also taken an active part in shaping agricultural legal and tax policy in Ireland and are an advocate for women in agriculture. Tell us about that work.
I was awarded a Nuffield Farming Scholarship for a study entitled Access to Land for Dairying - New Legal and Tax Models in an Irish Context. As part of my scholarship, I was introduced to policy makers in the Department of Agriculture and my work helped to influence legislation on long term leasing of agricultural land.
I’m a strong advocate for rural women and was invited by the Minister for Agriculture to be special rapporteur on financial and legal issues that affect women in agriculture for the National Dialogue on Women in Agriculture and thereafter, was invited to be a member of the Women in Agriculture stakeholders’ group. I was most recently invited by the Minister for Agriculture to be a member of the Commission on Generational Renewal, which is due to report to the Department of Agriculture to inform tax, legal and CAP policy as it affects family farms in Ireland.
I also have a legal advice column in the Irish Farmers Journal and am regularly asked to speak on national television and radio on agricultural legal and tax issues. I regularly present to the Law Society of Ireland and the Irish Taxation Institute on tax and succession aspects of farming, and I’m chairperson of the Law Society Gazette, a news publication for solicitors across Ireland. I’m also a state board member of the Western Development Commission, whose remit is to encourage and incentivise people to live and work in the west of Ireland.
I set up a farming co-operative called Understanding Agriculture, which aims to create a greater connection between farmers and consumers and I’m also an active member of Demeter, a women's only dairy discussion group of some of the top female dairy farmers in Ireland.
How did your degree and time in UL help you in your career?
It gave me access to some of the best and brightest academics through the teaching staff and gave me a wonderful network of friends and colleagues across various disciplines dotted in different parts of the country and the world. It also gave me access to professional colleagues through my co-op placement with William Fry Solicitors.
I honestly do not think I would have gotten the opportunity to do my solicitor apprenticeship in William Fry without having done my co-op placement there through UL. It gave me the confidence to know that I could succeed in one of the top commercial law firms in the country. It also gave me an opportunity to showcase what I had to offer to my potential employer. I worked hard during my co-op in the hope that they would give me an opportunity to do my apprenticeship with the firm.
What are some of your favourite memories of studying at UL?
The friends I made are probably the highlight of my time in UL. They’re lifelong friends who I meet up with several times throughout the year and spend time together with our own kids – a common feature of UL Alumni.
It was a really inspiring time to be in UL. I was surrounded by people who were brilliant and interesting and a lot of the people I was in UL with have gone on to do amazing things. There are too many alumni to mention them all but two in particular, Deirdre Finn (Law and Accounting 2003), Claire Forde (Law and Accounting 2004) and Carol Crampton (Law and Accounting 2004), soldiered with me through UL and later through the FE1’s, Blackhall and the ITI exams, and were a great support.
I also loved the UL campus! It had a rural feel as many students at that time were from the west of Ireland. It felt like the best of both worlds having the campus out in the countryside but yet so close to the city.
I found my love for sport and exercise while studying at UL. Going for runs along the River Shannon was a joy. Also, the gym facilities and notoriously popular ‘Richie’ step aerobics classes were a firm favourite.
I also have many fond memories of student nights in the Lodge and in the Stables, Christmas Day and Race Day in Limerick racecourse. We still recount memories of those times 20 years later!
Here at UL, we’re known as the ‘Home of Firsts’ – are there any important ‘firsts’ that you experienced as a UL student?
It was my first time living away from home and gave me a sense of independence and belonging in a new community. It was also the first time that I took up sport to any great extent. I was weak at sport as a child so probably gave up on it too easily and instead concentrated on my academic studies. However, with such a strong focus on sport and a more balanced approach to student life in UL, I took up exercise classes and thereafter became a regular gym goer and continue to enjoy sport to the present day.
Socially I probably came out of my shell so to speak as there was great fun and camaraderie with fellow students, either through shared living accommodation or meeting others through lectures and group projects and clubs and societies.
What advice would you give to anyone considering studying Law and Accounting at UL?
I did a project as part of transition year comparing different courses that I was interested in pursuing after secondary school. I found this was very useful in terms of delving into more detail on the courses on offer, particularly the modules for Law and Accounting and why it suited my needs. The depth and variety of the BA in Law and Accounting means there are so many career paths you could pursue following the course, not necessarily even in law, accounting or tax.
What are your hopes and plans for the future?
At 43 years of age, I am very happy with how life has turned out so far. Life is full of ups and downs so at this point in time I hope that I and those around me will continue to be healthy and happy.
I thoroughly enjoy my work and enjoy championing the next generation of UL students. , now course director of the BA in Law and Accounting at UL, was my first co-op placement student at my practice, and it was a privilege to have her. She later went on to do a doctorate investigating the structural and cultural factors that limit female participation in farming.
Another co-op placement with me, Kate Gallagher, did her FYP on Navigating Farm Succession: An Examination of the Legal Frameworks and Other Considerations associated with Farm Succession in Ireland. As the saying goes, it's important to put the ladder down to help bring up the next generation.
Here at UL, we encourage our students to ‘Stay Curious’. What keeps you curious?
The area in which I work is rapidly changing. Farming is heavily regulated with new legislation coming in regularly from the EU changing the way farmers have to farm. With each CAP reform, typically 5-year cycles, it transforms the grants and subsidies available to farmers and thus farmers need to adapt their structure to gain the best advantage.
From a tax perspective, each Budget brings changes to tax legislation and practice updates change the legal environment. You need to keep pace with these changes or be left behind.
My role as an agri and rural advocate in print, radio and television forces me to research new areas and become competent on various topics I otherwise would have no opinion on.
Hosting the next generation of UL students on co-op at my practice also keeps me curious, even if that means giving me an excuse to go to Electric Picnic!