Ex-judge in bid to return to work as a barrister

Retired Central Criminal Court judge Barry White wants to resume practice as a barrister “due to economic necessity” but he is being prevented from doing so by an unconstitutional Bar Council rule, it has been claimed at the High Court.

Lawyers for Mr White, aged 71, secured leave from Mr Justice Seamus Noonan yesterday to bring a legal challenge over the rule, based on an 85-year-old Supreme Court decision in a 1930 case, the O’Connor case.

It prevents retired judges resuming private practice in a court equal to or less than the court of which they were a judge.