Solicitor known for his work with the labour movement
Born: June 10, 1949;
Died: September 1, 2018
MICHAEL McGinley, who has died aged 69, was a well-known solicitor in Dundee where he served as president of the Dundee Criminal Bar Association and became the go-to lawyer of the city’s labour movement.
Born and educated in Helensburgh, he attended the University of Aberdeen and took a joint law degree with modern languages. He served his legal apprenticeship with Maclay, Murray and Spens in Glasgow and joined the legal department of Dundee City Council in 1973 where he became a senior solicitor.
In 1980 be set up his own firm and became one of a group of young working-class Catholics to break into Dundee’s legal profession. That group included George Donnelly, Brian Fitzpatrick, William Boyle and the late Frank Doran, with whom Mr McGinley established the law firm Doran & McGinley. When Doran was elected Labour MP for Aberdeen South in 1987, McGinley established a new firm, McGinley, Milne and McDonagh.
McGinley quickly built up a thriving criminal practice and one of his earliest successes was in the Rowan Tree case, in which the Dundee police dayshift required to be woken up to arrest members of the nightshift who were caught looting the Rowan Tree pub in Lochee.
During his time at Dundee City Council, McGinley joined the Labour Party and became had a leading role locally in the National and Local Government Officers’ Association. He was also a supporter of the work of the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund.
He was proud of his Irish roots and was a regular visitor to his father’s native Donegal. His enthusiasm for the music of Irish rebel band The Wolf Tones made his instruction by the Orange Order to secure permission to parade in Dundee somewhat excruciating but afforded his colleagues the opportunity for much light-hearted ribbing.
McGinley’s commitment to social causes had been evident from his student days when he travelled from Helensburgh to Castlemilk to offer free legal advice at the community centre.
In 1984 I asked him to serve as treasurer of the Dundee Miners’ Relief Committee, which was set up to provide humanitarian aid to the families of striking Fife miners. Neither of us expected the strike to last a full year but the response of the Dundee public was amazing.
The committee “adopted” nearly 100 babies, providing mothers with a complete layette. Food vans were driven to strike centres twice a week by Chilean refugees, the city’s bus drivers ensured that hundreds of Fife children were taken on buses to Dundee’s Camperdown Park for picnics and McGinley always remained proud of his involvement.
In 1993, during the bitter Timex dispute, McGinley was again on the side of the underdog, offering legal advice and support to the strikers while defending pickets arrested during clashes with police.
He returned to the west coast in retirement and spent many happy holidays visiting his brother Neil, a retired depute clerk to the justiciary, at his home in Donegal.
He died peacefully after a short illness. He is survived by his sons Kevin and Johnny and daughters Eileen and Kirsteen.
GRAHAM OGILVY
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