30 November 2017
New Junior Vice President
The Law Society of Northern Ireland has announced that Ms. Suzanne Rice will be Junior Vice President for 2017/2018.
Suzanne Rice read Law and French at Queens University Belfast before attending the Institute of Professional Legal Studies in Belfast where she completed her apprenticeship with Con O’Hagan Solicitors in Lurgan, County Armagh. After qualifying as a Solicitor in 2003, Suzanne continued her practice in Belfast where she now specialises in all aspects of Family Law and most notably Divorce and Children’s Law.
Suzanne currently works for McKeown and Company Solicitors in Belfast which is a young and dynamic law Firm specialising in Criminal Law, Family Law and Plaintiff Litigation based in the City Centre.
Suzanne is a Specialist Advanced Advocate Solicitor and is on the Northern Ireland Guardian Ad Litem Panel as well as the Law Society of Northern Ireland’s Family Law Committee.
In 2009 Suzanne qualified as a Collaborative Divorce Solicitor and she became a Council Member of the Law Society of Northern Ireland in November 2013 when she has sat on the following Committees: Access to Justice, Family Law, Financial Services and Client Complaints. She currently represents the Profession in ongoing Government initiatives towards improving children’s law services.
Her expertise and knowledge in this area has been instrumental in assisting change and development to the practice of children’s law and she continues to advise on consultations and Steering Groups in this field.
As well as representing both parents and children, Suzanne also acts on behalf of international Governments in child abduction cases and she has recently acted on behalf of the American, Australian, Dutch, Irish, Turkish and Moroccan authorities before the High Court of Justice in Northern Ireland.
In 2010 Suzanne became legal Advisor to the Family Care Society in Adoption Matters and she is currently co-Chair of the Children’s Law Centre Management Board.