Ceemex and Company, the Nigerian-founded solicitors firm that was the first ehtnic minority-led practice to open in Ireland and was involved in a number of of landmark immigration cases, has closed down.
Matthew Emeka Ezeani, who co-owned the Dublin firm with fellow solicitor Celia Otubu, told Metro Éireann that the firm ceased trading on 31 December in a “purely economic” decision.
“It is a sad decision to take but it wasn’t making economic sense to continue,” he said, adding that Ceemex, which opened in April 2002, had been much more than a law firm.
“It was more or less an institution in terms of the impact we made and the kind of work we did in the community, in terms of immigrant rights and human rights cases.”
Ezeani specifically referred to Ceemex’s leading role in a legal challenge that effectively led to the opening of the Irish Born Child (IBC) 2005 Scheme. Almost 17,000 parents of Irish citizen children were granted residency under this scheme.
The firm also advocated for the rights of Irish citizen children to live in Ireland with their non-Irish parents, who had not got residency under IBC 2005.
“The European Court of Justice eventually vindicated our position… we brought a number of challenges and we were able to bring pressure on the State – there were other actors, not just Ceemex and Company… the Immigrant Council of Ireland, other pressure groups, it was a shared effort.”
He continued: “We were representing immigrants, the majority of whom lived in hostels, living on €19 per week. They had no money, they couldn’t have taken out any legal case in court. We stepped in. Most of these cases we did without the applicants paying for it… we were able to make their voices heard in the Irish judicial system.”
According to Ezeani, the firm had a “varied” caseload, but the high profile nature of some of its immigration cases ensured that Ceemex would be best remembered for its work in this area.
The Nigerian solicitor also recalled the surprise with which he was greeted when he first entered Ireland’s legal arena.
“Initially I’d sit with my colleagues and some would say ‘Oh, you shouldn’t be sitting there, you should be sitting at the back’, where either defendants or members of the public were sitting.”
He said the presence of African-born legal professionals in Ireland was without precedence, but that the firm worked hard to “prove ourselves”.
On a broader note, he commented: “We [in Ireland] have come a long way in the past decade. Race relations here have definitely improved, but we are not where we want to be yet… institutional racism is still there in Ireland and it has to be tackled. There must be inclusion. If you ignore these issues today, tomorrow they will become huge problems that will cost a lot more.”
Ezeani also encouraged young people of immigrant background to commence legal studies if this is their interest, despite the adverse effect of the economic climate on the amount of work available to solicitors and barristers.
As to his own plans, Ezeani said he will take a break after “a hectic decade” of legal work and may engage in further studies. However, he indicated he is likely to return to the legal profession at some point.
