A top Irish criminal defence lawyer has pleaded guilty to assaulting a former colleague.

O'Higgins, the head of eponymous firm Cahir O’Higgins and Co Solicitors, appeared at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court where he admitted assault causing harm to fellow lawyer Stephen O'Mahony, according to various reports including the Irish Times, the Sunday World, and The Journal. 

O'Higgins struck O'Mahony, allegedly causing him facial injuries, on 11 February 2021 at a Dublin quay near the Courts of Criminal Justice. Further details remain murky as the court has yet to hear the facts of the case.  

"I apologise to Stephen O’Mahony and his family and I apologise to my own family for the shame, difficulty and embarrassment caused to them," the lawyer told the court as he pled guilty to assault.

The two men worked together for several years. O'Mahony was an employee at O'Higgins' firm up until 2020, when he left to set up his own firm in Dublin. 

O'Higgins, a highly regarded criminal defence lawyer, was the highest paid legal aid solicitor in Ireland in 2017 and has been among the top earners from the scheme over the last decade.

The judge set a sentence date of 18 October, and remanded O'Higgins on continuing bail.  

RollOnFriday contacted Cahir O'Higgins and Co Solicitors for comment and received the following response: "We imagine you will do a clickbate [sic] sensationalist hatchet job whereby Cahir O’Higgins will be portrayed as a thuggish villain when in reality in ordinary course he is an easy going well intentioned placid individual. Therefore there is little or no point in making a comment or seeking a balanced objective or fair assessment. For obvious reasons it is inappropriate that you should publish anything as it would be prejudicial to Cahir O’Higgins right to a fair trial".

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