Laois solicitor Philip Meagher misused client funds to finance Forest Fest festival
Suspended Portlaoise solicitor Philip Meagher allegedly used client money to fund Forest Fest over three years. A High Court deficit of €1.13m was recorded by August.
Suspended solicitor used client accounts to cover Forest Fest cash shortfalls, High Court hears
A suspended Laois solicitor channelled clients' money into a Co Laois music festival over a period of three years, laois-nationalist.ie reports, citing High Court filings lodged by the Law Society against Philip Meagher of Midland Legal Solicitors, Portlaoise.
Meagher, founder of Forest Fest — a summer festival held in Emo, Co Laois, that draws thousands of attendees each year — was suspended from legal practice earlier this month. Acts including Madness, the Fun Lovin' Criminals, The Charlatans and Echo & the Bunnymen have all performed at the event.
In submissions before Judge Oisín Quinn, Law Society investigator and accountant Michael O'Connor set out findings from an interim report compiled after a four-day inspection of Meagher's office in September.
O'Connor said festival cashflow was financed from the client account of Meagher's legal practice across 2024 and 2026. Money held in solicitors' client accounts is held on trust and may only be used for the benefit of, and with the authority of, the client to whom it belongs.
"Client moneys that were available in the client account, but not standing to the credit of that client company, were improperly used to assist the business interests of that client company, in particular in the funding of a music festival," O'Connor stated in his affidavit.
He found that Meagher's company, Forest Fest Ltd — which runs the festival and itself held client accounts with the legal practice — benefited from funds belonging to other legal clients. A series of deficits arose in the client account over those years, O'Connor said, with shortfalls cleared only when ticket sale proceeds were remitted back through two companies, Eventbrite and Digimark.
"While these deficits were in existence, other client moneys were improperly placed at risk," O'Connor said.
A deficit in client funds stood at close to €450,000 on 30 June, rising to €1.13 million by 11 August. Client ledgers linked to Forest Fest Ltd were also overdrawn during specific periods in 2024, 2025–2026, and between August and September 2026.
O'Connor outlined the chain through which the shortfalls were eventually covered: ticket income flowed from Eventbrite through a company called Digimark before being lodged to the client account. He warned, however, that had either Eventbrite or Digimark failed to transfer funds, client money would have remained at risk.
"The respondent solicitor is the beneficial owner of Forest Fest Ltd, the client company in the interests of which other client moneys were applied," O'Connor said. He added that no apparent legal service was provided to Forest Fest Ltd in connection with the payments made for the festival or the receipt of its income.
O'Connor further noted that various payments associated with the staging of Forest Fest 2027 were due to fall in the coming months, creating a risk that additional deficits could arise in the client account.
At the time of Meagher's suspension, he was directed to oversee an orderly wind-down of his practice and to hand over client ledgers, computers, hard drives and passwords.
Asked for comment on the findings, Meagher replied by text message: "I have commented previously in respect of that matter and in circumstances where issues are still sub judice it would be inappropriate to comment further."
Source: Google News IE — Crime (en)