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Niall Small
Niall Small is one of the founding Partners of Small & Marken Solicitors, having established the practice with Leonard Marken in February 2000. Niall gained an Honours Degree in Law from Queens University Belfast before completing a Commercial Management Course in England, thereafter he worked for a Financial Institution in Australia before returning to Belfast to complete his legal career. Niall worked for a major Commercial firm in Belfast before moving to a general practice in Antrim town where he worked for 8 years before establishing the firm of Small & Marken.
Niall has vast experience in dealing with all aspects of Children’s Law and ha been a member of the Specialist Children’s Order Panel since his foundation. Niall is also a trained Collaborative Lawyer, an Advanced Advocate and a member of the Law Society’s Children’sPanel.
Niall is also responsible for the Probate and Wills element of the practice and has administered a number of estates in excess of £1 million pounds. He also advises on Enduring Powers of Attorney and more laterally on Controllership.
As well as the above Niall also regularly attends Court in Antrim to deal with most aspects of Criminal Law. During the last 30 years Niall has lectured on a number of aspects of Law to various groups from the Judicial Studies Board to his local CAB.
- In 2012 Niall was appointed as a Parole Commissioner for Northern Ireland.
- In 2014 Niall was appointed as a Legal Chair of the Pharmacist, Dental and Optician Departmental Disciplinary Committee.
- On 7 September 2020 Niall was appointed by the Lord Chief Justice to the Review Panel ofNorthern Ireland.
Len Marken
Len Marken is the co founding partner in the firm Small & Marken solicitors having previously been a partner in another practice in the Antrim area for several years. Len qualified within LLB (hons) law degree from Queens University Belfast following which he went straight into private practice where he has worked for the past 35 years.
Len is a very highly regarded throughout the legal profession for his expertise and ability in dealing with all types of personal injury cases and is well recognised for the speed and efficiency with which he deals with cases from their inception, through to managing the court process. His fundamental goal is always to achieve the best results for his clients and maximise the damages they should receive.
Len has dealt with a large number of ‘high value’ cases throughout his career which involves compensation for all types of injury and loss of earnings awards. He acts not only on behalf of claimants seeking compensation for injury sustained but also has an extensive defence practice for one of the U.K.’s largest supermarket retailers. He is also an expert in the field of ‘credit hire’ law and road traffic cases resulting in credit hire issues.
Len has held positions in a number of Law Society Committees including having been a member of the Law Society Council and also chairing the Legal Services Appeals Committee which is instrumental in deciding if cases should receive public funding to assist applicants who could not otherwise afford to progress their cases to court here
Grainne O'Hagan
Grainne O’Hagan graduated from Queen’s University Belfast with a LL.B Honours Degree in Law and thereafter attended the Institute of Professional Legal Studies at Queens University Belfast, qualifying as a Solicitor in 1996. On qualification, Grainne came to work in Antrim and joined the firm of Small & Marken Solicitors in 2003.
Grainne deals with all aspects of residential conveyancing within the office advising on house sales, purchases and inter family transfers. She also advises on all aspects of family and matrimonial law to include divorce, the
division of capital assets between couples on separation, clean break agreements, collaborative law as well as proceedings in relation to children, both private law matters such as residence and contact and public law matters involving children being brought into care.
Grainne is a longstanding member of the Law Society Childrens Order Panel, a specialist panel of Solicitors approved by the Law Society to represent children in family cases. She is also a member of the panel of Solicitors appointed to represent children by the Northern Ireland Guardian ad Litem Agency in Public Law proceedings. Grainne is an accredited Collaborative Lawyer. She is also a recognised Advanced Advocate having successfully completed the Law Society Advanced Advocacy Course.
Grainne is committed to ensuring that each of her clients receives her individual care and attention. She strives to support and guide her clients through the legal process both in terms of moving home and dealing with family breakdown.
Patricia Blaney
Patricia Blaney graduated from Queen’s University Belfast with an Honours Degree in Law in 1986 and subsequently completed her apprenticeship in a local firm of solicitors, specialising in Conveyancing, Probate and Administration of Estates, Matrimonial matters and Personal Injuries Litigation.
Having spent several years gaining experience in these areas of law, Patricia opened her own practice in Magherafelt and was in partnership there for a further ten years, before joining the practice of Small & Marken in 2010.
Patricia has gained a wealth of experience in these aspects of the law, having been in practice for over 30 years and has many longstanding clients, ranging from private individuals to Builders and Developers and Corporate clients.