By Dean Buckley
Ghislaine Maxwell's close friend and lawyer Leah Saffian will address the Bar of Ireland next week about her efforts to secure Maxwell's release from prison.
Her talk is part of a session referring to “Witch Hunts” and the bar’s newsletter says Saffian “has represented Ghislaine Maxwell for 10 years who is often portrayed as a witch in media and photoshopped to resemble Cruella”.
An Irish barrister taking part in the presentation with Saffian told The Ditch, “It would not be appropriate for me to comment on ongoing legal matters.”
A long-time Maxwell associate
Leah Saffian has been an associate of the Maxwell family since she successfully defended Ghislaine's brother Kevin during a fraud trial in the 90s.
She came to public attention in 2019 when she was accused of staging and leaking a hoax photo of Ghislaine Maxwell eating at a fast food restaurant in California. Maxwell was in hiding in New Hampshire at the time after Jeffrey Epstein's arrest.
After her arrest the holding company for the property where Maxwell had been hiding was re-registered in Saffian's name.
Though she did not represent Maxwell during her trial in New York, Saffian has been a core part of her legal team and was present for Maxwell's two-day interview with US deputy attorney general Todd Blanche last year.
Emails released as part of the Epstein files reveal she also employed Ghislaine's sister Isabel Maxwell as a paralegal in 2021.
She will address the Bar of Ireland next week.
Her talk, scheduled Monday, 27 April, is part of a visit by the California Lawyers Association to the Law Library.
Saffian is co-presenting a session titled “The Great Writ: Werewolves, Witch Hunts and Why Irish Habeas is Not a Fairy Tale”.
She will talk about the petition to get Maxwell out of prison that claims the convicted trafficker’s trial was unfair and alleges prosecutorial misconduct, juror dishonesty and manipulation of evidence.
According to the Bar of Ireland, “Irish barrister Matthew Holmes will present with Leah Saffian”.
Holmes told The Ditch, “This event has been organised by the Californian Lawyers Association as part of a visit of US lawyers to Ireland and the UK. I will be delivering a presentation on the legal remedy of habeas corpus and its standing in the US and Ireland, a subject on which I have written and published extensively, including a dedicated book, Habeas Corpus: Practise and Procedure.”
He said it would be inappropriate to comment “on ongoing legal matters”.
