Chief Justice to deliver the Walsh Lecture in Sutherland School of Law
We are delighted to announce that Mr Justice Frank Clarke will deliver the Walsh lecture 2019. If you wish to attend, please email Aoife Ryan on (opens in a new window)aoife.ryan@ucd.ie to reserve a place. Details of the lecture are as follows:
Date: 6th November 2019
Venue: A&L Goodbody Theatre, UCD Sutherland School of Law
Time: 6pm Registration, tea & coffee. The lecture will commence at 6.30pm (sharp) and will be followed by a reception at 7.30pm
Lecture Title: ‘’Words words words - Text in the Law“.
The Walsh lecture honours the memory of the Hon Mr Justice Brian Walsh who was a judge of both the Irish Supreme Court and later, the European Court of Human Rights. Judge Walsh also held many prominent legal positions during his career, including member of the World Association of Judges, leader of the Irish delegation on the Anglo-Irish Law Enforcement Commission, President of the Irish Law Reform Commission and founding President of the Irish Society for European Law.
Mr. Justice Frank Clarke Chief Justice
Mr. Justice Frank Clarke was appointed the 12th Chief Justice of Ireland on the 28th July, 2017, by the President of Ireland, His Excellency Mr. Michael D. Higgins.
Chief Justice Clarke was born in Dublin and educated Drimnagh Castle CBS, University College Dublin (B.A. in Mathematics and Economics), and The Honorable Society of King’s Inns (B.L.).
Having completed his legal studies at The Honorable Society of King's Inns he was called to the Bar in 1973 and to the Inner Bar in 1985. He practiced mainly in the commercial and public law fields (including constitutional law) and was twice appointed by the Supreme Court as counsel to present argument on references of Bills to the Supreme Court by the President under Article 26 of the Constitution. He also acted as counsel to the Public Accounts Committee on its inquiry into the DIRT tax issue and was external counsel to the Commission to Inquiry into Child Abuse (Laffoy and Ryan Commissions). In 1994, Mr. Justice Clarke became a Bencher of the Honorable Society of King’s Inns. He was elected as an honorary member of the Canadian Bar Association in 1994, and admitted as an honorary member of the Australian Bar Association in 2002. In 2018, he was made an honorary Bencher of The Honorable Society of the Middle Temple.
While at the Bar, Mr. Justice Clarke served for many years on the Bar Council including for a term of two years (1993-1995) as its Chair. He also served as Chair of the Council of King's Inns from 1999 until 2004. He was a member of the Council of the International Bar Association from 1997 to 2004, serving as co-Chair of the Forum for Barristers and Advocates (the international representative body for the independent referral bars) from 1998 to 2002.
Mr. Justice Clarke was appointed a judge of the High Court in 2004 and was mainly assigned to the Commercial list and also presided over the establishment of the Chancery and Non-Jury List in Cork. While a judge of the High Court, he was chairman of the Referendum Commission on the 28th Amendment of the Constitution (Lisbon Treaty II) in 2009.
In 2012, Mr. Justice Clarke was appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court. Since 2013, he has been a representative of the Supreme Court on the Association of Supreme Administrative Courts of the European Union (ACA-Europe). On his appointment as Chief Justice, he became a Member of the Network of the Presidents of the Supreme Judicial Courts of the European Union and was elected a member of the Board of that Network in 2018.
Mr. Justice Clarke has since March 2018 been a member of the panel provided for in Article 255 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the function of which is to provide an opinion on the suitability of persons for appointment as Judge and Advocate General of the Court of Justice and General Court of the European Union.
In the academic field Mr. Justice Clarke was a professor at King's Inns from 1978 to 1985 and has been Judge-in-Residence at Griffith College Dublin from 2010 to date. He was appointed Adjunct Professor in the Law School in Trinity College, Dublin in September 2012, and Adjunct Professor of University College Cork in 2013. He was awarded the Griffith College Distinguished Fellowship Award in 2017.