Major conference on Philanthropy hosted by UCD Sutherland school of law
The UCD Sutherland School of Law was honoured to welcome the European Research Network on Philanthropy (ERNOP) recently for its 10th international conference. Professor Oonagh Breen was responsible for this prestigious conference ably supported by a team of colleagues from TCD, Philanthropy Ireland, the Irish Red Cross and the University of Kent and the UCD Sutherland School.
The two-day Conference, whose theme was “Building bridges in the aftermath of Covid-19: Where will the philanthropy of today lead us tomorrow?” brought together leading European and US scholars in the fields of non-profit scholarship and a wider cohort of key stakeholders in philanthropy. It attracted more than 100 delegates who presented over 70 papers and panels with two keynote plenary sessions on the themes of defending and growing philanthropy. ERNOP’s day-long PhD workshop enabled the next generation of European (and UCD) non-profit scholars to learn from their peers.
While rising covid numbers resulted in the conference switching from an in-person gathering to a virtual platform at the eleventh hour, delegates still enjoyed a warm Irish welcome. Minister Joe O’Brien opened the conference and Professor Breen worked closely with the Dept of Rural and Community Development to facilitate the holding of a pre-conference policy workshop on the development of a national policy on philanthropy, which greatly benefitted from the insights and contributions of European colleagues.
Pictured is Keynote Speaker, Rhodri Davies, a recognised expert on philanthropy and civil society issues.
Immigrant Lawyer Fiona McEntee receives 2021 UCD Alumni Award in Law
UCD Sutherland School of Law was delighted to honor (opens in a new window)Fiona McEntee as this year’s recipient for the UCD Alumni Award in Law. The virtual celebration was hosted by Pat Kenny and took place on Thursday, 18 November 2021.
(opens in a new window)A recording of Fiona McEntee in conversation with Pat Kenny can be viewed here. Fiona McEntee is an award-winning, nationally recognised immigration attorney who graduated from UCD with a BCL in 2005.
Fiona McEntee is Founder and Managing Attorney of the Chicago-based McEntee Law Group. She counsels clients, individuals and families as well as world-leading musicians and athletes, on everchanging immigration policies. Fiona and her team of passionate advocates represent individuals and families, as well as the world’s leading musicians, artists, athletes, innovative entrepreneurs/startups, and multinational and U.S. companies.
Fiona is also the Chair of the Media & Advocacy Committee for AILA National, the bar association with over 15,000 immigration lawyer members. She regularly appears on national/international media including MSNBC, CNN, The New York Times, BBC, and RTÉ. She also counsels other immigration attorneys about leveraging the media to fiercely advocate for clients.
Fiona has won many awards including the ISBA Elmer Gertz Award and the Chicago-Kent College of Law Outstanding Pro Bono Service Award (O’Hare Airport Attorneys -Muslim Travel Ban). In 2019, Fiona was inducted into the Irish American Hall of Fame in the Irish American Heritage Center in Chicago.
Last year, Fiona wrote and published her first book – (opens in a new window)Our American Dream(opens in a new window) – a children’s book on immigration. As a mom of two young children, an immigrant, and an immigration lawyer who fights for justice every day, she wrote Our American Dream to explain the importance of a diverse and welcoming America.
We are delighted to be able to share some thoughts from Fiona where she remembers her time in UCD while offering some very inspiring advice to our current students.
What does UCD mean to you now? “I was one of the first in my family to go to the third level. I’ve such happy memories of UCD – the friends I met there I still have to this day. I learned so much that still informs my work.”
What aspects of your work do you enjoy most? “I’m proud of being able to use my voice to advocate for others. I have huge privilege as an educated white Irish immigrant and an immigration lawyer.”
What achievements are you most proud of? “I feel like we have a responsibility to influence the narrative of immigration to the US. I am proud of that work. I also wrote a children’s book on immigration.”
How significantly has your work been affected by the pandemic? “It had a huge impact. Everything was shut down. There were no Green Card interviews, no visa appointments, there were travel bans. On a personal note, it’s been difficult. My cousin, who was like a brother to me, passed away from cancer last May and I haven’t been able to return to Dublin.”
What advice do you have for new graduates? “Find work you are passionate about. Life is too short to do work that does not satisfy you. Social media can be a good tool, but be wary of what you say on it.”
Fourteen Law Students Awarded Medals at Bank of Ireland Prize Giving
On 25 November 2021 we honoured the top students across the four years of the UCD Law undergraduate programmes at the Bank of Ireland Awards. The medals awarded this year were for the academic year 2019/2020 and these awards continue a tradition started in 1976. We were particularly honoured to welcome Bank of Ireland Finance as the sponsors of the awards this year and are grateful to Managing Director, Mr Derek McDermott, for his support of UCD Sutherland School of Law and our students.
The awards include prizes for a Tort Essay for students in Stage 1 and this year the adjudicator was Mr Justice David Barniville of the Court of Appeal who is himself a past prize-winner. This is now the fourtieth year of the competition being adjudicated by a distinguished member of the Judiciary and we are very grateful for their continued support and involvement.
Mr Justice Barniville spoke eloquently to the assembled group of students and their families. His talk was both inspiring and amusing where he related some interesting personal anecdotes from his judicial career. While it was disappointing that the event had to take place virtually this year and the students didn't have the opportunity to meet the judge in person, Mr Justice Barniville's contribution made the event enjoyable for all.
We would like to congratulate the following students on their outstanding achievements in the academic year 2019/2020:
Level I Tort Essay
First Place - Gold Medal: Juliette Bertola
Second Place - Silver Medal: David Egan
Third Place- Bronze Medal: Fionán Minogue
Stage II Medal Winners
First Place - Gold Medal: Killian Farrelly
Second Place - Silver Medal: Emily Cahill
Third Place - Bronze Medals: Joseph Aherne & Kate Kilcommins
Stage III Medal Winners
First Place - Gold Medals: Stephen Connolly & Neasa Ni Bheaglaoich
Third Place - Bronze Medal: Elizabeth Higgins
Stage IV Medal Winners
First Place - Gold Medal: Sean Dillon
Second Place - Silver Medal: Joanne Johnston
Third Place - Bronze Medals: Cillian Madden & Tom O'Moore
(Note: For the Tort Essay, entry was open to all stages of law students studying the Tort Module. The prizes for 2nd. 3rd & 4th Law were awarded to the top students for their overall performance across all law programmes).
These students join a distinguished group of UCD Law Alumni who were past award winners. These include our Dean, Dr Niamh Howlin, and no less than seven of our current faculty. Other prize-winners include leading lawyers such as Ms Aedamar Comiskey, Senior Partner and Chair of Linklaters, and many members of the judiciary such as Judge Siofra O’Leary, Vice-President of the European Court of Human Rights, Ms Justice Aileen Donnelly of the Court of Appeal and High Court Judges Mr Justice Paul Coffey, Mr Justice Brian Cregan and Mr Justice Richard Humphreys.
The staff of UCD Sutherland School of Law warmly congratulates the 2019/2020 award winning students for their hard work and outstanding achievements.
Professor Imelda Maher appointed Fellow at New York University
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Congratulations to Professor Imelda Maher, MRIA who has been appointed the (opens in a new window)Emile Noel GlobalFellow at the Jean Monnet Center, New York University School of Law from January to June 2022.
While a Fellow at the Center, Professor Maher will undertake research on law and hope, focusing on the preamble and early provisions of the Treaty of the European Union. The EU has experienced several crises in the last decade: the fiscal and banking crises; the migration crisis; and the rule of law crisis that has highlighted the limited ability of the EU to respond to the degradation of the rule of law. In addition, Brexit was a political shock which had the unexpected consequence of harnessing solidarity among remaining Member States and the economic and geo-political implications of which will be played out over time. While much has been written on these crises, two major themes have emerged in legal scholarship: the rule of law and trust. This project will add to these discussions by analysing what is the nature of the relationship between law and hope. It does so in the context of the current Conference on the Future of Europe and the prospect of treaty revision where change can be viewed as aspirational or aversive. At moments of constitutional change through treaty-reform, how important is hope to EU Law?
UCD Masters Students take part in the 2022 Helga Pedersen Moot Court Competition
Three Masters students have taken the opportunity to take part in the 10th edition of the (opens in a new window)Helga Pedersen Moot Court Competition. The Competition provides a unique opportunity for students to experience the principles and implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights firsthand and simulates the procedures of complaints to the Strasbourg Court. The Competition is coordinated by (opens in a new window)ELSA International in partnership with The Council of Europe, The European Court of Human Rights, and the European Human Rights Association.
Ayomide Adebambo, Sarah Devaney, and Lyn Schwarzhaupt are all Masters students in Law who took the Law of the ECHR course led by Dr Marie-Luce Paris. They are interested in developing their skills and their knowledge of the ECHR system. The case they are working on is a combination of environmental law and human rights. Considering her research work in both fields, Alessandra Accogli (UCD Ad Astra PhD Candidate) is coaching the team.
We wish them all the best of luck with their submissions and during the Competition’s rounds!
(L to R) Alessandra Accogli, Lyn Schwarzhaupt, Ayomide Adebambo and Sarah Devaney
Dr Cliona Kelly receives 2021 'UCD Values in Action Award'
Congratulations to our colleague, Associate Dean, Cliona Kelly, who has been awarded one of the ten UCD Values in Action Awards for 2021.
Now in their fourth year, the Values in Action (VIA) awards celebrate individuals or teams/committees who act as ambassadors for the UCD Values through their daily work, volunteering or establishing initiatives. This year's recipients were awarded for bringing UCD’s shared values of Collegiality, Creativity, Diversity, Engagement, Excellence and Integrity to life.
Dr Kelly was nominated by the Dean of Law, Dr Niamh Howlin, in recognition of her efforts to provide sexual wellbeing education for students.
In 2019, the Department of Education launched a framework aimed at the creation of an institutional campus culture which is safe, respectful and supportive. This was developed in recognition of the sexual violence problem in the Irish higher education sector. Dr Kelly, acting on foot of this framework, and realising that institutional reactions can be slow compared with small-scale interventions, has been working to provide sexual wellbeing education for law students. Her Consent Workshops are integrated into the curriculum on a core module for first year law students.
Conscious of the need for such initiatives to be student-led, Cliona has supported the Students’ Union and Student Law Society in hosting and promoting an Image-Based Sexual Abuse workshop and an awareness-raising campaign. In addition, Law students are also asked to read the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act as part of an exercise in ‘how to read legislation’ on the LAW10420 module. This integrates a discussion about Image-Based Sexual Abuse into the undergraduate Law curriculum.
Cliona has voluntarily put a lot of time and effort into developing these resources and supports. From 2020-2021 she undertook significant training in her own time, collaborating with relevant groups such as Active Consent. She voluntarily took the initiative to integrate aspects of the sexual wellbeing education into the curriculum, which has now embedded this important topic in the Law School curriculum for the future.
Among other values, Cliona is being recognised for her engagement, creativity and collegiality. Her colleagues join with the Dean in congratulating her on her outstanding work for the wellbeing of all UCD law students.
Details of the other recipients of these awards are available here.
Ad Astra Fellows, UCD Sutherland School of Law
UCD Sutherland School of Law is delighted to announce that we are currently seeking applications for Ad Astra Fellows - closing date, 14 February 2022.
These roles are being created in support of the (opens in a new window)2024 University College Dublin Strategic Plan 'Rising to the Future' where UCD has set the target to increase faculty numbers by 500 over five years.
With an initial 5-year contract, research support for these 5 years, and the opportunity for an on-going contract subject to performance, there has never been a better time to join the faculty at Ireland's Global University and to live in one of Europe's most vibrant, friendly and connected capital cities.
UCD Sutherland School of Law is ranked in the top 100 Law Schools in the QS World University rankings. The School’s distinctive mission is to support and lead on the transformative potential of law for contemporary societies. The School is home to several research Centres and groups, and three major European Research Council (ERC) projects. It has an increasingly international focus and impact, and is recognised for the quality of its research both within Law and across disciplines. The Sutherland School of Law offers a range of undergraduate and graduate degree programmes to a diverse cohort of students.
Prior to application, further information (including application procedure) should be obtained from the UCD Ad Astra Fellow website: http://www.ucd.ie/adastrafellows/
Closing date: 17.00hrs (Local Irish Time) on 14th February 2022. Apply now at the following link.
UCD Sutherland Opportunity supported by Mason Hayes & Curran LLP BURSARIES
The UCD Sutherland School of Law is now inviting applications for the UCD Sutherland Opportunity Supported by Mason Hayes & Curran LLP Bursaries from undergraduate and graduate law students at the School.
Incoming exchange students are not eligible to apply for these bursaries (although incoming BCL/Maitrise students are eligible to apply). Students who have previously applied for a bursary - whether successfully or unsuccessfully - are very welcome to apply again. Also students already in receipt of Cothram na Féinne scholarships as part of UCD Sutherland Opportunity supported by Mason Hayes & Curran LLP are welcome to apply for bursaries.
This very generous bursary scheme is funded by Mason Hayes & Curran LLP and is designed to support UCD law students who face a financial challenge in continuing their undergraduate studies, or in participating in ERASMUS and international exchange programmes, or in taking up an internship at an NGO/non-commercial entity as part of the BCL Internship module (LAW37680), or in pursuing graduate study at UCD Sutherland School of Law.
All applications must be completed online. Students will only be asked for supporting documentation at a later date if they are shortlisted for a bursary. Applicants must supply their UCDConnect email address and student number on the form.
The closing date for applications is Friday 10 December 2021 at 5pm
(Please note that if you don't see the form it may be that you need to sign into your Google/UCD connect account. If you are on an Apple device, you may need to use another browser other than Safari)
Sutherland Fellow in French Law 2021/22 – French Public Law II
Sutherland School of Law of University College Dublin (UCD) is looking to appoint a Sutherland Fellow in French Law from January to June 2022 to teach French Public Law II (Introduction to Administrative Law) to second year students enrolled in its (opens in a new window)BCL with French Law and (opens in a new window)Dual Degree BCL/Maîtrise programmes. The students enrolled in this module are a relatively small group and are very motivated and eager to learn.
The delivery of the module would have to be mostly face-to-face at UCD Belfield campus (some small degree of online delivery could be considered). The specific timetable and delivery details would be agreed with the successful candidate and subject to wider timetabling constraints and public health guidelines.
Applications are invited from candidates with expertise in French Public Law and able to teach in French language, while also being able to communicate and occasionally explain concepts in English. The successful applicant would preferably have a PhD (or be close to completing one), or have substantial professional experience in the subject matter. Interest/experience in teaching French legal methodology and in handling highly diverse groups of students (e.g. with different cultural, language and national backgrounds) is desirable.
The position is temporary for the Academic Year 2021/22, but continuity beyond this academic year may be considered. Remuneration for teaching and marking will be in line with UCD rates for occasional lecturers and with intern examiner rates, respectively.
We welcome applications from everyone, including those who identify with any of the protected characteristics that are set out in our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policy. The university adheres to a range of equality, diversity and inclusion policies. We encourage applicants to consult UCD’s equality, diversity and inclusion policies here.
Applications: Interested applicants should send a one-page cover letter and CV as a one single pdf document by email to (opens in a new window)law.office@ucd.ie indicating in the subject: “Sutherland Fellow in French Law 2021/22”.
Deadline: The closing date for receipt of completed applications is 17:00 on 29th November 2021.
Further information: For queries, please contact Dr Sara Benedí Lahuerta ((opens in a new window)sara.benedilahuerta@ucd.ie).
Legal History Research Group publishes new book
The Legal History Research Group is delighted to have published its latest book: (opens in a new window)Law and Religion in Ireland 1700-1970 (Palgrave Macmillan) . The book is edited by Dr Niamh Howlin and Dr Kevin Costello, and includes chapters by several members of the research group, including Dr Tom Mohr, Dr Ivar McGrath and Dr Emma Lyons. It also includes a chapter by our recently deceased colleague Professor Nial Osborough.
This book builds on a roundtable workshop hosted in the School of Law in 2017. It focuses, from a legal perspective, on a series of events which make up some of the principal episodes in the legal history of religion in Ireland: the anti-Catholic penal laws of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century; the shift towards the removal of disabilities from Catholics and dissenters; the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland; and the place of religion, and the Catholic Church, under the Constitutions of 1922 and 1937.
Applications Sought for Newman Fellowship at UCD Sutherland School of Law
UCD Sutherland School of Law is delighted to announce details of a new legal Fellowship, established with the generous support of our alumnus Ronan P. Harty:
‘The Ronan Harty Newman Fellowship in New Frontiers of Competition Law’
This Fellowship is part of a programme in UCD to provide postdoctoral research opportunities for scholars of proven academic excellence. This Fellowship will be based in UCD Sutherland School of Law. The School is widely recognised for the quality of research produced, the degree programmes offered and the wider impact it creates in Ireland and internationally. Three European Research Council projects are currently hosted in the School which has a vibrant community of early career and established researchers.
Full details on this Fellowship and the application process are available at the following link: (opens in a new window)https://www.ucdfoundation.ie/ronan-harty-newman-fellowship-new-frontiers-competition-law/Note: The application deadline is 5pm IST on 12 November 2021.
This Fellowship in UCD Sutherland School of Law is supported by Ronan P. Harty (pictured), a partner in the antitrust group at Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York City. There Mr Harty provides general antitrust counselling to U.S. and non-U.S. companies and represents clients in enforcement agency investigations, domestic and cross-border acquisitions and joint ventures, and litigations.
He joined Davis Polk in 1986 and became a partner in 1994. In 1991, he was based in Brussels as an assistant (stagiaire) in the cabinet of Sir Leon Brittan, Vice President of the European Commission Responsible for Competition Policy.
Mr. Harty graduated with a BCL (1st Class Honours) from UCD in 1984. He received an LL.M from the University of Michigan Law School in 1986.
Ronan serves on the board of Legal Services NYC.
Mentors Sought for UCD Law Students
If you are a UCD law graduate, you are an inspiration and a role model for our students at the UCD Sutherland School of Law. Your advice can help current law students to achieve their ambitions. The UCD Career Mentoring Programme provides students with the opportunity to meet and network with professional mentors who are able to offer support in developing their career ideas, clarifying their goals and improving their employability. We are currently looking for alumni to volunteer as mentors for UCD Law students.
How does it work? The mentor/mentee matching process is student-led and online via our UCD Alumni Network. Student mentees will review this information to consider matches. Both alumni and students will be trained and supported to navigate this process.
What’s involved for alumni mentors:
– As a mentor you will join an online community of fellow UCD alumni career mentors.
– We provide training and support to ensure both alumni and students are confident to make the most of the mentoring relationship.
– Once matched, mentoring sessions can take place online, by telephone, or face-to-face where public health guidelines allow.
Time commitment:
– Apart from preparatory work including setting up an online profile and attending a mentor briefing session, this programme will take place from January 2022 until June 2022)
– Student mentees will make direct requests to be mentored during the 'matching window' (10-21 January 2022).
– All participants will be invited to attend an important 'Meet your Mentor' event on 8 February 2022.
– Once you have approved the best match for you, we ask that you meet at least 3 times in 5 months (February - June).
(opens in a new window)Learn more & Register Today Here
If you have any further questions, please email (opens in a new window)alumnivolunteer@ucd.ie.
Alumnus Vincent Keaveny appointed Lord Mayor of the City of London
Vincent Keaveny pictured at the 2018 UCD Alumni Awards
Congratulations to our alumnus, Vincent Keaveny who was recently elected the 693rd Lord Mayor of the City of London. As the elected head of the City of London Corporation, he will serve as a global ambassador for the UK-based financial and professional services industry from November 2021 for a one-year term. At the Lord Mayor's banquet he delivered a very inspiring speech which can be viewed at (opens in a new window)this link.
Vincent has been a great advocate and supporter of UCD Sutherland School of Law. He holds a BCL degree from UCD and was the recipient of our prestigious Law Alumnus of the Year award in 2018. The following year he kindly hosted a group of UCD Law students on a tour of the ‘Old Bailey’, London’s Central Criminal Court and he continues to be very engaged with the School of Law.
As Lord Mayor, Vincent – a partner in the international business law firm, DLA Piper – will act as an international spokesperson for the City, leading business delegations to key international markets on behalf of the UK’s financial and professional services industry.
In the role, he will meet government representatives from around the world alongside business leaders and policymakers both in the UK and beyond. During his Mayoral year, Alderman Keaveny will also look to promote his ‘People and Purpose’ agenda, championing a purpose-led and people-focused UK financial and professional services sector.
Vincent Keaveny said:
“I am honoured to be elected as the 693rd Lord Mayor of the City of London at such a critical time. The City will play a key role in addressing some of the major issues of today: supporting the recovery, making the most of talented people across the country and tackling climate change”.
(With thanks to the following website for content for this story: (opens in a new window)https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/)
Three Doctoral candidates awarded Irish Research Council Scholarships
(L to R) Rachel Claire Brady, Jamie McLoughlin, Alison Coyne
Congratulations to Rachel Claire Brady, Jamie Mc Loughlin and Alison Coyne on their scholarship awards from the Irish Research Council. Rachel Claire Brady and Jamie McLoughlin were both awarded Irish Research Council Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarships and Alison Coyne, the Employment-Based Postgraduate Scholarship.
Rachel Claire Brady’s PhD research is supervised by Dr Cliona Kelly and examines the role of morality in the regulation of patents and trademarks in Europe. This project takes a novel approach to this issue, applying social science methodology and stakeholder engagement.
Rachel completed her Undergraduate degree in Dublin City University followed by an LLM in Intellectual Property Law in UCD. She then qualified and practised as an Irish and EU Trademark Attorney in Ireland’s biggest intellectual property law firm. Upon completing her PhD, Rachel hopes to marry her practical experience with her academic training to continue researching and addressing problems in the practice of Intellectual Property law in Europe.
Jamie McLoughlin’s research is supervised by Dr Suzanne Egan and explores the right to life in Irish constitutional law from a comparative constitutional and human rights perspective. His research focuses, in particular, on the potential meaning(s) of the concept of ‘life’ protected by the right to life.
Jamie obtained his undergraduate law degree from UCD Sutherland School of Law and his master’s degree in human rights law and constitutional theory from the University of Oxford. He has previously worked in the Office of the Attorney General of Ireland as a legal researcher where he assisted in the preparation of legal advice for Government departments and the drafting of legislation. After finishing his PhD, Jamie wishes to research and teach as a lecturer in the areas of human rights and constitutional law.
Alison Coyne’s PhD research is supervised by Professor Ian O’Donnell and assesses whether the needs of young adult offenders, who transition from the Irish Youth Justice Service to custodial and non-custodial settings, are being met in Ireland. The project uses Kern’s EPOCH Measure of Adolescent Well-being to assess the needs of young adult offenders through semi-structured interviews.
Alison graduated from BCL Law with Politics in UCD in 2016 and LLM Criminology and Criminal Justice in UCD in 2018. She has completed the first 2 years of her PhD research on a part-time basis while working in A&L Goodbody. This employment-based scholarship has afforded Alison the opportunity to continue her research on a full-time basis in conjunction with Tallaght Probation Project. Upon completion of her PhD, Alison hopes to gain a position within an NGO or Governmental Department informing on youth justice and advocating for the rights of young adult offenders as a distinct cohort.
Dr Niamh Howlin appointed UCD Dean of Law
From September 2021, Dr Niamh Howlin will take over the role of Dean and Head of School in UCD Sutherland School of Law, succeeding Professor Imelda Maher who has been in the role since 2017. Dr Howlin graduated with a BCL from UCD in 2003 and completed her doctoral studies in UCD in 2007, supervised by Professor Nial Osborough. She is an Associate Professor and has worked in the School since 2013, having joined UCD from Queen's University Belfast where she taught for 5 years.
In her time in UCD, Dr Howlin has served in a number of different roles in the Law School, including as Associate Dean and Head of Teaching and Learning. In 2017 she received a College Teaching Excellence Award which are awarded to individual members of teaching staff for sustained commitment to teaching excellence and student learning. In 2018 she received a UCD Research Impact Case Study Award for her work on historical miscarriages of justice. In one such case, her work was acknowledged by President Michael D. Higgins when he posthumously pardoned a man 136 years after he had been hanged for murder (https://www.ucd.ie/research/impact/researchimpact/case-studies/pdf/CASE_STUDY_Niamh_Howlin.pdf).
Dr Howlin teaches a number of subjects, including Property Law, Legal Skills and Jury Trials. She has published several books, articles and reports on aspects of legal history, court procedure and juries. Her most recent books are Law and Religion in Ireland 1700-1970 (with Dr Kevin Costello); Juries in Ireland: Laypersons and Law in the Long Nineteenth Century; and Lyall on Land Law (with Dr Noel McGrath). In 2020 she co-authored Judges and Juries in Ireland: An Empirical Study (With Dr Mark Coen, Dr Colette Barry and John Lynch). She is currently working on a history of the Irish Bar. Further details of Niamh's research can be viewed at: (opens in a new window)https://people.ucd.ie/niamh.howlin.
Five students from law programmes receive UCD President’s Awards
UCD Sutherland School of Law congratulates the five outstanding students from law programmes who received the President’s Award in recognition of their service to campus life.
There were seventeen UCD students in total awarded by the President for their "exemplary contributions” to student extracurricular activities, as well as their involvement with student organisations across the University in 2020/21. The School of Law is very proud that there were a total of five recipients from law programmes, making up a significant proportion of all of the UCD students recognised for these prestigious awards. They were:
- Aisling Tully, (BCL) Law
- Brendan Lynch, (MCL) Masters of Common Law
- Joseph Walshe, (BBL) Business and Law
- Laura Kennedy, (BCL) Law with Social Justice
- Sarah McGee, (BCL) Law with Social Justice
The awards provide recognition for those who provide the leadership, commitment and energy that make UCD an exciting, dynamic and humane place to live, study and work. Recipients, typically, are actively engaged in service to UCD societies, clubs or the Students’ Union, or are involved in student support services or competitive activity in intervarsity events.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, this year's awards were unable to be presented in person, with the annual ceremony usually held in O'Reilly Hall.
Receiving their award, recipients were thanked for their service to their fellow students, with their contributions recognised as having “been exemplary”.
Sarah McGee and Conor Cassidy win the Arthur Cox ‘Contribution to University Life’ Awards
Sarah McGee, (BCL) Law with Social Justice, and Conor Cassidy, (BBL) Business and Law, were recent recipients of the annual Arthur Cox ‘Contribution to University Life’ awards. The awards honour the contribution of Law students to university life and this can be in sporting activities, student societies, initiatives to improve the university community or the relationship between the university and the wider community.
The wide range of activities that Sarah McGee has undertaken alongside her studies are an excellent example of this commitment. For example, as co-editor of the Student Law Journal she was involved with changing the submission categories to make them more accessible and allow a broader range of subjects. This resulted in an increase in the number and diversity of submissions which included legal philosophy and feminist jurisprudence. She was also actively involved in the Student Legal Service and has acted as a judge at the UCD L&H Junior Schools Debating Competition. In addition to all of this, she has volunteered for charity fundraisers, has worked as a Student Ambassador and assisted at the Arthur Cox UCD Women in Leadership conference. Sarah has also found the time to be a member of the UCD Philharmonic Choir and has performed with them in the National Concert Hall.
Fellow winner, Conor Cassidy, also made an outstanding contribution to his fellow students, and to the wider community, since coming to UCD. His work as co-convenor of the Leinster Junior Schools Debating Competition on behalf of UCD Law Society is an excellent example of this commitment. In this role he actively sought to increase the diversity of voices at the event to encourage school students of all backgrounds to see that there is a pathway for them to university. During his time in UCD he was also secretary of the Student Legal Service, a Peer Mentor, UCD Badminton Club’s match secretary, an elected member of the Executive of the Athletic Union Council (UCD’s sporting body) and volunteered for a number of charity fundraising events.
Both outstanding students have demonstrated the kind of commitment consistent with the aims of this award from Arthur Cox Solicitors. These are to encourage students to avail fully of the opportunities that university offers them; to be innovators and catalysts for change; consistently to improve their community; increase their potential and contribute towards a sound society and a dynamic economy.
UCD Law Graduate Robert Lee awarded a Lord Denning scholarship
UCD Sutherland School of Law congratulates Robert Lee who has been awarded a Lord Denning scholarship from Lincoln's Inn supporting him to commence the English ICCA bar course in September 2021.
Robert graduated in 2018 with a BCL (Law with Economics International). He followed his undergraduate degree by studying the BCL in Oxford. He currently works as a Government Legislation Adviser.
Robert was an Ad Astra Academic Scholar while in UCD and won a number of prestigious prizes including the Decisis Hibernia ‘Law Ireland Dissenting Judgement’ Competition in 2018. He was also the winner of the McCann Fitzgerald ‘Law into Art’ Prize, the Butterworths Irish Law Gold and the Irish Tax Institute ‘Your Take on Tax’ Competition. He was Editor-in-Chief of the UCD Student Legal Service Law Review 2018 which was titled "80 Years of Bunreacht na hEireann"
We wish Robert every success in his future career.
2020 Law Graduate, Grace Oladipo, awarded Fulbright Scholarship
UCD Sutherland School of Law congratulates Grace Oladipo who has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study in the University of Notre Dame. The Fulbright award winners were announced at a recent virtual event with Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney TD and Irish ambassador to the US, Daniel Mulhall. These prestigious awards give students, scholars and professionals in Ireland the opportunity to undertake postgraduate study, research and teaching in the United States.
As a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, Grace will research the factors that influence overrepresentation of minority groups in prison populations, measures that facilitate the reintegration of ex-prisoners into society and the role of social entrepreneurship on the realisation of human rights. While in UCD Grace was the recipient of both the Arthur Cox Contribution to University Life Award and a UCD President’s Prize.
We asked Grace for details of her award and her recent activities:
‘I will be undertaking an LL.M in International Human Rights Law at the University of Notre Dame. In addition to this, I will be a Graduate Affiliate of the Klau Centre for Civil and Human Rights where I will work with experts in the human rights field to realise the human rights of others.
Since I graduated from UCD in 2020, I have been working and training at PwC as a Tax Associate. I also semi-volunteered at an organisation called the Global Purpose Enterprise which aims to support young black people globally through mentorship, practical workshops, and financial aid, as well as through employment. I also co-founded The Student Collective with Shekemi Denuga, a Ph.D student at UCD. The Student Collective seeks to provide support for leaving certificate students by pairing them with university students and equipping them through their Leaving Certificate journey.
I am really looking forward to starting my studies in America as a Fulbright and a George Moore Scholar.’
Dr Joe McGrath, Assistant Professor in UCD Sutherland School of Law has also secured a prestigious Fulbright award for the academic year, 2021-2022. He will take up a coveted research role as a Fulbright Scholar at UC Berkeley.
‘The Offences Against the State Act at 80: Virtual Book Launch’
The launch of The Offences Against the State Act at 80, edited by Dr Mark Coen and published by Hart, was held as a webinar on Tuesday 29 July. Professor Imelda Maher, Dean of the Sutherland School of Law, welcomed attendees and introduced Ms Justice Úna Ní Raifeartaigh of the Court of Appeal, who chaired the event. The judge recalled appearing as a barrister before the Special Criminal Court in its previous Green Street location. Likening the book to a treasure chest, she praised the contributors for the variety of approaches they had taken to the legislation, including the use of historical, international and empirical methodologies.
Professor Liora Lazarus of the University of British Columbia and Professor Colm O'Cinneide of University College London participated in the launch as discussants. Professor Larazus reviewed the book in the context of international scholarship on security and justice while Professor O'Cinneide located it within debates about the domestic legal order. Dr Mark Coen referred to the ongoing work of the independent review group established by the Government to examine the Offences Against the State Acts and expressed the hope that all submissions submitted to the group will be published in full on its website. Ms Justice Ní Raifeartaigh brought proceedings to a close by encouraging all present to purchase the book (Note: it can be ordered from the UCD Campus Book Shop: Tel 01 2691384).
A recording of the virtual Book Launch is available on the UCD Sutherland School of Law YouTube Channel at (opens in a new window)this link.
‘Critical Exploration of Human Rights’ Conference – IELF Forum
Some of the contributors at this recent online international conference
On 7 and 8 May 2021, the UCD Centre for Human Rights held a very successful international online conference on Critical Exploration of Human Rights: When Human Rights Become Part of the Problem. Adopting a critical perspective, speakers and attendees discussed a broad range of topics on human rights including the issue of humanisation of war, the issue of uses and abuses of human rights, the issue of inequalities and economic rights, the issue of human right advocacy and activism, but also human rights and violence, and human rights and crises.
Professor Samuel Moyn (Yale) delivered a fascinating keynote lecture on the Humanisation of the War based on his new book (opens in a new window)Human: How the United States Abandoned Peace and Reinvented War about the origins and significance of humane war. Distinguished guest speakers, Professor Neve Gordon (Queen Mary University, London), Dr. Daniela Lai (Royal Holloway, University of London), Professor Jacques Leider (French Institute of Asian Studies), Dr. Joel Pruce (University of Dayton), and Dr. Sharon Weill (Sciences Po, Paris), delivered thought-provoking presentations which were followed by lively discussions. A suite of 22 papers were also delivered in the different panels over the two days.
The event was introduced by Professor Orla Feely, UCD Vice-President for Research, Innovation and Impact. She emphasised the importance of such contribution to the debate on human rights at a time when Ireland sits, as an elected member, at the United Nations Security Council for the 2021-22 term. Ireland is more than ever involved in complex issues involving human rights in different parts of the world and human rights are very much a key aspect of Irish foreign policy centred on the maintenance of international peace and security. Professor Colin Scott, Principal of the College of Social Sciences and Law and University Vice-President for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, said that the Conference exemplified the interdisciplinarity and the international dimension of the research undertaken in the University and in the College of Social Sciences and Law in particular. Professor Imelda Maher, Dean of UCD Sutherland School of Law, acknowledged the importance of the Centre’s contribution for the School of Law. The Conference was the occasion to showcase the expertise of lawyers in human rights and cognate issues with the presentation in particular of the School’s newest ERC project PROPERTY[IN]JUSTICE by Professor Amy Strecker, lead investigator, Sonya Cotton and Raphael Ng’etich.
The event was co-organised by Dr. Marie-Luce Paris (Law, Director of the UCD Centre for Human Rights) and Dr. Lea David (Sociology), and co-funded by the UCD Sutherland School of Law as its 23rd Irish European Law Forum, and the UCD School of Sociology.
The recordings of the presentations will shortly be available to view on (opens in a new window)UCD School of Law YouTube Channel.
Dr Mark Coen secures Visiting Fellowship at St Catherine's College, Oxford
Congratulations to our colleague Dr Mark Coen who has secured a Visiting Fellowship at Oxford University. Mark will be a Visiting Fellow at St Catherine's College in Hilary Term 2022 (January to March) where he will work on a number of projects relating to the history of trial by jury. One project will examine how the first women jurors were depicted in popular culture one hundred years ago while the second will explore the drafting and operation of the Juries (Protection) Acts in the Irish Free State.
Dr Coen's research on jury trials has been published in prestigious journals including the Law and History Review, the American Journal of Legal History, the Criminal Law Review, the Human Rights Law Review, the International Journal of Evidence and Proof and Legal Studies. The virtual launch of his edited collection The Offences Against the State Act 1939 at 80: A Model Counter-Terrorism Act? (Hart, 2021) will take place on Tuesday 29 June at 5pm. All are welcome to register for the launch here.
(opens in a new window)Register for Book Launch: 'The Offences Against the State Act at 80': 29 June at 5pm
UCD School of Law & Nasc Host Seminar Series on Direct Provision
Pictured above is one of the seminar contributors, activist Owodunni Ola Mustapha
UCD Sutherland School of Law and Nasc, the Migrant and Refugee Rights Centre co-hosted a series of online webinars from November 2020 to March 2021 analysing the potential of proposals to end the system of direct provision. Direct provision is the name given to the state supports provided to persons seeking protection in Ireland. The system of direct provision has been subject to sustained criticism from persons seeking protection, civil society and academic research for almost twenty years.
From Dr Catherine Day’s groundbreaking October 2020 report on dismantling the system of direct provision, to the Government’s White Paper on Ending Direct Provision in February 2021- this seminar series heard from persons who live or have lived in direct provision, documenting their experiences of the system and their analysis, and at times critique of the Day Report. Panelists also included civil society organisations who had campaigned against the system of direct provision since its inception in April 2000, government and opposition politicians, as well as academics from UCD.
The key conclusions from this seminar series, was that the Irish Government needed to fulfil its Programme for Government commitment to dismantle direct provision, replacing this system with that centres dignity and respect for the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of persons seeking protection in Ireland.
Dr Joe McGrath secures Fulbright Scholarship at UC Berkeley
Congratulations to our colleague, Dr Joe McGrath who has secured a prestigious Fulbright award for the academic year, 2021-2022. Joe takes up a coveted research role as a Fulbright Scholar at UC Berkeley. He will research a project entitled “Punishing Privilege” in which he investigates the extent to which federal responses to white-collar crime are formally punitive but practically lenient. In particular, the award supports his research with Dr. Deirdre Healy into how legal responses to wrongdoing vary by reference to gender, race and elite status.
Dr McGrath has published extensively in the field of white-collar crime and organisational culture. His first monograph, Corporate and White Collar Crime in Ireland: A New Architecture of Regulatory Enforcement, was published by Manchester University Press. His second book, White Collar Crime in Ireland: Law and Policy, which he edited and co-authored, was published by Clarus Press. He has also published in the leading international peer-reviewed journals in his fields, including the European Journal of Criminology, Justice Quarterly, and Punishment and Society.
PROPERTY [IN]JUSTICE website launched
The ERC project PROPERTY [IN]JUSTICE at the UCD Sutherland School of Law have now launched a dedicated (opens in a new window)website and (opens in a new window)Twitter account for interested parties to keep up to date with this fascinating area of research.
PROPERTY [IN]JUSTICE investigates how international law facilitates spatial justice and injustice through its conceptualisation of property rights in land. Reflecting the international nature of the project, you can read the project's overview in (opens in a new window)English, (opens in a new window)Spanish, (opens in a new window)Swahili, (opens in a new window)Xhosa and (opens in a new window)Irish.
Associate Professor at the Sutherland School of Law, Dr. Amy Strecker (Principal Investigator), is joined on the project by Dr. Amanda Byer (Postdoctoral Researcher), Raphael Ng’etich and Sonya Cotton (PhD Candidates), Deirdre Norris (Project Manager) and Sinéad Mercier (Research Assistant).
The website will have a new blogpost from the team each month. Amy Strecker, PI of the project has uploaded her first blogpost on the origins of the project here: (opens in a new window)'Landscape, Property and Spatial [In]Justice'.
The project can also be followed on Twitter at @LandLawJustice.
Professor Oonagh Breen leading NI Review of Charities Regulation
Professor Oonagh Breen of UCD Sutherland School of Law was appointed chair of the Independent Review of Charity Regulation in Northern Ireland earlier this year. She is joined on the panel by Rev Dr Lesley Carroll, Prisoner Ombudsman NI and Noel Lavery, former Permanent Secretary in the NICS.
The review was set up to consider the Charities Act (NI) 2008 (the Act) and the roles of the Charity Commission and the Department thereunder. In particular, it will examine whether the Commission’s performance within the existing legal framework strikes the right balance, in light of best practice, between supporting charities to do the right thing and deterring, or dealing with, misconduct. Ultimately it will make recommendations on changes that can be made to improve the delivery of services and the operation of the regulatory framework going forward.
The website for the independent review is as follows:
Individuals working with charities that are active in Northern Ireland are invited to register for the webinar series or complete the online questionnaire.
Professor Breen is a graduate of UCD and Yale Law School, her research focuses on comparative charity law regulation and governance. She has worked with the non-profit sector, charity regulators and policymakers in a number of jurisdictions (including Ireland, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada). Oonagh is President of the International Society for Third Sector Research (ISTR) and a member of the international advisory council to the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL). She is the author of the Enlarging the Space for European Philanthropy Report (DAFNE & EFC, 2018) and co-author of Breen and Smith, Law of Charities in Ireland (Bloomsbury, 2019).
UCD Law student’s webinar on inclusivity in digital learning
Congratulations to Aoibhínn Gilmartin, final year Law with Social Justice who recently organised a webinar entitled: ‘Inclusivity in Digital Learning: Student Perspectives’ (view (opens in a new window)here).
Aoibhinn is a student intern on the Irish Universities Association’s project, ‘Enhancing Digital Teaching and Learning Project. As part of this project, she organised the webinar where students from different universities share their perspectives on having a disability and what it means in terms of accessing learning materials.
Aoibhinn has also written the blog post below about her experience on the project.
Aoibhínn Gilmartin’s Blog:
‘I am currently the UCD student intern on the Irish Universities Association’s project, ‘Enhancing Digital Teaching and Learning Project. This project is aimed at enhancing the digital attributes and educational experiences of Irish university students through enabling the mainstreamed and integrated use of digital technologies across the teaching and learning process. Due to the switch to online learning the project temporarily re-focused to support a move to a more blended approach to teaching and learning in the academic year 2020/21.
My role has involved both projects within UCD and national initiatives with the IUA. I have worked on reviewing the new UCD Virtual Orientation module and I have been responsible for curating digital resources for students to help facilitate the switch to online learning.
Most recently I was involved in co-hosting a webinar ran by the IUA, ‘Inclusivity in Digital Learning: Student Perspectives’. This webinar focused on both the challenges and possibilities that online learning has posed to students with disabilities. Our speakers illustrated ways in which online learning can enhance inclusivity and can help students to overcome various barriers to higher education in the future if these inclusive practices are maintained. This webinar was widely attended and received very positive feedback and hopefully it will have an impact on inclusivity in higher education in a post-Covid learning environment.’
Dr Andrew Bremner Lyall RIP
The Dean of Law and the staff from Sutherland School of Law were greatly saddened by the death of our former colleague Andrew and wish to offer our condolences to his family, friends and former colleagues.
An obituary of his remarkable career, and the contribution that he made both personally and academically to the School of Law, follows below.
Andrew Bremner Lyall PhD LLM LLD FLS FRHS
(6 October 1942 – 11 February 2021)
Andrew Bremner Lyall was appointed a College Lecturer in UCD Faculty of Law in 1980 having been awarded his PhD at the London School of Economics, his thesis dealing with “The social origins of property and contract: a study of East Africa before 1918”. He was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1997 and retired in 2007, though he remained a very active and productive independent scholar for the rest of his life.
Dr Lyall’s research interests originally focused on applying a Marxist analysis to the class relations underlying the law of property in East Africa and property law more generally, including in Ireland and the UK. His research also established him as a highly-regarded expert on African law and legal anthropology more generally. In later years, his interest in land law naturally led him to produce a significant body of work in the field of legal history (particularly of Ireland in the eighteenth century and of the law relating to slavery in that period.)
Dr Lyall’s published works reflected his meticulous attention to detail, his conceptual rigour and the clarity of his writing. Land Law in Ireland was first published in 1994 and is now in its fourth edition (edited by Dr Niamh Howlin and Dr Noel McGrath, faculty at the Sutherland School); it has established itself as the leading student textbook on the topic. The book, particularly as it was first conceived, demonstrated Dr Lyall’s socio-legal perspective on the law relating to the control and use of land, including chapters on planning and development and housing law. His later works reflected the turn in his interests towards legal history, notably Irish Exchequer Reports 1716—1734 (2009) which showed his command of the archival material and his understanding of historical context and was selected by the Selden Society as Volume 125 in their series. He was also the author of Granville Sharp’s Cases on Slavery (2017) and (with John Bergin) of The Acts of James II’s Irish Parliament (2016).
Dr Lyall was an awarded an LLD by the University of London in 1996, in recognition of his work on the law of East Africa and on Irish land law. The wide esteem for his scholarship was reflected in his election as a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (2018). He was a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London (2001) and took pride in being related to the nineteenth century botanist and explorer David Lyall. He moved to London some years after his retirement, to be near his elder brothers David and Tom, both of whom survive him.
Dr Lyall’s students were fortunate that he brought to bear on preparing and delivering his courses all the attention to detail and conceptual richness that is evident in his publications. As well as learning about debates about the applicability of Althusser’s reworking of Marxist analysis of modes of production to pre-colonial Africa or contrasts between the forms of ownership found among the Nuer and the Kikuyu, students of land law also received an excellent grounding in estates, tenure, future interests and all the other traditional elements of the subject. It was natural that he should develop a course in African Law (later Legal Anthropology) so that students could delve more deeply into some of the topics he had broached in land law. It was long his ambition also to offer a course on the legal protection of cultural property and, while this never came to pass during his time in UCD, he would certainly be pleased to see that this is now a major focus within UCD Sutherland School of Law’s research.
As well as teaching and researching, Dr Lyall fully embraced the administrative side of a university academic’s role and he brought the same qualities that marked the rest of his work to many reviews and proposals in relation to issues of teaching, learning and assessment. He was very much an early adopter of new technologies such as e-mail and the World Wide Web, when these first became available, and he was a dedicated user of LaTeX, the software system for document preparation.
Andrew was a student of Pate’s Grammar School, Cheltenham from 1954 to 1961 and went on to become a trainee manager at a local manufacturer of industrial machinery, Spirax-Sarco Ltd. After two years of this training, he became a student of University College London, graduating with an LLB degree in 1966. After graduation he went to East Africa, under the auspices of the charity Voluntary Service Overseas, and was a tutorial assistant for two years, teaching land law to students in Tanzania at the University of East Africa, Dar es Salaam. This led to a post as an Assistant Lecturer (1968-71) at the University of East Africa in 1968 (the University of Dar es Salaam after 1970) and as a Lecturer (1971-74) and a Senior Lecturer (1974-76) there. He obtained an LLM from the University of Dar es Salaam in 1973, for a thesis on “Land law and policy in Tanganyika 1919 – 1932”. While in Tanzania he became an Advocate of the High Court (in 1971) and he was called to the Bar of England and Wales at Gray’s Inn (Trinity, 1979). As a young man in Tanzania, Andrew was deeply impressed by the optimism and collective ambition he encountered in that recently independent nation and this was reflected in his lifelong commitment to equality, the right of all to dignity and respect, human rights and social justice. He was thus a leading member of the Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement during the struggle against the former South African regime.
Andrew was a valued and much-loved colleague, who will be particularly missed by his friends from the old UCD Common Room, where he felt very much at his ease and put many others at theirs. They and his many other friends throughout University College Dublin and across the world will remember him fondly.
Dr. Bernd Justin Jütte wins RIA Charlemont Grant
Dr. Bernd Justin Jütte has been awarded a prestigious Charlemont Grant from the Royal Irish Academy to launch a cooperation with researchers from the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies (Pisa, Italy) to investigate the use of copyrighted material in online teaching.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the restrictive effects of copyright law on online teaching. In general, uses of protected works, including excerpts from textbooks and journal articles, require authorization from authors or publishers. Copyright law foresees several mechanisms to enable the use of such material without authorization, amongst the so-called copyright exceptions.
The project “Overcoming Copyright Barriers to Online Teaching and Learning post-COVID“ CoDE will examine and map existing copyright exceptions relevant to online teaching and establish an observatory on the implementation of Article 5 of the recently adopted EU Directive on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market.
The project builds on collaborative research (see (opens in a new window)here, (opens in a new window)here and (opens in a new window)here) between Dr. Jütte and several other researches on the legal implications of copyright and data protection law in online teaching.
Scholarships offered to Graduate Taught and Doctoral Students for Autumn 2021
UCD Sutherland School of Law welcomes applications for a range of scholarships from students planning to undertake graduate studies in Autumn 2021. These include bursaries funded by the School and a series of scholarships supported by donors to the School of Law.
The deadline to apply for Graduate Taught (Masters) scholarships is 31 May 2021. All students who apply by that date will be considered for the applicable scholarships.
Full details for all scholarships including closing dates will be published shortly on this website here.
Professor Oonagh Breen joins new Housing Regulatory Board
UCD Sutherland School of Law congratulates Professor Oonagh Breen on her appointment to the board of the newly established Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority. The board has been set up by Minister for Housing, Local Government & Heritage, Darragh O’Brien TD. Professor Breen joins the following distinguished individuals in a five year term on the board:
- Edward Lewis (Chair)
- Seamus Neely
- Eileen Gleeson
- Geraldine Hynes
- Jillian Mahon
- John McCarthy
- Michael Cameron
- Orla Coyne
The Regulator will have responsibility for establishing and maintaining a register of Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs), preparing standards by which AHBs will be monitored and assessed, and encouraging and facilitating the better governance, administration and management, including corporate governance and financial management of AHBs. The Regulator will also have powers to carry out investigations and cancel the registration of AHBs. Minister O’Brien commented on the new board as follows:
“I am delighted to establish the Regulator and appoint its first members. This is a significant development for the Approved Housing Body sector...Approved Housing Bodies play a crucial role across the housing spectrum; delivering much needed social homes, helping families and individuals to exit homelessness and supporting people to live independently in their own homes.”
The Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority can be contacted at info@ahbregulator.ie
CALESA (Capacity Building for Legal and Social Advancement in the Philippines)
UCD Sutherland School of Law New Major Collaborative Project with Spain and The Philippines
UCD Sutherland School of Law is proud to be part of a new international project with partners in Spain and the Philippines. CALESA (Capacity Building for Legal and Social Advancement in the Philippines) is an EU-funded Erasmus + Capacity Building project in the field of Higher Education. The key CALESA objective is that the Philippines’ leading law schools adopt curricular innovations that are focused on research, multilingualism, human rights and the rule of law, regional integration and comparative law in a manner that is consistent with the Bologna process in order to facilitate portability with EU universities. UCD Sutherland School of Law is one of four European partners that will collaborate with institutions in the Philippines, including the Philippine Judicial Academy. The project is led by Professor José Torres, University of Malaga, Spain.
Associate Professor Richard Collins and Associate Professor Marie-Luce Paris will be contributing to training in the areas of public international law, the law of the sea and regional human rights. The overall funding available for the project is €999,665. Richard and Marie-Luce have been awarded €83,354 by the Education Audio-visual & Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) of the EU as co-PIs of the project in UCD.
Welcoming this new collaboration, the Dean of Law said that: ‘The Sutherland School, as a common law School of Law in the EU is committed to the transformative potential of law for society and welcomes this new initiative.’
The CALESA website can be accessed (opens in a new window)here.
Chief Justice addresses Class of 2020 Conferring
We were honoured that the Chief Justice, the Hon. Mr Justice Frank Clarke sent a message to our graduating class for their virtual conferring in 2020. In what was a very difficult year for all, it was wonderful for law students to hear his words of encouragement at their special event.
The Chief Justice's message can be viewed here:
(opens in a new window)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aonkyed66sQ
We were also pleased that two of the graduating class delivered inspiring speeches for their fellow students as part of the Virtual Conferring Ceremony. They were Niall O’Shaughnessy, BCL (Law with Social Justice) and Andrea Whelton, BBL (Bachelor of Business and Law). Their speeches can be viewed here:
(opens in a new window)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyfwrGEiynk
(opens in a new window)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f27dStnZC1k
The staff at the Sutherland School of Law look forward to welcoming back the Graduating Class of 2020 in person in the future and would like to extend our warmest wishes to each of them in their future careers.
War Journalist Sally Hayden receives 2020 Law Alumni Award
UCD Sutherland School of Law was delighted to honour War Journalist, Sally Hayden with the 2020 Law Alumni Award. Sally graduated with a BCL in 2012 and is is an award-winning journalist and photographer focused on migration, conflict and humanitarian crises.
In the relatively short time since she left college, Sally’s work has taken her across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, for outlets including the BBC, TIME, the Guardian, Newsweek, the Washington Post, Al Jazeera, CNN International, NBC News, Channel 4 News, the New York Times, the Thomson Reuters Foundation, Magnum Photos, the Irish Times, the Financial Times, the Telegraph, RTÉ and many more. Between 2014 and 2016 she was staff with VICE News, based out of the UK. Since 2017, Sally has been reporting on allegations of the exploitation of refugees and corruption by staff within the United Nations Refugee Agency. Her reporting has launched internal investigations in several countries, and resulted in a UNHCR staff member being found guilty of abuse of power in Sudan this year. Her latest series, ‘Asylum For Sale’, was funded by Journalists for Transparency, with editorial support from 100Reporters, and focused on Kenya and Uganda. In 2018,
Sally won first prize in the European Migration Media Awards, best ‘foreign coverage’ at the Newsbrands Irish Journalism Awards, and was a finalist for the Amnesty International Gaby Rado Award for Best New Journalist, the Kurt Schork Awards for International Journalism, the Frontline Club Awards, the One World Media Awards, and named a ‘Rising Star’ by the US News Media Alliance. She was also a member of Transparency International’s 2018 Anti-Corruption Award Committee, a Logan nonfiction fellow, and listed in the 2019 Forbes ’30 Under 30′ for Media in Europe.
We are delighted to be able to share some thoughts from Sally where she remembers her time in UCD while offering some very inspiring advice to our current students.
What are your fondest memories of UCD? “Being a student ambassador, giving tours and encouraging secondary students to come to UCD – especially rewarding when they were set to be the first in their family to attend.”
What key life skill did you pick up at UCD? “I loved meeting a wide range of people, in class, when playing with the orchestra and travelling for debating. I wrote for the University Observer. In my third year, I went on exchange to UNSW in Sydney. That taught me a lot about arriving in a place where you know no one and building something of a life.”
What career achievements are you most proud of? “It’s hard to say I’m proud of anything – I always think of the people in desperate situations who I’ve interviewed – it’s rare anything changes for them even after a report comes out. However, I still believe in the value of journalism and my reporting has been used in legal challenges against governments and referenced by the US State Department and at the European Parliament.”
Would you change any aspect of your career? “Journalism is in crisis – pay is low and it’s difficult to fund reporting. If journalism isn’t funded, wrongdoing goes unexposed.
Advice for today’s graduates? “Work hard. Be humble. Keep learning. Don’t be too proud to start from the bottom. Follow your passions instead of money. Give back. Amplify the voices of those who are overlooked.”
Emeritus Professor Nial Osborough MRIA RIP
The Dean of Law and the staff from Sutherland School of Law were greatly saddened by the death of our colleague, Emeritus Professor Nial Osborough MRIA, and wish to offer our condolences to his daughters, Sarah and Rachel, and son Conor.
Nial was an intellectual powerhouse who nurtured many scholars of Irish legal history, several of whom we now have as colleagues within Sutherland School of Law. He was the leading Irish legal historian, a founding member and former President of the Irish Legal History Society which has honoured him through its annual W.N. Osborough Composition Prize in Legal History. A former editor of the Irish Jurist, his career spanned Queens University Belfast, Trinity College Dublin and, of course, here in UCD. We were honoured to have him write a history of the Law School (The Law School of University College Dublin: A History (2014). He also wrote The Irish Stage: A Legal History (2015); Literature, Judges and the Law (2008); Studies in Irish Legal History (1999); Law and the Emergence of Modern Dublin: A Litigation Topography for a Capital City (1996); and Borstal in Ireland: Custodial Provision for the Young Adult Offender, 1906-1974 (1975). He edited several essay collections, and published numerous articles and essays dealing with vastly diverse areas of Irish legal history.
Nial is fondly remembered by many staff with the Sutherland School of Law. Speaking about his passing, Professor Imelda Maher, Dean of Law commented: ‘I feel privileged to have the chance to get to know him, to listen to his fascinating and illuminating discussions on a myriad of historical topics (often at the bicycle racks). He is a huge loss to the scholarly law community on the island of Ireland and especially to us here in UCD.’
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam uasal.
Professional Diplomas Enrolling for January 2021
UCD Sutherland School of Law is pleased to confirm that the following Level 9 Professional Diplomas are currently enrolling for a January 2021 start:
Further information is available at by emailing (opens in a new window)lawdiplomas@ucd.ie.
Professional Diploma in Data Protection and Governance
The Diploma is a 24-week part-time programme, delivered over two semesters. It is designed to supply training for Data Protection Officers and others involved in the compliance role in organisations. It will also be of relevance to any legal practitioners involved in this area.
The programme is co-ordinated by (opens in a new window)Dr TJ McIntyre of Sutherland School of Law who is well known for his expertise is the area. Diploma has been designed to meet the training needs that have developed in Ireland since the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force in 2018. GDPR has meant that significant new data protection obligations have been imposed on Irish organisations.
Professional Diploma in Arbitration
This one-year part-time Diploma is the only one of its kind in Ireland and will equip participants with the competence required to conduct or participate in arbitrations. The programme co-ordinator is (opens in a new window)Brian Hutchinson, Associate Professor at UCD Sutherland School of Law, who is both a Chartered Arbitrator and Accredited Mediator and is a renowned expert in the area of arbitration.
The Arbitration Act was introduced in 2010 to make Ireland a world leader in the field of arbitration and the focus of the Diploma is on domestic arbitration. It is designed to equip students with the level of competence in Irish law and procedure required to conduct or participate in arbitrations between Irish parties.
If you would like any more information on these diplomas please email (opens in a new window)lawdiplomas@ucd.ie.