UCD Law

Scoil Dlí Sutherland UCD

UCD Sutherland School of Law

OF UCD SUTHERLAND SCHOOL OF LAW

The School of Law in UCD has occupied a position of unique importance within Irish legal education since its foundation in 1911.

UCD SUTHERLAND SCHOOL OF LAW

THE FIRST DECADE

The School of Law in UCD has occupied a position of unique importance within Irish legal education since its foundation in 1911. In November 2013, the School was privileged to move into this outstanding, dedicated law school on the Belfield campus. This would not have been possible were it not for the major leadership gift of Peter Sutherland, the significant government investment provided under the National Development Plan (2007–2013), and gifts from other leading benefactors, major law firms and private donors. Named in Peter Sutherland’s honour, the Sutherland School of Law has since brought together all the teaching, research and professional development activity of the Law School into a single building.

As a Law School, we have always been committed to achieving excellence in both teaching and research and to providing a diverse, vibrant and friendly environment for our student body. Moving to UCD Sutherland School of Law paved the way for us to make great inroads in achieving these objectives. It also allowed us to take our place with the leading law schools of the world. The following pages outline the highlights of the ten years since we moved to this building, many of which would not have been possible without the excellent facilities available to us at UCD Sutherland School of Law.

We are grateful to the many supporters of the School, those who contributed to the initial phases of the development of the building project and those who continue to show considerable generosity. I would also like to personally acknowledge the positive contribution of the academic and professional staff whose hard work and dedication have been equally important in adding to the successes of the School to date. I could not fail to also mention the enthusiasm and positivity of the many students who have studied here over the past ten years and have had the opportunity to benefit from this outstanding facility.

We look forward to many more years in UCD Sutherland School of Law.

Professor Laurent Pech

Dean of UCD Sutherland School of Law

April 2024

Tá an Ghaeilge faoi bhláth bríomhar i saol na Scoile ó bhogamar isteach san fhoirgneamh nua deich mbliana ó shin. Chomh maith leis an mbunchéim BCL Dlí le Gaeilge, atá fadbhunaithe anois, bíonn deis ag na mic léinn páirt a ghlacadh i Scéim Theach na Gaeilge UCD, a chuireann i dteagmháil laethanta le Gaeilgeoirí eile sa Choláiste iad. Glacaimid freisin le hobair acadúil i nGaeilge lena measúnú, is cuma cén céim dlí atá á déanamh ag an údar. Féach, mar fhianaise mhaith go bhfuil an teanga faoi bhláth linn, an rath a bhí ar ár mic léinn i mBréagchúirt Uí Dhálaigh Ghael Linn; bhuadar an comórtas náisiúnta sin faoi thrí idir 2011 & 2014 agus bhíodar sa dara háit i 2012, 2015, 2018 & 2021.

Professor Laurent Pech, Dean of UCD Sutherland School of Law.

TEACHING

The teaching spaces in the Sutherland building have been transformative. Innovative design allows students to engage in interactive group work and to make full use of technology in their learning.

Our students participate in mooting (mock court and arbitration) competitions including the Intervarsity Law Summit, the National and Viz and Jessup moots. The Arthur Cox Clinical Legal Education Centre also hosts primary school children from DEIS schools, learning through play by acting as lawyers and judges in mock trials. This initiative is led by our undergraduate students on the Law in the Classroom module, which seeks to demystify law and the legal profession, and to encourage wider participation in legal education. The past decade has also seen the introduction of semester-long

(paid) internships for students, and the adoption of a variety of skills-based modules to support students in progressing to a professional environment. There has been a remarkable diversification in our student body with record numbers of undergraduate law students admitted through more than seven entry routes. Through the UCD scholarship programmes in part supported by our many alumni and donors, we have also been able to reduce the financial barriers to legal education with hundreds of scholarships and bursaries awarded on a needs basis.

‘A

highlight throughout my studies was taking part in Moot Court Competitions. The support and encouragement from the faculty members, coupled with the excellent facilities in the Sutherland building, truly enhanced the experience.’

Robert O’Sullivan, BCL graduate 2023

‘Participating in the Internship module in 3rd year was an invaluable experience that allowed me to apply the skills I had learned during my degree in a practical way.’

Laura Campion, BCL (Stage 4)

The BCL Class of 2014.

The Sutherland School of Law National Moot Court Competition winning team 2022, (L to R) Méabh de Courcy MacDonnell, Robert O’Sullivan, Ms Justice Carmel Stewart, Mr Justice John McMenamin, Tom Casey and Hugh Joyce. The School also celebrated winning teams in 2018 and 2019.

‘The Law in the Classroom module was an honour to be part of; a unique, rewarding and impactful experience. It gives life to the transformative power of education.’

Carla Wallace, Class of 2022 and Denham Scholar

The Sutherland School has also been able to develop some new interdisciplinary programmes, at both the undergraduate and graduate level. Following the recognition of Irish as an official EU language, the School introduced a new BCL (Law with Irish) degree in 2017. More recently, we have welcomed the first cohort of first years in the BSc in Criminology with Psychology. A new online MSc in Environmental Law allows graduate students from across the globe to develop expertise on climate and biodiversity governance. In the MSc in International Law and Business, students combine graduate law modules with classes at the Smurfit Business School. The School also offers a number of professional diplomas including those in Data Protection, Arbitration and Mediation.

‘Louvain-la-Neuve provided the perfect environment to make new friends, gain a different perspective on my studies and improve my French, all while immersing myself in a foreign culture.’

Kate McCarthy, BBL graduate 2018

The BBL Class of 2014.

The Class of 2023.

Saoirse Conroy, BCL Stage 4, taking part in the Law in the Classroom Module.

Kate McCarthy and friends on Erasmus to Louvain-la-Neuve, Brussels.

RESEARCH

Scholarship is at the heart of the Sutherland School’s activities, from our undergraduate and Masters dissertation modules to prize-winning monographs, the student-led UCD Law Review and The Irish Jurist, long associated with the School.

Since the opening of the Sutherland building, nearly 90 books have been published by faculty here. Sole-authored, co-authored, sole and coedited books have addressed an extraordinary range of legal topics. This is in addition to almost 1000 scholarly articles in journals and book chapters published by leading academic presses, contributing to the analysis of legal questions in Ireland and beyond.

A major innovation in the building was the inclusion of research team offices anticipating

faculty ambition and success in securing prestigious research awards. Faculty have secured over €10 million in funding from Irish, French and European research bodies. Most significantly, the School has hosted five European Research Council grants in the last decade, on effective nature laws (Suzanne Kingston); the authority of public institutions (Eoin Carolan); property rights in international law (Amy Strecker); a new socio-legal theory for European integration (Dagmar Schiek); and gender, conflict and coercive control (Aisling Swaine) involving more than 25 researchers and PhD candidates. A number of UCD research centres and groups further support research on law, bringing together scholars in Sutherland and other UCD Schools. The first postdoctoral Newman Fellows and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellows have been appointed. In addition the Sutherland Fellows visiting scholars scheme has attracted 63 scholars from all over the world, bringing their expertise and insights to our ongoing research and contributing to our seminar series.

Forty six of our internationally diverse PhD community graduated in the last decade, writing on a wide range of subjects from Arbitration to Sustainable food systems. A large number have held scholarships from the Irish Research Council, the EU and the governments of China and Saudi Arabia. The Matheson PhD suite provides the students with world-class facilities with their own common room, shared kitchen facilities and guaranteed desk space.

Niamh Howlin (left) and Richard Collins (right) at the PhD Conferrings of Alexandru Soptica, Michael McNamara, Orla Kelleher and Aphrodite Papachristodoulou in 2022.

Ian O’Donnell’s book, Prison Life: Pain, Resistance, and Purpose (NYU Press) was the 2023 winner of the Outstanding Book Award, the top literature prize given by the American Society of Criminology’s Division of International Criminology.

STAFF

Today there are over 40 faculty and 14 professional staff in the school as well as several early career researchers and an exceptional group of visiting and adjunct professors, including the current and former Attorneys General, leading King’s Counsel and Senior Counsel, award-winning journalists, and scholars from across the globe.

And, as the School maintains its tradition of student-centred learning through small group teaching for key law subjects, it acknowledges the contribution of its many tutors including recent alumni and our PhD students. As well as welcoming new staff, we have also said goodbye to others, who have moved on to take up positions in universities in Ireland, Germany and the UK and senior administrative posts elsewhere in the university. Paul O’Connor, Tony Kerr, Maureen Reynolds and Caroline Fine have retired, leaving behind an extraordinary legacy of collegiality and professionalism.

We mark the passing of several former colleagues who are hugely respected and sorely missed: Aonghus Cheevers, Andrew Lyall, Nial Osborough. And we continue to miss our colleague, Paul Anthony McDermott. Ar dhéis Dé go raibh a n-anamacha dílse.

We are immensely proud of our faculty’s many public service contributions. Suzanne Kingston was appointed as a judge of the General Court of the European Union in 2022. Oonagh Breen was asked to chair the Independent Review of Charity Regulation in Northern Ireland in 2021, culminating in 93 recommendations for reform. During the same year, she was also appointed to the Board of the Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority established by the Minister for Housing. In recognition of her work promoting legal education and research relating to France and Ireland, Marie-Luce Paris was awarded the Chevalier of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques in 2016. Both at home and abroad, colleagues are often invited to give evidence to parliamentary committees, including (for example), Liam Thornton at the Oireachtas Committee on Justice and Equality in 2019 (on the system of direct provision) and Gavin Barrett at the House of Lords Select Committee on EU Affairs in 2013, 2014 and 2018 (on justice and home affairs and Brexit-related issues).

Travel and external collaboration are vital to our research mission, and in this context many colleagues have been awarded fellowships to other leading institutions. In 2022, for example, Imelda Maher was

appointed the Emile Noel Global Fellow at New York University conducting research on law and hope, while Mark Coen was a Visiting Fellow at the University of Oxford exploring the history of trial by jury, and Joe McGrath was a Fulbright Scholar at UC Berkeley, researching privilege and white-collar crime.

Roebuck Castle where the School of Law was based from 1991 to 2013.

Suzanne Kingston, Judge of the General Court of the European Union.

President Michael D Higgins with Mark Coen (UCD Sutherland School of Law), Katherine O'Donnell (UCD) and Maeve O'Rourke (University of Galway and UCD Law Alumni Awardee 2014) when they presented him with a copy of A Dublin Magdalene Laundry: Donnybrook and Church-State Power in Ireland

ALUMNI

The School takes pride in its many alumni who are scattered across the globe.

We seek to recognise their achievements through the university Alumni of the Year Awards, the award of Honorary PhDs and UCD’s highest honour, the Ulysses Medal, which has been awarded to Mr Justice Albie Sachs, Susan Haack, Samantha Power and Cass Sunstein. Law alumni who have received honorary PhDs include Noeline Blackwell, Gráinne de Búrca, Conor Gearty, Brian Havel, Mr Justice Gerard Hogan, and Mary Lawlor. UCD has also given Honorary Doctorates of Laws, in recognition of their achievements in or in connection with law, to Judge Yvonne Murphy, Mrs Justice Susan Denham, Máirín de Burca, Kevin Duffy, Michael Farrell, John Feerick, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and Emily Logan.

UCD Law Alumnus of the Year winners

2014

Our distinguished alumni include the current Chief Justice, Mr Justice Donal O’Donnell and President of the European Court of Human Rights, Ms Justice Siofra O’Leary, Rossa Fanning SC, Attorney General, Paul Gallagher SC, former Attorney General, Michael O’Flaherty, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights and Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC, human rights lawyer and Ireland's Special Rapporteur on Child Protection. These alumni are role models for more recent graduates.

Several younger Sutherland alumni are Olympians: Mitch Darling, David Fitzgerald, Kirk Shimmins, (hockey, Rio); Sarah Healy (athletics, Tokyo); Deirdre Duke, Nikki Evans, Anna O’Flanagan, Gillian Pinder (hockey, 2018 World Cup silver medallists; Deirdre and Anna were also Tokyo 2020 Olympians), while Garry Ringrose and Dan Leavy both represented Ireland in rugby. The School takes pride in their achievements and even more so in the fact they combine their intensive sporting careers with their studies.

Hockey Olympian Deirdre Duke, Law with Social Justice graduate 2017, with school staff (l -r) John O’Dowd, Imelda Maher and Paul Ward.

Síofra O’Leary BCL '89 and Michael O'Flaherty BCL '80 meeting on Wednesday 3 April 2024, as President of the European Court of Human Rights and Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights respectively.

Students and Alumni at a special Celebration of Twenty Years of French Law Programmes in 2019.

SUPPORTING OUR STUDENTS

Philanthropy is an intrinsic part of the story of UCD Sutherland School of Law. The School was built on a foundation of public funding and outstanding philanthropic support, with that generosity and vision manifest in the state-of-the-art facilities of the Sutherland Building. A decade since we first opened the doors to Ireland’s first purpose-built law school, philanthropy continues to make a significant contribution to the vibrant intellectual environment of Sutherland School in a host of different ways. We are immensely grateful to all the benefactors who have supported us over the past decade in our commitment to providing an exceptional educational experience at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, increasing diversity and inclusion in law, and shaping the future of law through pioneering research and global engagement. Philanthropically funded scholarships, travel bursaries, mentoring and internship opportunities, and experiential learning, help to ensure that every student, regardless of their background or personal circumstances, can access the resources they need to thrive and flourish at UCD. Likewise, academic chairs and research fellowships enrich our scholarly community and make a meaningful difference for our faculty and postgraduate students.

The School’s flagship student support fund – UCD Sutherland Opportunity supported by Mason Hayes & Curran – has been transformative for our students. Launched in September 2019 in partnership with UCD Access & Lifelong Learning and the law firm Mason Hayes & Curran, and with additional generous support from alumni and other donors, the fund has provided over €1.1 million to a range of initiatives to help students overcome barriers to full participation in higher education. It is a key component to the School’s efforts to ensure that every student has the opportunity to fulfil their potential. Additional scholarships have been established with philanthropic support in partnership with UCD Access & Lifelong Learning such as the AMOSS Scholarship in Law, the Frank Scott Access Scholarship, the Hayes Solicitors Cothrom na Féinne Scholarship in Law and the UCD Walkers (Ireland) Cothrom na Féinne Scholarship. These scholarships have provided key financial supports to students so they can realise their dream of studying law. Also since 2014, UCD law alumni have donated €403,173 to UCD ChampionsOpening Doors, which is the university-wide effort to provide life-changing financial support to low income students.

Shane Black (BCL 2023) was one of the first students to be awarded a Cothrom na Féinne scholarship through UCD Sutherland Opportunity supported by Mason Hayes & Curran. For Shane, the support of a scholarship was life-changing, giving him the motivation and financial stability to achieve his dream of graduating from university:

“It is impossible to summarise what a profound impact this scholarship has had. It has given me all the tools I needed to build a better future, and that is exactly what I did. UCD is built upon curious, intelligent, generous, and hardworking people and those who come from disadvantaged backgrounds are no less hardworking and curious.

I am living proof of the profound impact such support can have on a person’s life.”

Recipients of the Doreen Fitzgerald Caprani Masters Scholarship in Law, the James Healy Masters in Law Scholarship, and the Walsh Family Scholarship have received financial support for graduate studies. In 2024, the School launched the Paul Anthony McDermott Scholarship. The scholarship will enable a UCD law student progress to King’s Inns, and has been made possible thanks to the support of UCD law alumni and Paul Anthony McDermott’s former colleagues at the Law Library.

The Class of 2022 pictured in their final week in UCD Sutherland School of Law.

Shane Black.

UCD SUTHERLAND SCHOOL OF

FUNDING PIONEERING RESEARCH

Thanks to the establishment of the FitzPatrick Family Foundation Research Fund a range of empirical research projects in law and criminology have been conducted, while the McCann Fitzgerald Chair and lectureship in International Business Law strengthened the School’s research and teaching capacity. The UCD Newman Fellowship Programme awarded two prestigious two-year postdoctoral research fellowships, and the School is proud to include them in our research community. The fellowships are funded entirely by generous philanthropic donations from individuals and firms who are committed to pushing the boundaries of knowledge in their chosen discipline. They provide a unique opportunity for early-career researchers by giving them the freedom to be bold and ambitious in their work as they tackle some of our greatest societal challenges.

the 2020 launch of ‘Judges and Juries in

A FINAL WORD OF THANKS

We celebrate the significant achievements of UCD Sutherland School of Law over the past decade with a sense of heartfelt gratitude to the many alumni, philanthropic supporters, corporate sponsors and strategic partners whose generosity and vision have been at the core of our success. With your continued support, we are confident in facing the challenges of the future with integrity and intellectual rigour as we prepare new generations of law graduates to become leaders and global citizens of the 21st century.

Competitive markets remain central to the operation of liberal democracies throughout the world. In 2022 the Ronan Harty Newman Fellowship in New Frontiers of Competition Law was established to explore the extent to which competition laws need to be reconceptualised for current and future challenges. These challenges include new technologies, growing political interest in sustainable growth and changing geopolitical contexts – all of which require a reconsideration of the nature and goals of the institutions, rules and legal tests governing competitive markets. Łukasz Grzejdziak (2022) and Nikolaos Pitsos (2024) were the respective recipients of the Ronan Harty Newman Fellowship hosted by the Sutherland School of Law. We are delighted to welcome Saoirse Enright to the Law School in 2024 as she takes up her appointment as the Matheson Diversity in Law Newman Fellow . Funded by Matheson law firm, her interdisciplinary research project aims to explore researchbased evidence in the field of access to legal education for under-represented groups, and to identify hurdles experienced by those groups to remain in the legal profession. Saoirse will lead the development of current and new initiatives to improve access to law degrees and the profession more broadly.

At

Ireland: An Empirical Study’, funded by the FitzPatrick Family Foundation Research Fund, (L to R) John Lynch, Niamh Howlin, the then Chief Justice, Mr Justice Frank Clarke, Colette Barry and Mark Coen.

Colin Scott, Ruairi Quinn (then Minister for Education and Skills), Peter Sutherland and Hugh Brady (former President of UCD) at the official launch of the Sutherland School of Law in November 2013.

CELEBRATING 10 YEARS

KEY MOMENTS IN SUTHERLAND

The School continues to develop a culture of belonging which is all the more important following covid, with staff and students rising to the major challenges it posed, from bringing back students on exchange in China and Italy in March 2020 to moving all teaching and assessment online.

The buzz in the School is back now with lecture theatres full and the atrium a hive of activity. Significant achievements for the School in the last decade have included recognition of our commitment to gender equality through the Athena SWAN Bronze award (2022-26), the hosting of major conferences and our annual lecture, The John M Kelly Lecture.

Some major conferences in the Building (2014-2023)

International Society for Labour and Social Security Law XI European Regional Congress, 17-19 September 2014 Society of Legal Scholars Annual Conference 2017, 5 - 8 September 2017

11th North South Irish Criminology Conference, 6-7 September 2018

The European Research Network on Philanthropy (ERNOP) 10th international conference, 2-3 December 2021

21st International Online Dispute Resolution Forum, 3-5 May 2022 Public Law Conference, 6-8 July 2022

John M Kelly Lectures (2014-23)

2014 Mr Justice Albie Sachs

2015 Ms Ann Power Forde SC

2016 Mr Justice Donal O’Donnell

2017 Prof John Wylie

2018 Prof Gerry Whyte

2019 Prof Nicola Lacey

2020

2021

2022 Lord Jonathan Sumption

2023 Baroness Onora O’Neill

‘Justice, Memory & Art’

‘Diversity in Family Life’

‘International Aspects of the Constitution’

‘Adverse Possession - Still an Ailing Concept?’

‘On Lord Ellenborough’s Law of Humanity’

‘Populism and the Rule of Law’

None due to covid

None due to covid

‘The European Union and the Nation-state’

‘Philosophical views on judgement’

Walsh Lectures, in honour of Mr Justice Brian Walsh, 2016-2019

Mr Justice Nial Fennelly

Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan

Ms Justice Siofra O’Leary

Mr Justice Frank Clarke

‘The Judicial Legacy of the Hon Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman’

‘Children’s Rights and Views – Challenges Facing the Courts’

‘Balancing Rights in a Digital Age’

‘Words, Words, Words - Text and the Law’

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