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News and Announcements

Two NUI Galway Law School Professors nominated to the Council of State

Congratulations to Prof Gerard Quinn, Director of the Centre for Disability Law and Policy, and Mrs Justice Catherine McGuinness, adjunct Professor of Law, NUI Galway, who have been announced by President Michael D Higgins among his seven nominees to the Council of State.

The full list of the seven appointed members, who will sit on the council with former presidents, taoisigh and chief justices and ex officio members including the Taoiseach and Tánaiste, are: former Supreme Court judge Mrs Justice Catherine McGuinness, senior solicitor with Free Legal Advice Centres Michael Farrell; Prof Deirdre Heenan of the University of Ulster; Prof Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh, Professor Emeritus in History at NUI Galway; community activist and social entrepreneur Ruairí McKiernan; Irish emigrant rights campaigner Sally Mulready and Prof Gerard Quinn of the Centre for Disability Law and Policy at the NUI Galway School of Law.

Semester 2 Change of Mind Window

Current Students are reminded that the online registration will open for the Semester 2 change of mind window on Monday 16 January 2012 and close on Friday 3 February 2012 on the student registration page.

NUI Galway Law Professor Awarded Nation's Highest Academic Honour

Congratulations to Professor William Schabas on his achievement of being awarded The Royal Irish Academy Gold Medal in the Social Sciences for 2011. The Gold Medals acclaim Ireland’s foremost contributors to the world of learning and science and are recognised as a truly national expression of celebration for scholarly achievement. He was awarded the Royal Irish Academy Gold Medal last Friday, 16 December, at a ceremony in Dublin by the Minister for Education and Skills, Mr. Ruairi Quinn TD.

NUI Galway Law Lecturer Appointed to Legal Aid Board

NUI Galway law lecturer, Donncha O’Connell, has been appointed by the Minister for Justice and Equality, Alan Shatter, TD, to the new Legal Aid Board. Announcing the membership of the new Board yesterday, Mr Shatter said: “I am delighted to announce this new Legal Aid Board. In the last four years there has been a considerable increase in demand for legal services and this coincides with the downturn in the economy... I am confident that the new Board members will all bring their considerable skills and expertise to the work of the Legal Aid Board and that their presence on the Board will ensure that it continues to operate as innovatively, efficiently and effectively as it has always done, in what is, a much more difficult economic environment than at any time in its history.” The full statement is on NUI Galway's Press Office.

Leading Anti Child Slavery Campaigner to Speak at NUI Galway

James Kofi Annan was sold into slavery in Ghana when he was six years old. He comes to NUI Galway on Wednesday, 7 December, to share his story and continue his campaign against child slavery. He will deliver a public talk at 1pm at an event organised by the Irish Centre for Human Rights and the organisation Frontline Defenders. All are welcome to this free event at 1pm on Wednesday, 7 December, in the Huston School of Film at NUI Galway (opposite the Cathedral). Full information can be obtained from the NUI Galway Press Office.

Upcoming Conference on Ireland and the United Nations Framework for Business and Human Rights: Call for Papers

An upcoming one-day conference organized by the Irish Centre for Human Rights and the School of Law, NUI Galway, taking place on 24 March 2012 have issued a call for papers. This conference seeks to explore and analyse issues of law and policy for Ireland arising from the 2011 adoption by the United Nations of Professor John Ruggie’s framework for business and human rights. The framework emphasises a State’s duty to protect human rights, a corporate responsibility to respect human rights and the need to provide remedies to respond to violations of human rights by business.

Abstracts should be sent by 21 December 2011 to Dr Shane Darcy (shane.darcy@nuigalway.ie) and Dr Ciara Hackett (ciara.hackett@nuigalway.ie). Successful applicants will be informed in January 2012 of their acceptance to the conference. For further information and registration for the conference please contact: Hadeel Abu Hussein (h.abushussein1@nuigalway.ie)

Law School Team in Next Round of 'The Advocate'

Two 3rd B.Corp students, Emmet Creighton and Clare Corrigan, were one of the sixteen teams selected to take part in the McCann Fitzgerald All-Ireland Business Law Moot, “The Advocate”. They argued against a UCD team last Friday and have got through to the next round which will take place in February.

School of Law Essay Requirement

Registration for the School of Law Essay Requirement will shortly take place solely on Blackboard, not via the School of Law website. This system is fast, easy, and allows for greater transparency for students. Students' essay module will appear in the list of Blackboard courses list shortly. If it has not appeared by 5pm on Monday 14th November, please contact our technical support (michael.coyne@nuigalway.ie). This module contains 1) the full list of essay titles; 2) the School of Law essay requirements; 3) essay registration facility; 4) writing guides and 5) electronic submission facility.

Online Registration will begin at 9a.m Wednesday 23rd November 2011 and will close at 5pm Wednesday 30th November 2011. In order to ensure fair distribution of essays among lecturers, a cap has been placed on each set of subject titles so only a certain number of students will be able to register for any given subject.  The system works on a first come first served basis.

Conference on the Future of the Council at the French Senate

Pictured (right) at a conference organised by the Robert Schuman Foundation and the French parliamentary delegation to the Council of Europe which took place on 8 November 2011 in Paris at the French Senate: Jean-Paul Costa, President of the European Court of Human Rights and Dr. Laurent Pech of the NUI Galway School of Law, who discussed the normative impact of the Council of Europe's actions and future EU accession to the European Convention on Human Rights.

The conference coincided with the publication of a policy paper co-written by Dr. Pech and which offers the first exhaustive assessment of the EU-ECHR draft accession agreement. This is available here: http:// www.robert-schuman.eu/ question_europe.php?num=qe- 218

Moot Court Competition Results

Three teams from the School of Law participated in the National Moot Court Competition, which was held at the Criminal Courts of Justice, Dublin on Saturday, November 12th, 2011. Two teams made it to the semi-finals and received very positive feedback on their oral presentations and their written submission. The participants, who put in a tremendous amount of work, were:

• Michelle Murphy 3rd Bachelor of Civil Law,
• Sean Aherne 2nd Bachelor of Civil Law,
• Catherine (Kate) Corcoran 2nd Bachelor of Civil Law,
• Lisa Boyle 3rd Bachelor of Civil Law,
• Eamon Lyons 3rd LLB,
• Martin Feeney 3rd LLB,
• Jack Kelly 3rd LLB,
• Sean Mahon 2nd LLB and
• Eamon Barrett 3rd LLB.
  

Jennifer Dalton of the Law Society is also to be commended for her sterling work in promoting mooting on the part of students. Many thanks too to Ursula Connolly, Tom O'Malley, and Lughaidh Kerin who assisted the students with their submissions over the past number of weeks.

Success in the Law Category of the Undergraduate Awards of Ireland and Northern Ireland 2011

On 28 October 2011, Trevor Glavey (Bachelor of Corporate Law) was presented with a gold medal by the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese following his success in the Undergraduate Awards of Ireland and Northern Ireland for his essay on the enforcement of EU Competition Law and Respect for Human Rights. Dr. Laurent Pech was also acknowledged as the lecturer of the winning student in the Law category and received a certificate in recognition of the achievement. The Awards ceremony took lace in Dublin Castle. 

This year a total of over 2,381 undergraduate students submitted their essays and 11 NUIG students reached the shortlist in several categories, including two from the Law School: Conor Keane, whose essay on the “the Maxims of Equity” was supervised by Dr. Lucy-Ann Buckley, and Trevor Glavey. Trevor went on to be declared the overall winner of the Law Category to the great satisfaction of his lecturer, Dr. Laurent Pech, who decided to enter Trevor’s competition law essay, “Enforcement of EU Competition Law and Respect for Human Rights”, on his behalf after awarding him a first class honours.  

The Law panel chaired by Professor Brice Dickson (Queen’s University Belfast) was impressed by Trevor’s essay “primarily because of the clear and succinct way in which it is argued for reform of the law concerning the protection of the legal professional privilege”. The panel further noted with approval that in just 2,600 words, “the writer produced a tightly reasoned and stylishly written essay which packed a punch yet was firmly grounded in conventional legal analysis”.

Trevor highly recommends the Awards: “I highly recommend the Awards because they give undergraduates an opportunity to showcase their talents on an international stage, offering validation for their hard work in the process. Moreover, the Awards give undergraduates belief in their abilities and instill the confidence needed to enter the working world assured in the knowledge that they have something of real value to contribute.” Following his success, Trevor now intends to study abroad for a year and return to Ireland to pursue a career as a solicitor thereafter.

Sales Law Review Group Report Launch

The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD, recently announced a major overhaul of consumer law, including the enactment of a comprehensive Consumer Rights Act. The Minister was speaking as he launched the report of the Sales Law Review Group, established by his Department to make recommendations on reform of law in the area, of which Law School member Caterina Gardiner is a member.

For more information, see the full press release, or the copy of the Review Group report.

Marie Curie EU Doctoral Researchers Arrive

Three leading researchers hailing from Hungary and the United States touched down in Galway this month to begin their three year doctoral studies in a €3.7m European Union Marie Curie Initial Training Network funded, Disability Rights Expanding Accessible Markets (DREAM) programme, being led by the Centre for Disability Law and Policy at NUI Galway. The PhD students, Magdolna Birtha, Abigail Rekas and Anna Arstein- Kerslake are members of an international team of 14 researchers who will explore options for European disability law and policy reform in light of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006).

The Centre for Disability Law & Policy, NUIG, was awarded the grant to direct the Europe-wide network over the next 3 years. Partners in the network include several leading European universities ranging from Iceland to Spain. The students will also receive paid placement with leading NGOs such as the European Disability Forum in Brussels. The Centre Director, Professor Gerard Quinn, says, “The object of the network is to create the next generation of disability policy entrepreneurs at European level and to generate research that helps the process of implementation of the disability treaty. We look forward to working with the three new Marie Curie researchers to meet those aims”.

Pictured with President of NUI Galway, Dr Jim Browne are EU Marie Curie researchers Madgolna Birtha, Abigail Rekas and Anna Arstein-Kerslake.

It is understood that this is the single largest EU Framework 7 grant won by a research centre in an Irish Law School. For more information contact: Marie Kennedy, Centre for Disability, Law & Policy, National University of Ireland, Galway, 091 494011, email marie.kennedy@nuigalway.ie

Nairobi Law of the Sea Workshop

Dr. Ronán Long and Prof. Steve Smolinsky from the Pennsylvania Wharton School were faculty at the third United Nations – Nippon Foundation of Japan Fellowship Programme Alumni workshop from 11 to 16 July 2011 in Nairobi, Kenya. They assisted three members of the United Nations Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (Director Tarassenko, Ms. Onwuasoanya and Dr. Bailet) in delivering a range of lectures and moderating contributions on topics such as maritime boundary delimitation and delineation (methods, tools and negotiation), Article 76 and the Mauritius - Seychelles case, maritime security and piracy with a particular focus on the problems encountered by littoral States in the Indian Ocean, food security and ecosystem-based fisheries management, ocean governance (legal, political and institutional) and professional skills development (communications, leadership and teambuilding). The workshop was attended by 21 experts from 16 countries including Djibouti, Ghana, Kenya, Comoros, Tanzania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Madagascar, Namibia, Cameroon, Sao Tome and Principe, Congo-Brazzaville, Nigeria, Colombia and Syria. Read more: http://www.unfalumni.org/

Launch of Housing Law and Policy Book

A new book, 'Housing Law, Rights and Policy' by Dr Padraic Kenna was launched by the President of NUI Galway, Dr James J. Browne on 9 June 2011 in the President's Rooms, the Quadrangle Building, NUI Galway. Pictured (l-r) are Dr James J. Brown, and Dr. Padraic Kenna (author). The President's remarks can be read here.

The Irish State needs to defend its citizens rights to a home and protect them from the power of global financial corporations, according to NUI Galway’s Dr Padraic Kenna.
His new book, Housing Law, Rights and Policy, provides the first comprehensive reference and critique of the legal and policy elements of the Irish housing system. According to Dr Kenna: “There is an urgent need to re-evaluate what housing law and policy is actually about. Housing and mortgage law must be more than the means of repaying irresponsible loans from international financial corporations. It must be more than disparate pieces of legislation, cases, policy reports and media commentaries on the state of the market. Housing as a means of personal, social and community development must be given a legal status”.

Dr Kenna, added: “Today, we need a balance in our housing law and policy. Now might be the time for a new set of representative national organisations of mortgage consumers, social housing tenants, and those who require adequate and affordable housing at Irish and EU level. This new book from Dr Kenna, Housing Law, Rights and Policy, brings together for the first time all the legal and policy approaches which could inform a new paradigm in Irish housing. The book examines the development of the Irish housing system, including contemporary policy perspectives. It also outlines and evaluates the law, rights and policy in relation to older people, people with disabilities, homeless people, State housing finance, private mortgages, housing rights, planning, housing standards, building regulations, local authority housing, private rented housing, apartments, multi-unit developments and estates, housing associations and co-operatives, rural housing and EU housing related law.

Housing Law, Rights and Policy is published by Clarus Press and contains all relevant and up-to-date legislation, housing related case-law, government and other policy reports and human rights decisions. The housing elements of the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2009, Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 are examined. It is an essential reference for all lawyers, law-makers, public officials, politicians, academics, students, policy-makers and social policy analysts. It provides vital information for housing related professionals, such as planners, housing managers, estate agents, architects, engineers, surveyors and others.

Law School holds "Law, Technology and Governance" conference

The Law School hosted the "Law, Technology and Governance" conference on 30th May 2011, at which this year's LL.M. in Law, Technology and Governance class presented their thesis topic. The keynote speaker was Professor Robert Clark of UCD and issues dealt with included genetic discrimination in employment, the data protection rights of the deceased and self-produced child pornography. Staff and students from the Law School and elsewhere attended. The day was a great success, with very positive feedback from the audience.

Professor Kevin Boyle and his work: Saturday 11 June 2011

An international tripartite video-conference between the National University of Ireland Galway, Queen’s University Belfast, and the University of Essex, was held on at 10am on Saturday, 11 June 2011, in honour of the life and work of Professor Kevin Boyle. Please consult the poster and programme of the event, or visit the Irish Centre of Human Rights page for further information.

RIA Launch Law of the Sea Book

The  Tanáiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs launched  a new book on the Law of the Sea by Mahon Hayes,  former Ambassadorand Permanent Representative of Ireland to theUnited Nations.  The book is published by the RIA with the support of Marine Law and Ocean Policy Centre.  At a reception hosted by the President of Academy to mark the launch, there was a strong turn-out from the foreign diplomatic community in Dublin with fourteen embassies represented, the judiciary, the legal profession, as well as various government departments and state agencies.  

The book offers a remarkable insight in the role of the Irish delegation at the third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea which is described by US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger as "one of the most remarkable negotiations in diplomatic history". The contribution of former Taoiseach, Dr. Garret Fitzgerald, who had a long-standing interest in this area of law is well documented in this important treatise on the progressive development of contemporary international law.  A copy of the book has since been presented to H.E. Judge Hisashi Owada, President of the International Court of Justice, on the occasion of the visit by the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, to the Court.

Photo 1, left: Professor Luke Drury (President of RIA), Dr. Ronán Long (NUIG), the late Dr. Garret Fitzgerald, Mahon Hayes
 
Photo 2, right:  Mr. Justice Nicholas Kearns (President of the High Court), Dr. Ronán Long (NUIG), Mr. Eoin Fannon (Office of the attorney General),  Commodore Marke Mellett PhD (Flag Officer Naval Service)

NUI Galway Launches Pioneering International Disability Law Masters

NUI Galway has recently launched an LL.M in International and Comparative Disability Law and Policy, one of the first of its kind in the world.  The area of Disability Law Reform and Policy is experiencing significant growth, with the introduction of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which in turn has resulted in the development of disability strategies at international, regional and national level. The LL.M. will be provided in the Centre for Disability Law and Policy, a research centre of excellence in the School of Law, NUI Galway. The Centre is dedicated to producing research that informs the debate on national and international disability law reform and is committed to producing high quality research to contribute to that process. The Centre already has a lively cohort of PhD students who will mix and interact and enhance the learning experience of future LL.M. students.

Pictured at the launch of NUI Galway's new LL.M. in International and Comparative Disability Law and Policy were (seated l-r) the University's President Dr James J. Browne and the Programme Director Shivaun Quinlivan.  Also pictured (standing l-r) were NUI Galway's: Professor Liam O'Malley, Head of the School of Law; Professor Gerard Quinn, Director of the Centre for Disability Law and Policy, School of Law; and Professor Willie Golden, Dean of the College of Business, Public Policy and Law.
 
The LL.M. in International and Comparative Disability Law and Policy aims to have small classes to enrich the staff / student experience.  This builds on a long tradition of an open door policy to students developed and encouraged in the School of Law. Other positive aspects of the programme include the opportunity to participate in community-based learning with disability organisations at a local, national and international level, many of which have enjoyed a long relationship with the Centre.  
 
Professor Gerard Quinn, Director of the Centre for Disability Law and Policy, NUI Galway School of Law, says:  “We are very keen to encourage clinical legal education, so that the students gain practical and hands on experience, and disability organisations gain good legal knowledge. Our ethos is change.  This new programme aims to equip students not just with knowledge and insights but also with the skills and motivation to help transform the lives of the 650 million persons with disabilities in the world.”
 
Programme Director of the LL.M, Shivaun Quinlivan says: “What we offer potential students is top-class teaching in an exciting learning environment and excellent research resources. Our lecturers are leading experts in their fields, and aim to provide an innovative and exciting programme dealing with the process of law reform in the field of disability. The programme also places an emphasis on developing students personal research, practical and professional skills for an increasingly competitive environment.”
 
The LL.M in International and Comparative Disability Law and Policy is a one year programme, which runs from September to August.  Further information is accessible in the new brochure. People can apply through http://www.pac.ie/ (PAC Code: GYL11).

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