Ms Sandra Murphy

PhD in Law candidate

B.A (Legal Science and Sociology and Politics), LL.B, LL.M, Solicitor.

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Biography

Sandra Murphy is a second year PhD student in the School of Law. Her research is entitled ‘A Comparative Analysis of the Reform and Modernisation of Land and Property Conveyancing Law’. Her research is funded by the Irish Research Council and NUIG Hardiman Research Scholarship fund and is supervised by Dr. Padraic Kenna. The research aims to conduct a comparative analysis of the reform and modernisation that has taken place in Irish land and conveyancing law and the Irish Land Registry system with the reform and modernisation that have taken place in other comparable common law jurisdictions with similar land registration systems. Sandra graduated from NUI Galway with an LL.M in Public Law in 2013 with first class honours. She received a B.A. in Legal Science and Sociology and Politics in 1988 and an LL.B in 1990, both from NUI Galway. She qualified as a solicitor in 1992 and has been in private legal practice since that time. She is currently a consultant solicitor in private practice in Co. Mayo. She is admitted to the Roll of Solicitors in England and Wales. She also holds a post- graduate Certificate in Learning, Teaching and Assessment from DIT.

Sandra is a member of the Law Society of Ireland Conveyancing Committee, the body responsible for monitoring and advising solicitors in best practice in conveyancing law. She has a keen interest in clinical legal education and the interaction between legal practice and academia. She is a member of the committee of Mayo Solicitors Bar Association and of the Irish Legal History Society.

Research

Research Interests

Her research interests are in land and property law, land law, conveyancing law, land registration, eConveyancing, comparative law and Irish legal history.

Her research projects have so far included Rights of Residences in Irish land law, Section 72 (overriding interests), land registration systems and eConveyancing.

Her role on the Conveyancing Committee Law Society has included research projects such as the revision of the Requisitions on Title an essential document used in the conveyancing process and the production of client care leaflets for conveyancing.

Research Projects

PhD Thesis

“A Comparative Analysis of the Reform and Modernisation of Land and Property Conveyancing Law”

Abstract

Conveyancing is essentially the process of transferring ownership or title of immovable property from one person to another. Ireland is currently undergoing a period of reform and modernisation of its system of conveyancing and land registration on an international and unprecedented scale. This reformation is been driven by various international initiatives and national government policy and has been primarily facilitated by the application of technological advances to what was heretofore a paper based system. This transformation of conveyancing is part of a wider move towards the values and technologies of the information age and the demands of globalisation towards shared and reusable knowledge in all sectors in the economy including the property market. The term 'eConveyancing' envisages paperless transactions through all stages of the conveyancing process from pre-sale to post completion of the transaction. It is essentially the electronification of the conveyancing process involving the application of Information Technology and dematerialisation of the process by the removal of paper. The purpose of her research is to critically assess the reform and modernisation of land and conveyancing law within the new prism offered by the move towards eConveyancing.

Research Publications

 Conference Paper

• “Free to be Human: the case against the current system of Wardship in Ireland”- Annual Society of Comparative Law Conference in May 2013.

LL.M Thesis

• “An Examination of eConveyancing: A comparison of the treatment of Overriding Interests in the context of eConveyancing: Ireland with England and Wales'

Teaching Areas

• Consumer Law
• Irish Land Law - guest lectures on land registration and eConveyancing