Siobhán Phelan

Siobhán Phelan is an Irish lawyer who has been a High Court judge since December 2021. She formerly practised as a barrister and was the chair of the Free Legal Advice Centres.

The Hon. Ms. Justice
Siobhán Phelan
Judge of the High Court
Assumed office
6 December 2021
Nominated byGovernment of Ireland
Appointed byMichael D. Higgins
Personal details
NationalityIrish
Alma mater

Early life

Phelan studied law at Trinity College Dublin.[1] She studied at the Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas University as part of the Erasmus Programme.[2] She completed an LLM degree at the Institute of Comparative Law at McGill University’s Faculty of Law in 1994. Her thesis on the topic of legal aid was supervised by Roderick A. Macdonald.[3]

She was called to the Bar in 1995 and became a senior counsel in 2015.[1] Her practice encompassed judicial review, immigration law, competition law, constitutional law, the law of tort, environmental law, Garda compensation and equality law.[4]

She has acted for the Director of Public Prosecutions.[5] She represented the Green Party in unsuccessful action against RTÉ during the 2016 Irish general election and Green Party TD Patrick Costello's constitutional challenge regarding the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement in 2021.[6][7] The Health Service Executive appointed her and Conor Dignam to represent the unborn child in PP v. HSE in 2014.[8] She acted for Angela Kerins in her action against the Public Accounts Committee.[9] She advised the Olympic Council of Ireland during the 2016 Summer Olympics ticket scandal.[10] She was one of two writers of an amicus curiae submission to the High Court on behalf of the Irish Human Rights Commission for Marie Fleming's challenge to laws prohibiting assisted suicide.[11]

She was a director of the Free Legal Advice Centres from 1992 and was elected to replace Iseult O'Malley as its chair in 1997.[12] She was a winner of the People of the Year Awards in 2004 for her contribution to FLAC.[13]

Judicial career

The Irish government agreed to nominate her to become a judge of the High Court in November 2021.[14] She was appointed on 6 December 2021.[15]

References
  1. "Siobhan Phelan". Law Library. Archived from the original on 30 November 2021. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
  2. "Appointments to the High Court". www.gov.ie. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  3. Phelan, Siobhán (1994). "Legal Aid – The Master's Tool?". McGill University.
  5. "O'Brien lawyers seek stay on start of trial". The Irish Times. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
  6. Carolan, Mary. "High Court to hear Green Party's challenge to RTÉ on Thursday". The Irish Times. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
  7. Carolan, Mary. "Green Party TD seeks urgent hearing of CETA trade deal challenge". The Irish Times. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
  8. Baker, Noel; Managh, Ray (23 December 2014). "Unborn baby gets barrister for court battle". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  9. Carolan, Mary. "Angela Kerins was victim of 'PAC steamroller', counsel says". The Irish Times. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
  10. Bardon, Sarah. "Minister for Sport leaves Rio early to act on ticket affair". The Irish Times. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
  11. "OUTLINE SUBMISSIONS ON BEHALF OF THE IRISH HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION" (PDF). IHREC. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
  12. "FLAC elects new chairwoman". The Irish Times. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
  13. "ESB Rehab People of the Year Awards* | RTÉ Presspack". presspack.rte.ie. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
  14. Leahy, Pat. "Nominations of three new High Court judges to be sent to President". The Irish Times. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
  15. "Diary President Higgins Appoints Judges To The High Court December 2021". president.ie. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
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