Biography

Alex Schuster BA LLB M Litt., Barrister-at-Law. Alex Schuster lectures on both the LL.B. and LL.M. programmes in the Law School. He has written widely on European Union Law, Consumer Law, Sports Law and Product Liability. In his capacity as a postgraduate supervisor, he is currently overseeing the work of four doctoral candidates involved in researching various regulatory aspects of European Union Business, Consumer, Competition and Energy law respectively

Alex Schuster was co-editor of the Dublin University Law Journal from 1982 to 1989. He also acted as Executive Director of the Irish Centre for European Law from 1991 through to 1997. The field of applied European Union Law is one of his main areas of research, and he is a Research Associate of the Institute for International Integration Studies in College and the Irish representative on the European Consumer Law Forum in Brussels.

Alex Schuster is also a practising barrister, specialising mainly in the legal areas in which he researches and lectures. He represented Ireland before the European Court of Justice in Case T-89/96, British Steel v. Commission [1999] European Court Reports II – 2089. He has also acted for the State in a number of cases involving the enforcement of European Union Law in the Sea Fisheries and Maritime sectors respectively. Also in a European context, he has represented the Irish salmon farming industry in large scale multi-party product liability litigation against British, Dutch and Norwegian feed manufacturers.

Alex Schuster was appointed to the Consumer Statute Revision Group in 2004 and – in the same year - to the Consumer Strategy Group, a body entrusted with re-structuring the framework for the enforcement of Consumer Law in Ireland. In the wake of its report entitled Make Consumers Count: A New Direction for Irish Consumers, he was subsequently appointed (in May 2006) as a Board Member of the newly established National Consumer Agency. He is also a Member of the International Academy of Consumer and Commercial Law (at Penn State Dickinson School of Law in the U.S.A.). His most recent research paper, on “The Interface between Competition Law and the Business of Sport”, is due for publication in the Penn State International Law Journal later this year.

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Professional Qualifications

Degree of Barrister-at-Law, The Honorable Society of King’s Inns, Dublin, 1978.

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Representations

• Ministerial Appointee to the Patent Agent Registration Board, 2008 to date
• Ministerial Appointee to the Trade Mark Agent Registration Board, 2008 to date
• Ministerial Appointee to the Advisory Forum on Financial Services Legislation, 2007 to date
• Ministerial Appointee to the National Consumer Agency, 2006 to date
• Ministerial Appointee to the Consumer Strategy Group, 2004-2005
• Panellist on “Eye on the Goods” and “The Spend ” two series on Consumer Law produced by RTE Radio in 2004 and 2005 respectively.
• Member, Consumer Statute Revision Group, 2004-2005
• External Examiner for the Qualified Lawyers Transfer Test, Law Society, 2004-2007
• External Examiner in European Union Law, Law Society of Ireland, 1994-2004

 

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Administrative Functions

• Member of the Student Counselling Committee 2007 to date
• Registrar of the Law School, 1995-1999
• College Tutor – 1980-1991
• Member of College Academic Appeals Committee 1981-1989
• Member of College/DIT Liaison Group 1980-1985

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Awards and Honours

• Foundation Scholar of Trinity College, 1976
• Benchers Trophy for Legal Debate (with Peter Charleton), 197

 

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Education Details

• B.A. (1978, University of Dublin)
• LL.B. (1978, University of Dublin)
• B.L. (1978, Honorable Society of King’s Inns)
• M. Litt. (1981, University of Dublin)

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Employment Details

• Lecturer, Professional Practice Course on Business Law, Law Society, 2005 to date
• Research Associate, Institute for International Integration Studies, Trinity College, 2004 to date
• Visiting Lecturer, John Marshall School of Law, Chicago, 2000
• Practising Barrister, 1995 to date
• Director, Irish Centre for European Law, 1991-1997
• Adjunct Professor, University of San Francisco, 1991
• Visiting Lecturer, University of New South Wales, Sydney, 1989-1990
• Visiting Lecturer, University College Dublin, Diploma Course on European Law, 1988 and Degree Course in Sports Management, 2003-2005
• Research Supervisor, Trinity College (at both Masters and Doctoral levels), 1983 to date
• Lecturer, University of Dublin, Trinity College, 1979 to date

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Postgraduate Research Students

Theses produced by postgraduate research students (supervised by Alex Schuster) in 2007 and 2008:

• Elaine Fahey (Ph.D., 2007) “The Irish Legal Order and Europe: The Unravelling Dynamic Since Accession”
• Peter Malone (M. Litt., 2008) “The Essential Facilities Doctrine under the EC Treaty and the US Sherman Act”
• Pierce Meagher (Ph.D., 2008) “Issues in Defective Medicinal Product Litigation”.

Publications

Monographs:

• Editor, Key Aspects of Irish Competition Law and Practice (Irish Centre for European Law, Dublin, 1994)
• Editor and Contributor, The New Product Liability Regime (Irish Centre for European Law, Dublin, 1992)
• Editor and Contributor, Product Liability (Irish Centre for European Law, Dublin, 1989)

Book:

• Sport and the Law (First Law, Hardback, Dublin 2004 – Paperback Edition in 2007 - with Neville Cox and Cathryn Costello)

Chapters in Books:

• Chapter 9 of the Consumer Strategy Group Report, Make Consumers Count: A New Direction for Irish Consumers (Dublin, 2005).
• Irish Report in European Consumer Law Group Publication, “A Compilation of National Reports – Consumer Policy Developments in 19 European Countries” (ECLG Brussels, 2005)
• Irish Report in M. Goyens (ed.) Directive 85/374/EEC on Product Liability: Ten Years After” (Louvain-la-Neuve, 1996)
• Ireland Report (with Karen Kenny) in The 1992 Challenge at National Level (eds., Jurgen Schwarze, Ulrich Becker and Christiana Pollak, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, Baden-Baden, 1993) at pp. 269-313.
• Chapter 9 (“Consumer Contracts”) of Doing Business in Ireland (Matthew Bender, New York, 1989 and 1991)
• Chapter 10 (“Product Liability”) of Doing Business in Ireland (Matthew Bender, New York, 1989 and 1991).

Articles

• “Proofs in Product Liability Cases: Some Aspects of Practice and Procedure in Burn Injuries Claims” (1999) 1 Practice and Procedure 60.
• “Review of Case-Law under Directive 85/374/EEC on Liability for Defective Products” (1998) 6 Consumer Law Journal, pp. 195-207
• “Comment on Commercial Communications in the Internal Market” (1996) 19 Journal of Consumer Policy pp. 505-510
• “The New Irish Product Liability Regime” (1995) 39 St. Louis University Law Journal, pp. 917-932
• “Consumer Law and Product Liability” (1994) 19 Journal of the Irish Pharmaceutical Union, pp. 313-318.
• “Government Monitored Codes of Practice in Ireland” (1984) 7 Journal of Consumer Policy, pp. 185-196
• “Contractual and Statutory Remedies for Misrepresentation” (with Professor Brenda Hannigan) (1982) 76 Gazette of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland 40
• “Retention of Title in the Commercial Laws of England and Ireland” (with Professor Jeremy Phillips) (1979-80) Dublin University Law Journal 1.

Reports

Alex Schuster has acted as rapporteur for Ireland in connection with several studies by the European Commission including an innovative report on Telematics (produced for the European Commission by a firm of London-based specialists in 1994), the Lovell’s Report on Product Liability in the European Union (published in London in 2003 for the European Commission), the Practical Guide to the Legal Aspects of Industrial Sub-Contracting in the European Community (produced by the Consumer Research Centre at the University of Louvain-la-Neuve and published by the European Commission in 1995), and the University of Leuven report on An Analysis and Evaluation of Alternative Means of Consumer Redress (A Report for DG SANCO first published on the Web in 2007)

Conference Papers (presented during the 2007-2008 Academic Year):

• “Proceedings, Remedies and Strategies under the Consumer Protection Act 2007: The Civil Perspective” CPD conference on the Consumer Protection Act organised by the Law Society on the 9th of October, 2007.
• “Product Liability Litigation: Recent Developments” (delivered at the Torts 2007: An Update on all the Recent Developments conference held in College on the 24th of November, 2007).
• “The Consumer Protection Act 2007: An Overview” (delivered at The Consumer Protection Act 2007 : Implications for Legal Practice conference held in College on Thursday, the 4th of December, 2007.
• “Recent Developments in Air Travel and Package Holiday Law” (delivered at The New Consumer Protection Regime, Product Liability and Aspects of Consumer Contracts conference organised by the Irish Centre for European Law at the Royal Irish Academy on the 14th of April, 2008.
• “The Interface between Competition Law and the Business of Sport” (delivered at the 13th Biennial Conference of the International Academy of Consumer and Commercial Law in Bamberg, Bavaria on the 31st of July, 2008).

Case/Legislation Notes:

• “Case-Note on O’Flynn v. Balkan Tours” (1997) 5 Consumer Law Journal CS5-CS6
• “European Consumer Law and its Incorporation into Ireland” (1996) 2 Bar Review 55
• “A Comment on the Commission Proposal for an Unfair Contract Terms Directive” (in Consumer Policy – The New EC Trading Environment edited by Jantien Findlater, Irish Centre for European Law, Dublin, 1991) pp. 53-56
• “EEC Law – Competition – Kerry not a Substantial Part of the Common Market (1981) Dublin University Law Journal 94

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Links

• Dublin University Law Journal
• Irish Centre for European Law
• Institute for International Integration Studies
• Case T-89/96, British Steel v. Commission [1999] European Court Reports II – 2089.
• Consumer Strategy Group,
• Make Consumers Count: A New Direction for Irish Consumers
• National Consumer Agency
• International Academy of Consumer and Commercial Law

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