Dr. Deirdre Ahern
Assistant Professor
School of Law
Room 2.11, House 39
Trinity College, Dublin 2
Tel: (01) 896 3018
Fax: (01) 677 0449
Email: dahern at tcd.ie
Areas of Interest
Company law, directors’ duties, corporate governance, commercial law, regulatory law, vulnerable adults and the law, older people and the law.
Biography
Professional Qualifications
Representations
Administrative Functions
Awards and Honours
Education Details
Employment Details
Memberships / Associations
Research Projects
Publications
Postgraduate Research Students
Links
Biography
Dr Deirdre Ahern lectures Company Law and Commercial Law. She previously practised as a commercial solicitor with A&L Goodbody and KPMG and was a member of the Law Society’s Business Law Committee. She is a member of the University’s Quality Committee and of the steering committee of the Trinity Consortium on Ageing.
Deirdre is a research associate with Trinity College’s Institute for International Integrational Studies (IIIS) and Social Policy and Ageing Research Centre (SPARC). She has acted as a consultant researcher and project manager to the Law Reform Commission on a number of projects and is Director of the Irish Corporate Law Forum.
Professional Qualifications
- Ph.D. Trinity College Dublin
- LL.B. Trinity College Dublin
- LL.M. (Commercial Law), Cambridge University
- Solicitor (Law Society of Ireland),
- Dip E-Commerce (Law Society of Ireland)
Representations
- Secretary, Irish Association of Law Teachers, 2009 - to date;
- Director of the Irish Corporate Law Forum, 2010;
- Member of the steering Committee of the Trinity Consortium on Ageing 2007 to date;
- Director of the Corporate and Commercial Law Research Group, Law School, Trinity College Dublin: 2005 to date;
- Member of the Quality Committee, TCD, 2009 -
- Member of the Law Society of Ireland's Business Law Committee, 2006 - 2009
- Member of the Law Reform Commission's Working Group on Vulnerable Adults and the Law: 2005 to 2006;
- Member of the Research Ethics Committee of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland's Faculty of Public Health Medicine: 2006 to 2007;
- Convenor of the Law School's Profile and Networking Group;
- Convenor of the Law School's Development Committee.
Administrative Functions
- College Tutor
- Convenor, Development Sub-Committee, 2007 - to date
- Member, LL.B. Sub-Committee, to date
- Member, LL.M. Sub-Committee, to date
- Member, Admissions Sub-Committee, to date
- Member, Strategy Sub-Committee, 2005
- Member, Law School Syllabus Sub-Committee, 2006-2007
Awards and Honours
D. Ahern, Directors’ Duties: Law and Practice (Round Hall, 2009) shortlisted for the Irish Association of Law Teachers Book Prize 2011
Research Projects
An Examination of the Shareholders' Right Directive
This project involved examining the legal and practical implications for Ireland of implementing the Shareholders' Rights Directive including issues such as proxy voting and the right of shareholders to ask questions
September 2009 - February 2010
The Legal Duties of Nominee Directors
This project focused on examining how the conflict of duties of nominee directors, based on the expectation that a nominee director would further their appointer's interest rather than those of the company, can be legally resolved
October - December 2009
Publications
Books
- D Ahern, Directors’ Duties: Law and Practice (Dublin: Round Hall, 2009, 700pp)
Book Chapters
- D Ahern “Healthcare Decisions: Recognising the Decision-Making capacity of Older People to Consent to and to Decline Treatment” in E. O’Dell, Older Peopler in Modern Ireland: Essays on Law and Policy (Dublin: First Law, 2006)
Journal Articles
- D. Ahern, “Directors’ Duties: Broadening the Focus Beyond Content to Examine the Accountability Spectrum” (forthcoming, special volume of the Dublin University Law Journal in honour of Mr Justice Ronan Keane).
- D. Ahern, "Legislating for the Duty on Directors to Avoid Conflict of Interest and Secret Profits: The Devil in the Detail, Irish Jurist, 46, 2011, p82-106.
- D. Ahern, “Guiding Principles for Directorial Conflicts of Interest: Re Allied Business and Financial Consultants Ltd; O’Donnell v Shanahan”, Modern Law Review, 74, 2011, p596-607.
- D. Ahern and K. Maher, "The Continuing Evolution of Proxy Representation, Journal of Business Law, 2, 2011, p125-143.
- D Ahern, “Nominee Directors’ Duty to Promote the Success of the Company: Commercial Pragmatism and Legal Orthodoxy” (2011) 127, Law Quarterly Review 118.
- D. Ahern, "Directors' Duties, Dry Ink and the Accessibility Agenda" (forthcoming, Law Quarterly Review)
- D. Ahern, “Irish Legislative Proposals for Clarification of Nominee Directors’ Best Interests Duty” (2010), 31 The Company Lawyer 291.
- D. Ahern, “Legislating for Directors’ Duty to Exercise Care, Skill and Diligence in Ireland: A Comparative Perspective” (2010) 8 International Company and Commercial Law Review 268.
- D. Ahern, “The Responsible Director in an Economic Downturn: Lessons from the Restriction Regime” (2009) 31 Dublin University Law Journal 183.
- D. Ahern, “The Formation of Insurance Contracts and the Duty of Insurers” (2009) 16(4) Commercial Law Practitioner 84.
- D. Ahern, “Hemat v The Medical Council: the Wouters Legacy Revisited” (2007) 6 European Competition Law Review 366.
- D. Ahern, M. Doyle and V. Timonen, “Regulating Home Care of Older People: the Inevitable Poor Relation?” (2007) 29 Dublin University Law Journal 374.
- D. Ahern, “Kenny v Ireland ROC Ltd: Commercial Agents – Not Negotiable?” (2006) 28 Dublin University Law Journal 296.
- D. Ahern, “Directors’ Compliance Statements under the Microscope” (2006) 13 Commercial Law Practitioner 137.
- D. Ahern, “Beware the Irish Commercial Agent” (2006) 56 New Law Journal 620.
- D. Ahern, “The Rule Against Shareholders’ Recovery of Reflective Loss” (2005) 112 Commercial Law Practitioner 163.
- D. Ahern, “The Domain Game – Introducing ‘dot eu’” (2004) 11 Commercial Law Practitioner 275.
- D. Ahern, “Unlimited Corporate Capacity – Plotting the Slow Demise of Ultra Vires” (2004) 11 Commercial Law Practitioner 27.
- D. Ahern, “Corporate Killing in Ireland – A New Paradigm” (2004) 22 Irish Law Times 235.
- D. Ahern, “Corporate Killing: The Way Forward?” (2003) 13(3) Irish Criminal Law Journal 10.
Reports
- Law Reform Commission, Consultation Paper: Legislation Directory: Towards a Best Practice Model (LRC 49-2008).
- Law Reform Commission, Report on Vulnerable Adults and the Law (with Orla Joyce) (LRC 83-2006).
- Law Reform Commission, Consultation Paper on Vulnerable Adults and the Law: Capacity (LRC37-2005).
- Law Reform Commission, Consultation Paper on Corporate Killing (LRC CP 26-2003) (with Brian Hutchinson).
Postgraduate Research Students
Mr Arthur Cunningham - Fraudulent Trading and Market Abuse: A Consideration of the Protection from Fraud Afforded To Shareholders and Creditors by Irish Company Law
Ms Sinead Eaton – Corporate Governance and Board Composition
Ms Deirdre Jennings – Corporate Governance and State-Owned Enterprises
Ms Esheza Paul-Itua – Corporate Social Responsibility
Mr Ed Shanahan - An Evaluation of Irish Insolvency Law with particular regard to the facilitation of companies as going concerns