School of Law | News and Events

On July 6, the law school hosted a one-day workshop on 'Law and Gender in Modern Ireland: Critique and Reform'. 

On 15-16 June 2017, academics, lawyers and rights advocates from all over the world attended the annual conference of the Berkeley Comparative Equality and Anti-Discrimination Study Group at Trinity College Dublin.  The conference included keynote addresses by former president Mary Robinson and former Irish judge at the European Court of Human Rights Ann Power-Forde. 27 papers were presented by participants from 17 countries, including India, China, Australia, Canada and the USA. Themes examined included the impact of Brexit and the Trump administration on anti-discrimination laws; transgender equality rights; anti-discrimination and religious diversity; and the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Anti-Discrimination Study Group was formed in 2012 and it brings together a global network of academics, legal practitioners, and rights activists with an interest in law and equality:

https://www.law.berkeley.edu/research/berkeley-comparative-equality-anti-discrimination-law-study-group/

Edited by Ivana Bacik and Mary Rogan and published by Clarus Press Legal Cases that Changed Ireland was launched last night in the Samuel Beckett Theatre, Trinity College Dublin.  

This publication is a collection of papers and findings arising from a project, co-directed by Prof Ivana Bacik and Dr. Mary Rogan and funded by the Irish Research Council's 'Engaging Civic Society' stream of its New Foundations scheme.  The project's aim is to promote public debate, discussion and reflection on how law and social change interact in Ireland. This project, co-directed with Prof Ivana Bacik and Dr. Mary Rogan was funded by the Irish Research Council's 'Engaging Civic Society' stream of its New Foundations scheme, sought to promote public debate, discussion and reflection on how law and social change interact in Ireland. Additional funding was also secured from the Trinity College Dublin Equality Fund and Arts & Social Sciences Benefactions Fund.

2017 has already yielded a rich harvest of judgments from the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal and High Court.  The Supreme Court, as recently as June, handed down an important decision on the duty of care and negligent misstatement.  The Court of Appeal has addressed the RRR in assessing damages awards.  Significant judgments on occupiers’ liability, defamation and PIAB have also been delivered.  The issue of employers’ liability for bullying in the context of disciplinary proceedings has been addressed by the Supreme Court.

The Law School of Trinity College Dublin is organising a conference to consider all the recent developments on Saturday 15^th July, from 9:30 to 1 pm.  The conference will be chaired by the Hon. Mr. Justice Liam McKechnie of the Supreme Court.  The team of speakers have particular expertise in their chosen areas.

On Tuesday 13th of June a group of Trinity College LLM and LLB students, led by Dr Giuseppe Mazziotti, visited Google's Dublin office to meet and have an informal talk with Erin Simon, a legal counsel based in Google's Paris office, and  Ryan Meade, a public policy manager based in Dublin. The talk focused mostly on intellectual property and information technology issues, from both a political and legal perspective. Erin and Ryan placed special emphasis on the new challenges 'Digital Single Market' policies which are being developed in Europe, pose to Internet companies and how Google is reacting to judicial and extra-judicial initiatives aimed at enforcing subjective rights such as the right to be forgotten and copyright. It was a unique opportunities for TCD students to understand how Google handles its huge legal and policy work across multiple jurisdictions and how, in particular, the company seeks to preserve its values by influencing policy- and law-makers in Europe, North America and around the world. 

Trinity College Dublin's Law School to host inaugural conference of ICON-S British and Irish Chapter – September 2017.  

The Britain and Ireland Chapter of the International Society of Public Law  will host its inaugural conference in Trinity College Dublin in September 2017. The conference will bring scholars from the UK, Ireland and beyond together to discuss themes and trends in international and comparative constitutional law. Details of the conference and call for papers are available on the Chapter website: https://icon-sbi.org/2017-conference/

On June 11, Prof John Gilmer (School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Science), Prof Gerard McHugh (Trinity Business School) and Prof Neville Cox (School of Law and Dean of Graduate Studies) will cycle the wicklow 200 event (torture on wheels). They are doing this on a sponsored basis in order to raise funds for a PhD student in financial need.  If you would like to sponsor them please visit their fundraising site here.

Wednesday, June 14, 2017 - 17:30 to 20:00 - the Science Gallery, Piccar Theatre

State aid, national tax policies and the future of European integration in digital markets: the 2016 'Apple' decision and beyond 

The Law & Technology research group at the School of Law at TCD will host a roundtable discussion on the future of national tax policies in the high-tech sector. 

The roundtable discussion will be targeted at the general public and aims at explaining, in simple terms, why the European Commission ended up issuing a 13-billion Euro decision against Ireland for illegal tax benefits granted to Apple since 1991. The decision, against which an appeal is pending, is of utmost importance since it comes at a time when European institutions seem to be willing to consider certain national tax privileges as State aid. Experts will debate on the possible impact of the Apple case on the Irish and European economy and on the strategies of US tech giants, also with regard to so-called patent or 'knowledge' boxes (i.e. taxation on profits coming from intellectual property rights and the like). 

The discussion will help understand whether the current race to the bottom among EU countries to grant the best tax law treatment to high-tech companies still has a foreseeable future in light of the European Commission's plan to harmonize national tax laws for the creation of a proper 'Digital Single Market'.  Representatives of European institutions and of the Irish government have been invited to contribute to the event. 

Speakers: Federica Iorio (College of Europe Alumni Association),  Dr Emer Hunt (UCD, Sutherland School of Law), Diarmuid Rossa Phelan (TCD, School of Law)

Chairperson: Dr Giuseppe Mazziotti (TCD, School of Law, Law & Technology group)

Video of the event are available here

Photo Credit: Alejandro Amador

The McCann FitzGerald Company Law Essay prize 2017 was awarded this month to Hazel Bergin (Senior Sophister) with second prize to Tobias Gumpp (Visiting on Erasmus). In the picture with Hazel and Tobias at the Award Ceremony in McCann FitzGerald Dublin Office are Judith Lawless and Claire Lenny, partners in McCann FitzGerald and Professor Blanaid Clarke, McCann FitzGerald Chair in Corporate Law in Trinity College Dublin.

Title: ‘Challenges to the Rule of Law in 21st Century Ireland’

Date and time: Thursday, 27th April at 6:30 pm

Venue: in the Edmund Burke Theatre, Arts Building, Trinity College Dublin

To attend please see https://francesemoranlecture.eventbrite.ie or email lawevent@tcd.ie

Date and time: Thursday, 30 March, 2 - 3:30 pm

Venue: TRISS Seminar Room, 6th floor, Arts Building, Trinity College Dublin

To attend: If you would like to attend, please register on Eventbrite.
https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/private-law-discussion-group-seminar-tickets-33076334206

All are welcome, particularly those with a research interest in private law, Unjust Enrichment and Restitution.

Dr Niamh Connolly is a lecturer at University College London, where she moved from Trinity College Dublin in 2016. Her principal research and teaching interest is in unjust enrichment law. She is interested in how Irish private law compares to that of England and Wales, and in differences in legal culture that affect the substantive law in these jurisdictions. Her paper will seek to interpret the sparse Irish case law on unjust enrichment in light of this wider question about the specificity of Irish law. In particular, Niamh will ask whether Irish legal culture is less formalist than that of England and Wales, and if so, how that affects Irish restitution law. Niamh hopes that the seminar will provide an opportunity to hear the views of other Irish jurists as to the possible distinctiveness of Irish judicial approaches in private law.

The Private Law Discussion Group is a Research group of the TCD Law School, which invites collaboration and engagement nationally and internationally on private law, including property law, tort, contract, and unjust enrichment.

This milestone twentieth volume of the TCLR will be launched by the Hon Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne, Dr John Temple Lang and Mr. Brian O'Gorman.

Venue: The Long Room, Old Library 

With thanks to our patron, Arthur Cox