Catherine Donnelly

Since commencing practice, Catherine has experienced a broad range of public law and human rights work.  She acted for eight months as Principal Legal Adviser to the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, advising the Commission on its recommendations for a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland.  The recommendations were presented to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in December 2008.  The work involved advising on all areas of European and international human rights law, administrative law and constitutional law relating to both the content and the implementation of the Commission’s recommendations, and drafting those sections of the Commission’s final advice.   The work also entailed advising on precise formulations and wordings of the particular rights.  More generally, Catherine has advised both public and private sector clients, including NGOs, on a variety of human rights issues, and has advised on the Hong Kong Bill of Rights.  She has also appeared before the High Court of Ireland in a number of judicial review cases.

A large part of the advisory work Catherine has been doing in Northern Ireland over the past few years has involved international law, and she has advised on the interpretation of various conventions and treaties, and most particularly, international human rights instruments.  Catherine was appointed to carry out this work by the Northern Ireland Bill of Rights Forum, (to which she was a Legal Advisor from September 2007 to March 2008) and by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (Catherine was the principal legal advisor to the Commission on its Bill of Rights Advice from April 2008 until December 2008).

Catherine was instructed recently by an NGO in Northern Ireland to write an opinion on how the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement would be interpreted under international law and on the impact of international law on the domestic legal order.

In addition, Catherine teaches aspects of international law as part of a human rights course.

Catherine has appeared in a number of cases involving EU law before the High Court of Ireland, including for example, cases involving public procurement law, access to environmental information and planning in accordance with the requirements of EU law.

Catherine has experienced a number of trials in the Employment Tribunal.  She has appeared in cases involving unfair dismissal, wrongful dismissal, discrimination on grounds of sex and race, and whistleblowing.  She has also advised on domestic and European employment law obligations.

Awards:

• Start-Up Grant Competition, Trinity College, Dublin, 2007-2008
• University of Oxford Travel Award 2004
• Arts and Humanities Research Council Award 2001-2004
• Harvard Law School Fellowship 1998-1999
• Magdalen College Award for Excellent Performance in B.C.L. Examinations 1998
• Arts and Humanities Research Council Award 1997-1998
• Law School Award, Trinity College Dublin, for Distinctions in all Finals Examinations 1997
• Scholar of Trinity College Dublin (Attained Highest Mark in Law) 1995
• Butterworth Ireland Prize (Highest Mark in Law Examinations) 1994
• Trinity College Entrance Exhibitioner 1993

Other Information:

VAT registration number:  941200568

Publications / Conferences:

Books

• Delegation of Governmental Power to Private Parties: A Comparative Perspective (OUP, 2007)
• de Smith’s Judicial Review (Assistant Editor; Authors: Woolf, Jowell, le Sueur) (Sweet and Maxwell, 6th edn, 2007) 
• de Smith’s Judicial Review, First Supplement (Sweet and Maxwell, forthcoming, 2009)

Journal Articles

• “European Union Law Update - 2008” (2009) Irish Yearbook of International Law (forthcoming)
• “Remedies in Public Procurement Law in Ireland” (2009) Public Procurement Law Review 18
• “European Union Law Update - 2007” (2008) 2 Irish Yearbook of International Law 133
• “Leonard Cheshire Again and Beyond: Private Contractors, Contract and Section 6(3)(b) of the Human Rights Act” [2005] Public Law 785
• “Europe’s Area of Freedom, Security and Justice” [2005] Public Law 864 (Review)

Book Chapters

• “Article 234 in Social and Political Context” with Tom de la Mare in P Craig and G de Búrca (eds) The Evolution of EU Law (2nd edn, OUP, forthcoming, 2010)
• “A Public Law Analysis of International Investment Law” in T Wälde (ed) International Investment Law and Comparative Public Law (forthcoming, 2009)
• “Article 8” with Brian Kennelly and Tom de la Mare in Lord Lester of Herne Hill QC, Lord Pannick QC, Javan Herberg (eds) Human Rights Law and Practice (3rd edn) (LexisNexis, 2009)
• “The Privatisation of Governmental Functions” in O Doyle and E Carolan (eds) The Irish Constitution: Governance and Values (Thomson/Roundhall, 2008)
• “The Response of English Public Law to Private Actors in Public Governance” in M Ruffert (ed) The Public/Private Divide: Potential for Transformation (BIICL, 2009)
• “el Reino Unido” in F Caamaño (ed) El Gobierno y las Relaciones con las Cortes (Centro de Estudios Políticos y Constitucionales, Madrid, 2007)
• “Les rapports entre droit administratif fédéral et droits administratifs des Etats aux Etats-Unis: comparaison avec l’Union Européenne” in J Dutheil de la Rochère and JB Auby (eds) Droit Administratif Européen (Bruylant, Brussels, 2007)
• “Habeas Corpus” in B Lang (ed) Administrative Court: Practice and Procedure (Sweet and Maxwell, 2006)
• “Elections” in B Lang (ed) Administrative Court: Practice and Procedure (Sweet and Maxwell, 2006)

Reports

• Advice of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, A Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland, December 2008 (Drafted sections on supplementary nature of recommendations, international human rights standards, and implementation and enforcement), http://www.nihrc.org/dms/data/NIHRC/attachments/dd/files/51/A_Bill_of_Rights_for_Northern_Ireland_%28December_2008%29.pdf
• Final Report of the Preamble, Enforcement and Implementation Working Group, Northern Ireland Bill of Rights Forum, March 2008, www.billofrightsforum.org/pei_final_report.pdf
  Chapters 3 and 6, and Appendix 2, Northern Ireland Bill of Rights Forum Report, 31 March 2008, www.billofrightsforum.org/bill_of_rights_final.pdf

Papers/Conferences

• “An Update on Judicial Review in Ireland”, Trinity College Dublin, 27 June 2009
• “Article 234 in Social and Political Context” with Tom de la Mare, European University Institute, Florence, 19 April 2009
• “Damages Remedies in Public Procurement Law”, British Institute of International and Comparative Law, 13 March 2009
• “An Update on Judicial Review in the United Kingdom in 2008”, Northern Ireland Centre for Ethnic Minorities Annual Conference, 27 February 2009
• “Pursuing Secondary Policies in EC Public Procurement Law”, Trinity College Dublin, 16 February 2009
• “The Federalising Effect of Administrative Law in the EU and the US”, Centre for European Legal Studies, University of Cambridge, 21 January 2009
• ”Institutional Reform: With and Without Lisbon”, Irish Centre for European Law, 23 October 2008
• “Enforcing a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland”, Committee for the Administration of Justice Seminar, 30 September 2008
• “A British Bill of Rights and Devolution”, JUSTICE Seminar, 11 July 2008
• “Enforcing Bills of Rights”, Human Rights Consortium of Northern Ireland Conference, 2 July 2008
• “Remedies in Public Procurement”, Irish Centre for European Law, Conference on State Aid and Public Procurement, 26 May 2008
• “A Year in the Life of Judicial Review: Key Cases of 2007” with Professor Jeffrey Jowell QC, Sweet and Maxwell Judicial Review Conference, 30 November 2007
• “Secondary Policies and Public Procurement”, Irish Society for European Law, 29 October 2007
• Rapporteur “The Human Rights Council”, Annual Department of Foreign Affairs NGO Human Rights Forum, 19 June 2007
• “The Constitution at 70 and Privatisation of Governmental Functions”, Trinity College Dublin, 8 June 2007
• “The Response of English Public Law to Private Actors in Public Governance”, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, 4 May 2007
• “Governance in the Changing Ireland and the Law’s Response”, Irish Association of Law Teachers Annual Conference, 8 April 2006
• “Governance and Human Rights”, Society of Legal Scholars First Annual Ireland Seminar, 18 February 2006
• “Leonard Cheshire and Beyond: Is Contract Really a Substitute for the Human Rights Act?  Does it Matter?”, Society of Legal Scholars Annual Conference, 14 September 2004
• “Human Rights Controls on Delegates of Governmental Power”, Public Law Discussion Group, University of Oxford, 10 June 2004
• “The Thirteenth Amendment of the US Constitution and Diplomatic Immunity”, Davis Polk & Wardwell, New York, 12 June 2000
• “The Importance of Functionalism in Procedural Due Process: A Comparative Perspective” (1999) Harvard Law Library

Memberships:

• Constitutional and Administrative Law Bar Association
• Oxford Amnesty Lectures, Committee Member
• Irish Society for European Law
• Society of Legal Scholars
• Dörnberg Study Group
• American Bar Association