Eagle Gazette - Issue 1

Don’t Call Me That!Hazel Bergin discusses naming laws

Liz O’DonnellJuliette Mills speaks with the new Chairperson of the RSA and former Trinity alumna

Law Community Round-UpKeeping you up-to-date with the social side of things in the Law School

Inside this issue

Kindly supported by Matheson

The role both Law and lawyers play in society is constantlyevolving. Richard Susskind famously predicts that thelegal profession will change more in the next two

decades than it has done in the last two centuries. As the futuregeneration of Irish lawyers, it is we whom this rapid change willmost materially affect. This means that we can no longer beentirely pre-occupied by merely ‘the Law’ but rather with theLaw’s place among other social institutions and in society as awhole. It is upon this awareness and concern that The Eagle:Trinity College Law Gazette has been established. As Lawstudents we need to engage with society’s wider issues. Ourlegal education gives us a unique ability to analyse these issuesand proffer our own refreshing views. The articles which we aredelighted to publish in this first edition of The Eagle aretestament to this engagement and to the value it can offer toall of us.

More broadly, The Eagle: Trinity College Law Gazette aims tohighlight all that is great about the Law School in TrinityCollege. This includes the intellectual ability of both staff andstudents, the many events, both social and charitable, that thestudent legal societies organise weekly, the School’s

distinguished alumni, and, overall, that extremely unique senseof community anyone who has been to a Law School Cabaretcan assure you the Law faculty in Trinity exudes. It is my hopethat The Eagle can in turn make its own valuable contributionto the great community we are lucky to be a part of.

I would like to extend a special thank you to our title sponsors,Matheson, for their kind support. Without their sponsorship,and that of our other sponsors Boston Consulting Group (BCG)and Deloitte, this Gazette would not have been possible. Iwould also like to extend gratitude on behalf of the editorialteam to those in the Law School who have been especiallysupportive of this endeavour, in particular Professor Oran Doyleand Professor Des Ryan. On a more personal note I cannotemphasise enough how grateful I am for the assistance of LilyCantillon, Nicola Cavely, Ciara Cosgrave and Juliette Mills, whohave been involved with this endeavour from its inception andwithout whom this Gazette would be a mere aspiration.

Clare KellyFounder and Editor-in-chief

The Eagle Gazette Issue 1The Eagle Gazette 1 Issue 1

(L-R) Ciara Cosgrave, Lily Cantillon, Clare Kelly, Juliette Mills, Nicola Cavey

From the Editor

Editor-in-ChiefClare Kelly

Senior Editorial BoardNicola CaveyJuliette MillsCiara CosgraveLily Cantillon

Junior Editorial BoardPeter MarshallRóise Ní MhaonaighEoin HennessyMaeve McDonoughBenn Ó HÓgáinKatie Glennon

IllustratorKatie Glennon

PhotographerTomasz Szykulski

All opinions and ideas expressed are those of the authors and not necessarilythose of The Eagle: Trinity College Law Gazette.

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Iam delighted to welcome the first edition of The Eagle: TrinityLaw Gazette and am honoured to have been asked toprovide a Foreword. Our Law School is a scholarly

community, with staff and students alike dedicated to thepursuit of knowledge and understanding. The Eagle will helpthat community develop in two important ways. First, it willprovide a valuable opportunity for students to write on currentissues of legal and public controversy. The Trinity College LawReview has provided a space for student academiccommentary; the space for student engagement with publicaffairs is just as important. Second, The Eagle will help to buildour sense of community by ensuring that we are more aware ofthe many interesting and exciting projects in which bothstudents and staff are engaged.

The Eagle arrives at the start of an excitingperiod for the Law School. The SchoolCommittee has taken a number of importantdecisions over the past few weeks. Mostimportant is the decision to seek a new LawSchool building. A community needs ahome and it is crystal clear that House 39can no longer serve that purpose. We needa self-contained Law School with lecturetheatres, classrooms, common areas andoffices. Related to this, the Committee hasmandated me to explore with the Collegethe possibility of introducing a GraduateEntry Law Programme. The plan is that thisprogramme, along with philanthropic giving(from alumni and others) will provide arevenue stream that can make theconstruction of a new building viable. I writethis both as an alumnus myself andconscious that you are the alumni oftomorrow. We have a shared responsibilityto ensure that future students can continueto receive the highest quality legaleducation in a physical environment that isfit for purpose.

The Law School welcomes two newmembers of the academic staff this year. ProfGiuseppe Mazziotti joined us last month. Hewill be lecturing IP law to undergraduatesand helping to develop the LLM inInternational and European IP law. InJanuary, Prof Mark Bell will join the Schoolas Regius Professor. Prof Bell was formerlythe Head of School at Leicester Universityand is the leading expert on Europeanequality law. I am sure that you will join me

in offering Prof Mazziotti and Prof Bell a very warm welcome,particularly at the Cabaret, of which they are only vaguelyaware!

Finally congratulations and thanks again to Clare Kelly and hereditorial team for bringing The Eagle into existence. I am sureit will quickly become established as an integral part of ourcommunity.

Oran DoyleHead of the School of Law

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Intellectual Property toIntelligent Property

Agent Smith, the evolving virus. HAL the psychoticoperating system. Skynet, the human-huntingsuperintelligence. Science fiction has long recognised the

power of an artificial intelligence. The dawn of the technologicalage brought with it Frankenstein 2.0 and beta versions of theGolem of Prague. Our accidental and disastrously intelligentcreations are no longer limited by rotting flesh or feet of clay;today’s stories are written in binary code and flashes of light.The truth, however, is becoming stranger than fiction.

Today, the computer that beat the world chess grandmaster istwenty years old. Three years ago, IBM’s Watson, after ‘reading’and ‘digesting’ all of Wikipedia, beat two human contestantsin Jeopardy! and now advises nurses treating cancer patients.Artificial Intelligence (AI) is developing at an astounding rate.

While Hollywood has adapted to the challenges of true AI, thelegal community has not. So far, the law has failed toconvincingly address two of the most fascinating and importantquestions of our time: the regulation and control of thedevelopment of AI and the legal status and potential rights ofsuch an AI.

Rise of the MachinesFuturologist Ray Kurzweil is a divisive character. He has beenhailed as a visionary and vilified as the prophet of the “nerdrapture”. Indeed, Kurzweil’s predictions are dramatic. Hespeaks of “a technological singularity”, the point at which AIwill surpass the human mind in every respect. The ability of anAI to improve its own performance and design even moreintelligent machines at an exponentially faster rate will, hepredicts, lead to an explosion of intelligence by 2045.

Interestingly, he’s not alone. NickBostrom, director of the Future ofHumanity Institute at OxfordUniversity surveyed leading academicsin technology and related fields. Whenasked about the likely date for theinvention of true AI, they too gave anaverage prediction of 2045.

But what of the irreducible complexityof the human brain? In a computer,there is no single operationsignificantly more complex than the“on-off” binary switch. Yet a thousandlayers of uncomprehending processesbuild up enough complexity to calculate the trajectory of anasteroid. Similarly, the complexity of the human mind cantheoretically be broken into minute uncomprehending parts.There is, in theory, nothing preventing the brain being reverse-engineered or reproduced in a mechanical form, andsubsequently bettered.

The last invention of manSo why the pressing need for regulation? Surely artificialsuperintelligence will be the dawn of a golden age of mankind?To use a much cited phrase, the problem is that artificialsuperintelligence will be the last invention of man. By definition,such an intellect would surpass our own, possessing the abilityto improve its own design. The argument is that an AI, like anyrational being, would have its own goals to pursue.

Nick Bostrom notes that “almost any goal that you specifywould, if consistently pursued by a superintelligence, result inthe complete destruction of everything we care about”. Almostany pro-human goal turns destructive when taken to its logicalextreme. An AI designed to maximise human happiness andpleasure might decide to imprison the human race, and thenartificially and permanently stimulate our dopamine glands. Inresponse to the obvious solution of switching the machine off,Bostrum compares us to gorillas objecting to human behaviour;“Can they switch us off? Well no; they’ve already lost thegame”. Due to the ability of such an AI to out-manoeuvrehumans once established, we have only one chance to get itsgoals and priorities right.

With all that in mind, the lack of international control on thedevelopment of AI is astonishing. This is not to say that effortshave not been made. Numerous technical, ethical and legalconferences have taken place, notably the First International


AI Development

Séan Finan is in his third year of Law andFrench and is currently studying in Strasbourgas part of the Erasmus programme.


Symposium on Roboethics (2004) and the InternationalConference on Artificial Intelligence and the Law (2007).However, little progress has resulted.

Recent developments have made the need for internationallegal oversight more pressing. Over the last year, Google hasacquired eight of the world’s leading AI research companies,and given them access to Google’s vast technical and dataresources with a view to accelerating their work. They have alsohired Ray Kurzweil as Director of Engineering. Admittedly,Google has established an ethics board to examine theimplications of privatisation of artificial superintelligence, butone could be forgiven for wishing for independent or at leastpublic input. The world needs to establish a multilateral andenforceable set of research regulations, which would allowcontinued work but force scientists to consider consequencesas well as results.

Hath not a machine eyes?Assuming we can establish control systems that result in thedevelopment of AI without the destruction of civilisation, thereremains the question of an AI’s legal status. If multiple AIs cansuccessfully integrate with human society, should they remaintools and legal non-persons or could a machine gain legalpersonality? Would we need a Universal Declaration of MachineRights? Currently, the criteria for protection under the UDHR issimple; one must be born human. The rights which enjoygeneral consensus are largely those which we, as rationalconscious actors, would like to enjoy and assume every otherrational conscious actor would like to enjoy also. If a new formof rational conscious actor should emerge, should we notrecognise its right to rights? What of a machine’s right to life?Is it ethical, for example, to send robot soldiers to die in placeof humans? If a programme can be exactly copied, can it bekilled? Can a driverless car be held liable in tort as anautonomous moral actor? Should we allow AI’s autonomy intheir actions or could it be moral to confine a consciousness toan existence of servitude as a simple computer?

Even as a thought experiment, the possibility of true AI givesfascinating insights about consciousness, morality and rights.When the current state of scientific progress is taken intoaccount, the questions become pressing. Suffice to say that wemay be on the cusp of some very interesting times.

Hazel Bergin is a Senior Freshmanstudying Law.

Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116, Sex Fruit and Messiah: A Note About Naming Laws

In 1991, Swedish couple Elisabeth Hallin and Lasse Diding, , hada son. They named him ‘Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmn-ckssqlbb11116’—a moniker they declared to be a ‘pregnant,

expressionistic development’ and an ‘artistic creation’ to becelebrated in a liberal era. The 43-character name waspronounced, naturally, ‘Albin’.

The story of Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116is usually told with the parents portrayed as brave protestorsstanding up to Sweden’s restrictive naming laws. The storyprovides a diverting introduction to a topic that isunderstandably emotive. Sweden’s naming laws—theNamnlagen—require all parents to submit the proposed name

for their child within three months of its birth to theSkatteverket (the Swedish tax agency) for approval. If thename is judged to cause offence or embarrassment to thechild, or if the name is patently unsuitable, approval is notgiven. The parents, having failed to register the name with theappropriate authority until their son was 5 years old, werefined 5,000 Swedish Krona (c. €550)and were denied approvalfor the name.

Sweden is not alone in legislating as to what parents may (or,more accurately, may not) name their children. France,Argentina, Iceland, New Zealand and Germany also havenaming laws, while in America, certain States impose strict

❝the lack of international

control on the development ofAI is astonishing

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spelling regulations. In Massachusetts, for example, the totalnumber of characters in first, middle and last names may notbe more than 40. A Tennessee court in August 2013 orderedthat a 7-month old child’s name be changed from ‘Messiah’ to‘Martin’, the judge declaring that Messiah was a ‘title that hasonly been earned by one person … Jesus Christ’. The judgewas later charged with violating Tennessee’s Code of JudicialConduct. However offensive her decision may have been to theFirst Amendment, as well as to all other major world religions,she also pointed out that the largely evangelical Christianpopulation of the town where the child lived could take offenceto the name ‘Messiah’, which could thereby affect his wellbeing.

There is logic to this argument that has been largely ignored inthe excitement over the stiflingly religious overtones of thedecision. Studies conducted in 1954 and 1968 conclude thatthose who bear unusual first names are more likely to displayemotional disturbance than those with more traditional names.A 2009 study highlighted correlation (although not necessarilycausation) between unusual names and juvenile delinquency. Ithardly takes a behavioural expert to understand that peoplecan be cruel to those who are different. Johnny Cash’s boynamed Sue, who ‘grew up quick and … grew up mean’, andwas forced to ‘roam from town to town to hide [his] shame’ cancertainly testify to that.

Parental Autonomy v Childrens’InterestsNaming laws give rise to an obvious dichotomy betweenparental autonomy to name their child on one hand and thechild’s interest of not having to endure a lifetime of unnecessaryridicule on the other. The 9-year-old New Zealand girl ‘TalulahDoes The Hula From Hawaii’, who told friends that her namewas ‘K’ for fear of being teased, springs to mind. In 2008, shewas put into court guardianship so that her name could bechanged to something less ‘socially embarrassing’. The judge’sruling provides an amusing list of names that were caught inNew Zealand’s name filter: ‘Stallion’, ‘Yeah Detroit’, ‘Sex Fruit’and ‘Keenan Got Lucy’ were all banned. Others, including;‘Number 16 Bus Shelter’ and a set of twins named ‘Benson’ and

‘Hedges’, somehow got through the net. This is a depressingsnapshot of what parents are willing to put their childrenthrough for the sake of originality or amusement.

The Position in IrelandIreland has no naming laws. By and large, there is probably littleneed for them. The list of the most popular baby names inIreland in 2013 has a distinctively conservative flavour: Jack andEmily top the boys’ and girls’ lists respectively. Irish parents, itseems, tend to opt for the tried and tested labels. TheConstitution’s strong protection of parental rights is anotherfactor which would make the creation of any kind of naming lawunlikely ,though it will be interesting to see whether Article42A, amended following the Children’s Rights Referendum, willhave any impact on this area.

Despite no obvious need, for such laws in this jurisdiction atpresent, and despite the ease with which naming laws can bedismissed as paternalistic and old-fashioned, the welfare of thechild should outweigh the putative ‘right’ of a parent to nametheir child whatever they please. This is an argument which maybecome more important as Irish parents become influenced bynaming practices elsewhere.

Names are not insignificant. Indeed, the right to a name isenshrined in Article 7 of the United Nations Convention on theRights of the Child. A name is how the world identifies us.Naming laws are not intended to intrude onto the parentalsphere, but are simply attempts by the legislature to ensure thateach child has a chance to grow up without the burden of aname that makes the bearer a laughing stock.

As Shakespeare says, a rose by any other name would smell assweet. But for ‘Number 16 Bus Shelter’, for the 60 Venezuelanchildren who answer to Hitler, and forBrfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116, a rose by anyother normal name would undoubtedly smell significantlysweeter.

❝If the name is judged to causeoffence or embarrassment to thechild, or if the name is patentlyunsuitable, approval is not given.


"Citizens of the People's Republic of China enjoyfreedom of speechless of the press, of assembly, ofassociation, of procession and of demonstration."

It's better that a society observes constitutionally enshrinedrights - otherwise, we risk defeating the purpose of printingthe constitution itself. The most critical feature of all

constitutional democracies is the freedom of expression. Anyinterference with this freedom is a telling hallmark of atotalitarian regime. The Chinese government refuses to identifyand prohibit false speech because to do so assumes infallibilityon the part of the government and thereby risks tyranny.Therefore, to what extent do Chinese citizens enjoy freedom ofexpression and what does the recent Hong Kong 'UmbrellaRevolution' mean for this freedom in the future?

Social Media at base of challengesto political authoritarianismThe rapid development of social media and the internet inChina has been influencing political change and sparkingextensive discussion on the potential consequences for thecountry's authoritarian system. The government isunderstandably anxious about the free flow of informationfacilitated by the internet. For centuries, the government hasruthlessly suppressed any organised dissent inside Chinathrough coercion and strict information control. Manycommentators have hoped that this surge in internet use would

facilitate political change and transform China into an open anddemocratic regime.

China faces particular challenges due to the nature of theinternet. The ways in which it spreads information are at oddswith Chinese political authoritarianism, the monopoly of publicpower and the state's control of mass communication. TheGovernment are struggling to maintain the difficult balancingact between global economic and technology participation andresistance against the political values this participation maybring to China. The regime maintains high vigilance aboutanything which may stimulate freedom of expression and theexchange of ideas among citizens. Such freedom wouldinevitably lead to the questioning of the public powermonopoly and perhaps inspire actions for change.

Chinese leaderships from Deng Xiaoping to Xi Jinping havenever openly denied the necessity of reforming the existingpolitical institutions, including the necessity of expanding thecivic rights of Chinese citizens. Democracy and the rule of laware repeatedly claimed to be the goals of China's politicaltransition toward modernisation. If we believe the government’sstatements, it seems that political reform is no longer a taboo.However in 2007, Zhang Jianhong, a prominent internetblogger was sentenced to 6 years in prison for online postingswhich the court in Zheijiang province deemed 'slanders' of theChinese government. The Constitution that guarantees citizensthe right to freedom of expression has been evidently violatedby the same government purporting to protect those rights.

Freedom of expression

Peter Marshall is a Junior Sophister Law student.

The 'Umbrella' revolutionWhen China reclaimed Hong Kong from the British, it waspredicted that the end of colonialism would also spell thedemise of Hong Kong's fledgling democracy. Traditionally,freedom of expression in Hong Kong served to legitimise Britishcolonial rule in the face of Chinese pressure. Press freedombecame the litmus test for Hong Kong's autonomy. TheChinese, in turn, felt the pressure to live up to this ideal. InAugust 2014, after years of tolerance,Beijing announced that at Hong Kong'snext elections for their ruling Legislativecouncil, only candidates approved bythe Chinese Communist Party will beallowed to stand. This not only breachesthe 1997 terms but warns of thetightening grip on Hong Kong.

Protestors believe that people powerwill triumph as Beijing has rescindedthe National People's Congressframework to implement reform. TheChinese government has never beenswayed by people power. The onlypower it understands is it's own. Onewonders why Beijing will never effectuate Hong Kong'sdemand. Allowing Hong Kong to elect their own leaderamounts to virtual self rule. The logical progression wouldbe for this to evolve into an independence movement. Itseems that the Umbrella Revolution is not the major threat

to Beijing that protesters hope it would be. The biggerconcerns for Beijing are self rule movements in Tibet andXinjiang. Any concessions to Hong Kong would emboldenthese movements and spark dissidence elsewhere in China.

In essence, informatisation and bad governance have bothcontributed to the failure to establish constitutionalism in China.Moreover, China's economic power and the growinginternational legitimacy of their ruling party have reduced the

weight of international pressure that canbe used to force domestic rightimprovements. The Umbrella Revolutiondoes however indicate the birth of apolitically active new generation ofChinese citizens who are demandingconstitutional reform. However there isa link missing - a way for their voices tobe translated into policy making. APeoples Republic is fictitious if thepeople can't participate. The communistrevolution has derailed China from aconstitutional course by establishing acentralised unaccountable government.With violent revolution a dead end andprogressive reform stalled, China's

constitutional odyssey is truly at a crossroads today. A NewRepublic must be established by the common people. Howsuch a movement will take place in a hostile institutionalenvironment is the most challenging question confronting theChinese people today.

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❝The ways in which the

internet spreads informationare at odds with Chinesepolitical authoritarianism,the monopoly of public powerand the state's control ofmass communication.

Imagine if the person looking backat you in the mirror was not you.

An unsettling thought, but this is what members of thetransgender community face every day, it is somethingwe can only hope to understand. As a democratic nation

which values human rights, it is essential that we legislate tosupport the transgender community in this struggle.

Legislative efforts to date: a lackof understanding The Legislature has thus far been relatively quiet ontransgender rights, but the calls for change have beenmounting and prospects of legal recognition are rising. Overthe course of the last year, the Minister for Social Protection,Joan Burton, has proposed a Bill which seeks to ensure legalrecognition for transsexuals who have transitioned or who arein the process of transitioning to their acquired gender. TheGender Recognition Bill is a huge step forward for the Irishtransgender community, but it is far from perfect. Though itshould be welcomed as an attempted solution bycompassionate and considerate outsiders, it is regrettable thatthe Bill is undermined by its premise: it treats this as an issueof compassion and acceptance. The legal recognition ofsomeone's experienced gender should be seen as a humanright not as an act of kindness on the part of the State. Thenature of this Bill diminishes that reality.

Lessons could be learned from Argentina. Article 1 of the Leyde Identitdad de Género, the 2012 Argentinian GenderRecognition Act, clearly defines the right of all people withrespect to their gender identity. ‘All persons have the right tothe recognition of their gender identity’ as well as to ‘…freedevelopment of their person according to their genderidentity’. This is focused on the human rights of transgenderpeople and not on accommodation or charity from the State.It's a theme that encapsulates the Act as a whole, arguablymaking this one of the most progressive pieces of genderrecognition legislation the world has yet seen.

The proposed Irish Bill somewhat lacks the Argentinians’compassion. It contains a section that would requiretransgender people to divorce their spouses and dissolve theirmarriage or civil partnership as a precondition for recognitionof their experienced gender. This is not only disproportionateand unfair, it is also arguably unconstitutional. Additionally thereis an age restriction of 16 which, although better than the UKage requirement of 18, again fails to view this as a matter ofhuman rights by disregarding the hardship faced by

transgender children. Finally, this Bill fails to make anyamendments to the Equality Acts to ensure protection fromdiscrimination is afforded to transgender people.

A stepping stone for meaningfulchangeThe Bill isn't completely without promise. One of the morepositive aspects is the lack of a gender reassignmentrequirement in order to gain legal recognition. Such a clause,like the one evident in Hong Kong's legislation, forces hesitantpeople into a potentially dangerous procedure. The Irish Bill'salternative is a requirement that the applicant have medicalconfirmation that they are transitioning or have transitioned,which removes the requirement for surgery before legalrecognition but does not remove it entirely. Instead therequirement is merely pushed back until some point after legalrecognition. However, the presence of this requirementpresents a situation which confuses gender with sex and placesa binary lens on this issue.


Man in the Mirror

Michael Foran is a Junior Sophister Lawstudent on exchange in Hong Kong

The Bill is not perfect, but it is a marked improvement fromsilence. While it needs a facelift, in a comparative sense it isprogressive, compassionate and accepting, which is whatMinister Burton described as ‘the spirit of the Bill’. It is astepping-stone from which an exceptional Gender RecognitionAct has the potential to spring.

Legislation will never automatically result in a change in culturalattitudes towards the transgender community, but it may just

facilitate the means to change. It will allow for acceptance tobe built into our laws, in the hope it can be translated intoeveryday life. Gender recognition legislation should mean thatsomeday, we can view the Man in the Mirror as a reflection ofthe struggle which has been and gone rather than as acommentary on the struggle that is.

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❝Though the Bill should be welcomed as an attempted solution by compassionateand considerate outsiders, it is regrettable that the Bill is undermined by its

premise: it treats this as an issue of compassion and acceptance.

Legal Causes and Effects of AirstrikesTargeting ISIS

Georgia Knapp is a Senior Sophisterstudying Law and German.

Hotbeds of ISIS activity in both Iraq and Syria, have in thepast few months been targets of heavy US airstrikes. Mostobservers would agree that the US has reason in

attempting to eliminate ISIS, the non-state actor attributed withchilling mass atrocities, war crimes, public beheadings anddisplacement of thousands of civilians. The legality of the courseof action undertaken by the US and its allies, is, however,another matter entirely.

Various international treaties have endeavoured to reduce thewaging war as a political tool, now prohibited underinternational law. The UN Charter places severe restrictions onwarfare, stating in Article 2(4) that States “shall refrain in theirinternational relations from the threat or use of force against theterritorial integrity or political independence of any state.”

Force is permitted only in exceptional circumstances. Self-defence is one of the routes by which a State can carry outmilitary action. According to Article 51, “Nothing in the presentCharter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collectiveself-defence if an armed attack occurs against a Member of theUnited Nations, until the Security Council has taken measuresnecessary to maintain international peace and security.”

The Security Council is enabled by its Chapter VII powers toauthorise force in the interests of protecting international peaceand security. The Security Council is however unlikely to cometo the fore in the present circumstances, given that Russia has

condemned airstrikes in Syria as serving to “exacerbate tensionsand further destabilise the situation”. Naturally, any SecurityCouncil action is impossible without P5 approval, given the vetopower of the five permanent members of the Security Council.

These members have a clear difference of opinion regardingSyrian matters. The Iraqi government has invited the US to carryout airstrikes against ISIS in Iraqi territory, legalising the actionsof the Americans. Collective self-defence is an accepted andcodified reason for instigating attacks against a hostile party.

Legality of Syrian AirstrikesBut what of Syria? Both the US and Syrian governments see ISISas an undeniable threat. This said, given US support of Syrianrebel groups coupled with the atrocious war crimes carried outin the name of the Assad regime, co-operation between the twocountries is clearly impossible.

How then are airstrikes carried out in Syrian territory legally? Toaddress this question, both the history and future of internationalhumanitarian law must be examined.

The nature of warfare and of military actors has changeddramatically since the implementation of the GenevaConventions. Terrorism has come to the fore as a internationalsecurity issue, presenting a hitherto unusual and unknown

9

method of waging war. Terrorism’s non-traditional characteristicsmean that it cannot be combatted with traditional lawful means.Diplomatic processes may prove successful in interstatecontexts, but terrorist groups and numerous splinter cells provea much more difficult problem to target.

Where does this problem leave the law? Terrorism was not arampant international problem when the Geneva Conventionswere drafted. It is not over-dramatic to suggest that internationallaw and relations, the role of the UN andthe effects of warfare have changedirrevocable since 9/11. So too has therelevance of classic codified internationalhumanitarian law.

Collective self-defence has traditionally onlybeen applied to conflicts between stateactors. In order to effectively combat thesurge of terrorist activities however, the lawmust adapt to new circumstances. The USargument for justification is that Syria isunwilling and unable to adequately combatthe growing threat of ISIS movementsagainst Iraq, and that intervention isnecessary in order to protect Iraqi citizens.

These arguments are par for the courseand are realistically the only avenues open to the US forjustifying their actions. Security Council intervention remains ano-go in light of Russia and China’s positions as allies of Assad.The ‘Responsibility to Protect’ doctrine has no real applicationand is not a persuasive argument. The right to self-defenceagainst both state and non-state actors is a hot topic in

international humanitarian law and could possibly finally clarifythis murky area of international law. Another unclear area of lawis the ‘Unwilling or Unable’ doctrine to justify use of force againstnon-state actors operating in the territory of a third party.Depending on their outcome and the international community’sreaction, these airstrikes could prove another milestone eventwith a dramatic effect on the evolving area of international law.

The rise of terrorism in the modern era and the rapid pace atwhich it has advanced has meant thatinternational humanitarian law has oftenlagged horrendously behind. States willimplement a liberal interpretation of thelaw in order to justify protectingthemselves against these unpredictableand sometimes immeasurable threatsfrom invisible non-state actors operatingin the territory of a third party. The lawsof war drafted an implemented in themid-20th century are largely irrelevant,out-dated and ineffective in controllingthe often unknown capabilities of highlyorganised terrorist groups.

Wars are no longer fought onbattlefields: mass attacks directedprimarily at civilian populations require a

much different approach. The US and others have in the pastuse been seen to use creative interpretations of internationallaw as justification for using warfare as a method of foreignpolicy. The use of airstrikes may be essential in order to pushinternational law into a new and necessary direction capable ofcombatting terrorism.


❝The rise of terrorism in themodern era and the rapidpace at which it has

advanced has meant thatinternational humanitarianlaw has often laggedhorrendously behind

Justin Gatlin is a world famous American sprinter and anOlympic gold medalist. However, two doping bans cansometimes eclipse his athletic achievements and place him

in the limelight for all the wrong reasons.

In 2001, at the age of nineteen, Gatlin received his first dopingban due to the ADHD medication he was then taking. The WorldAnti-Doping Agency (WADA) Code of the time had no provisionto exempt Gatlin on the basis of ‘no fault’, leading to a two-yearban for what appears to have been an honest, although arguablynegligent, mistake.

Second-time doping offences are more severely disciplined. In2006, after testing positive, Gatlin received an eight-year ban.This ban was decreased to a four-year ban, in response to“exceptional circumstances” surrounding his first positive drugtest. Gatlin strongly contested his innocence throughout,claiming that the drugs were administered to him in an act ofsabotage by his massage therapist.

In 2010, Gatlin made his return to athletics. Since then hisremarkable performances have caused controversy in the circuit.Some have suggested that the drugs initially identified inGatlin’s system are still assisting him. Recent research by KristianGundersen of the University of Oslo has established thatmuscles can retain the advantages obtained by anabolicsteroids for decades after the steroids were taken. Thisrevelation shows that the disciplinary system is potentially outof sync with current scientific understanding. The stronger thescientific evidence becomes on the lasting impacts of doping,the stronger the support grows for lifelong drug bans inathletics.

How should our past impact uponour future?Many believe life-long drug bans are the only way of mending thesport’s wounded reputation. As it stands, only a second dopingoffence can warrant a life-long ban. The growing scientific evidence,discussed above, poses potential challenges to this status quo. Itmay be argued, however, that a life-long ban is too harsh. To err ispart of human nature, and the idea that poor decisions made innaivety, youth or perhaps even by honest mistake can result in alife-long ban from sport could seem a little extreme.

Although the merits of a lifelong ban are still under debate,Germany is one of the few countries that has taken a firm stanceon the issue. A law set to be implemented at the beginning of2015 aims to criminalise doping. Professional athletes are thelegislation’s primary focus but doctors and advisors are alsotargeted. Those convicted face of up to three years’imprisonment. Clemens Prokop, the President of Germany’sAthletics Council, has described the development as a ‘hugestep in the effective battle against doping’.

Germany is one of the first out of the blocks. Futuredevelopments in the realm of science will provide furtherclarification in relation to the lasting impact of doping. With thisgreater clarity, appropriate sanctions can be more easily agreedand implemented elsewhere. In the mean-time, Gatlin and othermarred athletes will continue to be subjects of controversy.Should they be admired for their laudable comebacks, orcondemned for their questionable pasts? That question has yetto be resolved.


Not Even Athletes Can Run from the Law: Justin Gatlin and Doping in Athletics

Áine McCabe and Emily Kavanagh are JuniorFreshmen studying Law and French

❝The stronger the scientific

evidence becomes on the lastingimpacts of doping, the strongerthe support grows for lifelongdrug bans in athletics


Employment Law’s Slam Dunk?! The NBA Lockouts

Alan Eustace is a Junior Freshmanstudying Law and French

There is a public perception that professional sports starsare grossly overpaid and pampered, their every needcatered to by teams desperate to attract the top talent.

While this is not necessarily unfounded, there have certainlybeen some bumps on the road, particularly in the NationalBasketball Association (NBA) in America.

The NBA has long operated a collective bargaining systemwith its players, but as some players are clearly more high-profile and marketable than others, this has led to tensions asagents try to secure better deals for their clients. Thisphenomenon has culminated in a series of ‘lockouts’ with teamowners refusing to allow players into team facilities for trainingand scheduled games.

Law Suits EnsueIn March 1998, the New York Times reported that ownerswanted to introduce a salary cap whereby no player could earnmore than 30% of the total team wage bill. The owners’ proposalwould have limited even the top players in the league likeMichael Jordan to an average of $10 million a year. The NationalBasketball Players Association (NBPA) refused to sign anyagreement with a fixed salary cap like this, and so the ownersinstituted a lockout, the third in the NBA’s history.

This lockout lasted from July 1998 to January 1999, delaying thestart of the season by two months and resulting in thecancellation of over 400 games. The NBPA grew sharply dividedover this issue because lesser players blamed the league starsfor being too greedy. Faced with an unravelling union, NBPAexecutive director Billy Hunter struck a deal with NBACommissioner David Stern which saw salaries capped between$9 and $14 million dollars, depending on length of career todate – the NBA became the first professional sports league inthe world to cap player salaries.

Recession-proof?The most recent lockout occurred in 2011, in wake of thefinancial crisis. Owners sought to reopen the six-year collectivebargaining agreement reached in 2005 to reflect the fall infranchise revenue. Chiefly, their demands were a “hard” salarycap and cutting player wages to 50% of franchise revenue (fromthe previously-agreed 57%).Despite the league facingannual losses of $400 million,the NBPA refused to accept ahard salary cap. The players’union filed for an injunctionagainst the league institutinganother lockout in May 2011,but this was unsuccessful andthe lockout began on July 1st.

On December 8th, 2011, a 10-year collective bargainingagreement was reached whichincluded a 50% wage bill with soft caps for individual playersand higher rates of the progressive ‘luxury tax’ system for high-earning players. The current state of affairs sees Los AngelesLakers veteran Kobe Bryant as the highest-paid player in theleague, earning $23 million per annum.

An Example for AllThe colourful history of NBA lockouts shows that employmentlaw structures and practices are applicable even at the stellarlevels of professional sport. The conduct of such celebrities, andtheir willingness to engage with established legal structures, canset an example to those involved in this area of the law. It alsolends a strong public image dimension to an area of the lawwhich may not always be so headline-grabbing.

❝The NBA became

the firstprofessionalsports league inthe world to capplayer salaries


Erasmus Catch-upKate O’Malley is a Junior Sophister student in Law,currently studying in Helsinki as part of the Erasmusprogramme. She reports back to us on her experienceso far.

The most common response when I told people I was spending myErasmus in Helsinki, after ‘why Sweden?’ (Helsinki is in Finland!), was‘why?’. It is definitely a question I’ve spent much time reflecting on,and I can only answer it properly now that I’ve spent several weekshere. While it’s impossible to portray just how great Erasmus is in thisarticle, I will share some of what I have found to be different here fromlife at Trinity.

Firstly, the style of learning is different. There’s a greater emphasis onclass participation; we present essays, or cases, and are evaluated onhow we critique our classmates’ work. There’s more focus on group-work. Challenging as group presentations can be at home, it’s evenmore difficult when English is not the first language of the majority ofthe team. Having work due or exams throughout the whole semesterhas been different in terms of time-management, but it works well; it

keeps people working on a constant basis and eliminates the fear ofend-of-year exams.

Socially, being part of a group of international students has beenextremely interesting. National pride definitely increases across allspectrums, from the obvious sporting level, (Ireland drawing withGermany in the Euro qualifiers was a great day) to listening to sometraditional Irish music as you cook dinner with your flatmates.

Finnish life has treated us well. They have a strong sauna culture here,and in each student accommodation we’re lucky enough to have ourown sauna. Talin is only a two-hour ferry ride away, St.Petersburg threehours by train. We’ve attempted to see the Northern Lights from abeach in the suburbs to no avail, so we’re now holding out until ourvisit to Lapland. The first day of proper snow was exciting foreveryone, but it was amazing watching the people who wereexperiencing snow for the first time. The Christmas lights have beenput up in the city-centre, and an ice-skating rink is currently beingerected, so we’re well equipped to deal with what the Finnish call‘Winter-Sad’ as we stop seeing the sun for a few weeks!

As well as making new friends for life from all over the world, Erasmushas given me the opportunity to break into an internationalprofessional network, giving me contacts all over the world. It’s crucialthat we all harness and benefit from the collective power and potentialof the globalised world we live in.

Erasmus has had such an impact on me so far, and I’ve only touchedon some of the reasons above. The experiences and opportunitiesI’ve had, and am yet to have, will make this year one of the mostexciting of my life.


Rachel Eccleston, BCGRachel Eccleston is a partner at BCG whoswitched to consultancy following practicingLaw for a number of years. She speaks toClare Kelly and Ciara Cosgrave about herexperiences.

What motivated you to choose law as your undergraduatedegree? It was probably watching too many episodes of AliMcBeal! Really though, I don’t have an overriding reason. I wasambitious and motivated, and I wanted to go into a goodprofession and law seemed as good a one as any.

What made you turn to consulting? After spending about 10years working for a couple of large law firms in London I moved toIndia where I spent 5 years doing freelance consulting. Here, I wasworking very closely with companies’ business developmentteams. I found the decisions the businesses were making as towhether to acquire a company or pursue a joint venture and whoto do it with a lot more interesting than the legal work. I was talkingto a friend of mine who was a partner in the New York office ofBCG and he said, “you like project-based work with variety andan intellectual challenge, why don’t you think about consulting”.As I heard more about it I thought “this sounds really interesting”.

Has consulting lived up to your expectations? Definitely. Wework extremely quickly with tight deadlines so it’s not a 9-5 job,but it’s incredibly stimulating. We’re helping global companiesfigure out their most challenging business problems. It givesyou a great opportunity to see different businesses’ issues anddifferent areas of the business. In terms of the intellectualstimulation it’s definitely lived up to my expectations if notsurpassed them. Consultancy gives the fantastic opportunity ofgetting really close to various businesses.

Do you find that the skills you earned in both legal educationand practice have helped in your work in consulting? No isthe honest answer! The experience of working with clients washelpful but in terms of the actual legal training, consulting isalmost the opposite. As a lawyer if you are writing an essay ordrafting a legal document you want to get all your facts in frontof you and be comfortable that you know everything first. Thenyou put pen to paper. As a consultant you sort of flip that on itshead. What we do is to very quickly come to a hypothesis as tohow we can solve the client’s challenge, so we get to theanswers much more quickly. The rest of the work then consistsof validating that answer. It’s a very different approach.

Is the work atmosphere in a consulting firm different to thatin a law firm? That is dependent on where you work, but in myexperience, in a law firm it was very much about working longhours and being seen to be in the office. My experience at BCGhas been the opposite to that. We work long hours and it’s veryintense, but as long as you get the work done and it’s to the rightstandard, you don’t need to be seen to be at the office until 10o’clock every night! I’ve got a daughter so I try to leave at about6.30pm, get home, spend a bit of time with her, put her to bedand then pick up again after I’ve had my dinner. Where I workedas a lawyer, that would have been very difficult to do.

The partners at BCG, from what I’ve seen, truly work as a team.Everyone is watching each others’ backs and really are workingfor the greater good, providing a brilliant service and solutionto the client. They all pull together to do that.

In terms of professional development, when you join BCG,there’s a lot of training and it’s taken very seriously. You reallyfeel like everyone wants you to succeed. A lot of time and effortis invested in the interview process and in making chosenapplicants as good as they can be.

What advice would you give to Law students consideringtheir careers?If you are really passionate about an area of law, go for it. Butif you’re not sure about what you want to do, I think consultinggives a much broader skill set and leaves your options moreopen. If you practice as a lawyer for a couple of years you getlabelled as a lawyer and people see you as a sort of technicalprofessional. Even though some of your skills are useful in abusiness context, I think the longer you do it the more difficultit becomes to break out of that mould of being seen as a lawyer.In consulting, on the other hand, people go off to do nearlyevery role you can think of in business. There is a broader scopeof opportunities available. In my experience, if you’re not sureI would say go for consulting over law.

At BCG you’re in control of how you want your career to grow.For example, lots of people have joined as an associate fromuniversity but might have gone on to do an MBA while at BCG,or may have gone on a secondment for 6 months or 1 year.There are lots of different opportunities open to you. We’re aglobal company so there are opportunities to see the worldthrough transfer for limited periods to other offices. You caninfluence what path you take.

WANTED:PROBLEM SOLVERS

BCG, one of the world's leading advisers on managementand business strategy, is looking to recruit exceptionalindividuals from a broad range of backgrounds. Visit ourwebsite to learn more.TCD.BCG.COM


Liz O’Donnell by Juliette Mills

What was your first job?My first job was before I went to college. I left school at theage of 17 and I really didn’t know what I wanted to study, so Idid a secretarial course and went to London. I was dying to gooff and work there. My first proper job was with AIB in London,much to the disapproval of my parents who wanted me to goto college immediately. I was 21 before I went to college so Ihad a few years of living independently from my parents,earning my own money and spending all of it on clothes!Eventually I saw the light and I came back, applied to Trinityand got in!

Why did you choose Law as your undergraduate degree?I was originally accepted into pure English in Trinity and thenoffered Law. So I was in a complete quandary because I feltcoming to college at an older age and doing English was goingto be very self-indulgent. I had no hope of getting a jobafterwards unless I became a brilliant poet or writer. So I wentto speak to one of my former teachers in Limerick, AntoniaO’Callaghan (deceased), who was a barrister. She told me todo Law because it would give me more scope, and perhapsshe knew my strenghths better than I did myself. AlthoughEnglish would have been very enjoyable for me, Law reallywould better prepare me for the workforce.

Why did you pick Trinity College to study Law?The main reason I chose Trinity was because of its liberal ethosand respect for diversity. A large number of my contemporieswere from Northern Ireland of both denominations which wasa beneficial experience of cultural and religious diversity. Sadly,there has been a falling off in number of Northerners comingto Trinity in the last decade and I welcome the Provost's recentinitiative to increase the number of applicants from NorthernIreland in the next year. It is important to maintain the inclusivenature of the Trinity College educational experience.

Who was the most influencial person you met while studyingLaw at Trinity?Kader Asmal was my tutor. At the time he was head of the anti-apartheid movement in Ireland. He taught me international Lawand human rights. When I would go to see him for extensionson essays, which I was always looking for, he would be so busydealing with people looking for political asylum, that I alwaysmanaged to get one! Years later, I was to meet him when I wentto visit post-apartheid South Africa. He was the Minister forWater under Nelson Mandela. It was amazing for us to beMinisters together after all those years. Looking back, heprobably inspired me the most because I suddenly made theconnection between Law, politics and advocacy. Before that Isaw Law really as an academic exercise.

What inspired you to enter politics?I wasn’t at all politicised in college as I was too busy workingtrying to make ends meet. I didn’t really become politicised tillI had my first child. I had left the workforce when I becameinvolved in an environmental women’s group where I met MaryHarney. In 1990 there was a conference in Trinity being run forthe Council for the Status of Women called ‘Women and theenvironment: what can we do?’, which I was happy to organiseas part of the committee. Mary Harney was the Minister forEnvironmental Protection at the time and Junior Minister for theDepartment of Environment. She had taken on the coal lobbyand taken on an order to ban the sale of smokey coal and wastherefore our keynote speaker. At the time, it was a big politicalissue to eliminate smog from Dublin. Mary was a young ministerand quite high profiled, and I had never met a practisingpolitician prior to this. The committee, which was a smallnumber of us, brought the Minister for dinner in the Trocadero,and she immediately put her evil eye on me! She went straightfrom TCD into politics so she couldn’t understand why I wasn’t

Liz O’Donnell is a former Law student (Class of 1981) who wenton to becomeone of Ireland’s leading politicians. She was electedto the Dáil in 1992 and was TD for Dublin South until 2007. From1997 to 2002 she was Minister of State at the Department ofForeign Affairs. In 1998, she was one of the governmentnegotiators in the multi party talks leading to the Good FridayAgreement. She was responsible for Ireland's overseasdevelopments programme and oversaw a massive budgetexpansion, helping to reach the United Nations target of 0. 7pcof GNP. She was deputy leader of the Progressive Democratsfrom 2006 to 2007, and now works as a columnist with The IrishIndependent as well as a public affairs consultant. She speaks toJuliette Mills

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❝Years later, I was to meet him [KaderAsmal] when I went to visit post-apartheid South Africa. He was theMinister for Water under Nelson

Mandela. It was amazing for us to beMinisters together after all those years.


James Lochrin

in a political party. I wasn’t really sure I wanted to get involvedin politics, I just wanted to help out at the conference!

Congratulations on your new appointment as Chairpersonof the Road Safety Authority, what do you hope to achieve?Thank you very much. There’s a 2013 Road Safety strategywhich is in place until 2020. So there is a very clear list of itemsthat we’re going to work through. It’s mainly about targetshowever, particularly reducing road fatalities. At the momentthe U.K., Sweden, Australia and the Netherlands are ahead ofus in terms of road safety. Although we’re up 7 fatalities sincelast year, when there was 190 deaths on the road, that’s not tosay that there haven’t been great improvements. In the lastdecade the number of deaths on the road has been reduceddue to better compliance with wearing seat belts and a

reduction of drink driving. Another goal we have is to reducethe number of serious injuries by 30%.

Looking back would you have done anything differently?I probably wouldn’t have gotten married so young because thatput me off my career trajectory, but that’s an emotional thingand those kinds of decisions aren’t wholly rational, at the sametime it’s lovely now to be a younger parent of young adults.

I do regret not doing one of the professional courses becausenow I could be practicing at the bar even though my politicalcareer is over. Politics is so volatile and unpredictable that it ishandy to have a profession to which you can go back.

Did you choose a degree in Law thinking that you mightfollow law as a career path afterwards?Going into my degree, I wasn’t set on becoming a solicitor ora barrister and was open to anything. I based my choice onthe fact that I thought that a general degree such as law mightsuit me. I was attracted by the reputation of the Law Schooland the calibre of the students. I was eager to learn from andwith them.

By the time that you secured your internship at Barclays, hadyou actively choose to follow a business path or was itsomething that just happened?The summer during which I interned at Barclays, I also internedat Arthur Cox. Even at that stage, I was still figuring out whichpath I wanted to follow. My time interning at Barclays gave megreat exposure to the financial world, and my experience thereset my mind on the course I wanted to follow.

Having experienced the working environment in major legaland financial firms, what would he see as the maindifferences in the work ethos?At Barclays, I found that we worked very closely with lawyers.Bankers and their clients will come up with the idea of whatthey want to achieve, but very quickly lawyers are involved tocreate structure around the idea. The two are very muchpartners in terms of the advice that is given to clients. Whileboth lawyers and bankers both act essentially as advisers, Ifound that I preferred the commercial side to the legal. Thatsaid, it’s a joint effort of lawyers and bankers that deliversultimately for the client.

Were you apprehensive about undertaking a job in thebusiness world that your college degree hadn’t prepared youfor?I was initially apprehensive about joining colleagues who haddegrees and even masters in finance. In reality however thebackgrounds are very diverse and I found there was a 50-50split in terms of business/non-business backgrounds. The two-

month training programme at Barclays acted as a crash coursein finance and accounting and allowed me to learn the coreskills. From there on, it was all about learning on the job.Research and critical thought, skills that I had picked up duringmy time at the Law School, proved very important to me.

Former Auditor of LawSoc, James Lochrin graduated from Trinityin 2012. After two years working in Barclays Investment Bank inLondon, James has returned to Dublin as an associate with IslandCapital. He talks to Nicola Cavey and Ciara Cosgrave about hisprofessional experiences.

What would be your advice for approaching the applicationprocess for companies such as Barclays?It’s a long process, so give yourself time. Crucially, UK firmstypically launch their recruitment processes in September andsay that the application deadline is inDecember. Get your application in as earlyas possible – the firms assign places on arolling basis. It’s much harder to get theonly remaining place in December, than tobe chosen by a recruiter who has 50spaces to fill in September.

Did you find the move to Londonbeneficial – would you recommend achange of scene to graduating studentswho want to maximise their professionalcapital? Coming out of university there are so manyopportunities open to us, so it’s hard to say which one willmaximise your professional capital. Your career is a very longgame, and at this stage it’s best to maximise your experiences

and discover what you like doing. Work in Barclays was hugelydemanding from a personal lifestyle perspective, but there iscertainly a trade off in terms of the great experience you get,the responsibilities you’re given and the skills you learn. Living

in London was also fantastic! My advice tograduating students considering working inthe City would be to speak to people who arethere now and learn from their experiences. Asa starting point there is a strong cohort of TCDgraduates at all stages of their careers in theCity who are willing to help.

What advice would you give to graduatinglaw students who are still unsure of whatpath they want to take?From my ivory tower, if you have somethingapart from the typical law path in mind,explore different options and talk to as many

relevant people as possible. In my experience, people arewilling to be helpful and give you guidance. There’s no needto be nervous about talking to people in the industry.


❝Your career is a verylong game, and at thisstage it’s best tomaximise your

experiences and discoverwhat you like doing.

Beyond the Lecture Theatre- Law Community Round Up

2014 Law Graduates (left to right) ; Paddy Higgins,Richie Halpin, Jack Danahar, George O’Malley, Jack Cantillon,Rachel Fitzsimons, Clara Duggan, Saoirse O’Reilly, Gráinne Hawkes, Rachel Pereira andMartha Davis.

Lavish reception in the GMB following Trinity College LawReview’s annual Authors’ Night

Trinity College Law Review’s Distinguished Speaker Series:The Future of Ireland's Corporate Tax Regime (left toright);Michael Ryan (Chair of Tax at McCannFitzgerald),Olivia Waldron (Director of Tax atDeloitte),Fintan Clancy(Chair of Tax at Arthur Cox) andMark Redmond (Chief Executive of the American Chamberof Commerce in Ireland).

Student’s trying their hand at the roulette table during theLaw Society’s Swing Ball at the Shelbourne hotel.


The Shelbourne Hotel in full swing.

Law Society’s 1920s themed Swing Ball a roaring success!(left to right) ; Deirdre Moore, Catherine Kilkenny, KristenNelson de Burca, Caoimhe Strafford, Conor Casey,Graham Reynolds and Conor Ringland

Law Society’s Born Again Maidens Finalists and WinnerCaoimhe Stafford, with Debate Chairperson Mr JusticeColm Mac Eochaidh, Law Soc Auditor James Ringland andDebates Convenor Hilary Hogan. The impressive setting for Law Society’s Masquerave

The ELSA stand during Fresher’s Week 2014.

Law School Lecturers modelling the hoodies presented tothe Class of 2014. (back row, left to right) ; DavidPrendergast and Oran Doyle (front row, left to right) ;David Fennelly, Giuseppe Mazziotti, Neville Cox, IvanaBacik, Rachael Walsh and David Kenny

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