Conor Gearty RIP
The Sutherland School of Law community is greatly saddened by the death of one of our most distinguished alumni, Professor Conor Gearty (BCL, LLM, PhD, KC (hons), FBA, MRIA on Thursday 11 September 2025. He was conferred by UCD with an honorary doctorate in 2014 and gave the annual (opens in a new window)John Kelly lecture in 2008.
Conor graduated from UCD with a BCL Degree in 1978. At UCD, his skills as a debater were world class, and he won all the (opens in a new window)main debating awards with his debating partners, Chief Justice Donal O’Donnell and the author, poet and barrister, John O’Donnell SC. On a return visit to the campus recently, he was delighted to point to his name on the UCD Law Society Board of Auditors.
From UCD, and after qualifying as a solicitor, he went to the University of Cambridge for his LLM and PhD and spent the remainder of his career in the UK where he was a special beacon of excellence amongst the large number of Irish legal academics there. He became a fellow of Emmanuel College Cambridge in 1983, and in 1990 moved to King’s College London, and from there to the London School of Economics (LSE) in 2002 where he was Director of the Centre for the Study of Human Rights Law (2002-2009), Professor of Human Rights Law (2009-2025) and Director of the Institute of Public Affairs (2012-2016). He was an Honorary Member of the Royal Irish Academy and a Fellow of British Academy (where he also served a term as Vice President for Social Sciences) as well as holding several honorary degrees.
He also practiced human rights law, and was a founding member of Matrix Chambers, an honorary KC, a Bencher of the Middle Temple London and an Honorary Bencher, of the King’s Inn London.
His academic writings straddled two main fields. Terrorism - his first book, Terror was published in 1991 and the theme was revisited most recently in 2024 in Homeland Insecurity. The Rise and Rise of Global Anti-Terrorism Law. The second theme of his work was strong support for human rights combined with a robust concern for the mechanisms through which they are vindicated.
As a public intellectual, he was vigorous, prolific and impactful, engaging in an astonishing array of policy engagement and public lectures as well as writing regularly for the Guardian, the Tablet, and the London Review of Books. He embraced new media, with frequent web-based projects (including a crowd-sourced UK Constitution), and podcasts. In a recent edition of the podcast ‘The Human Edge’, you can find Conor (opens in a new window)reflecting on his decision to leave Ireland in the 1980s, his career as an Irish person in the UK, and his passion for his work.
Conor had an extraordinary and uniquely impactful career in academia, the media and the London Bar. As Professor Colin Scott remarked in his oration on the occasion of Conor’s honorary doctoral conferring in 2014:
‘Conor Gearty, you are a true representative of the Republic of Conscience. Through your scholarship you have challenged received wisdoms. Your commitment to, and achievements in, communication have enhanced society’s ability to reflect on vital matters of law, justice, society and democracy. You have used your position, your skills and your energy to enrich our public sphere. For this civilizing gift we honour you today.’
Conor being conferred with his BCL in UCD in 1978 (Photo courtesy of Frank Callanan SC
Our condolences to his family and friends, in particular Aoife, Eliza, Owen, Éile and Fiadh.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.