Brian R. Murray is an Irish lawyer who is a judge of the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

. He was a judge of the

Court of Appeal A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

between November 2019 and February 2022. He worked as a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

practicing in public and commercial law prior to becoming a judge.

Early life

Murray received a BA degree from

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

and completed an LLM at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. He won the

Irish Times Debate The Irish Times National Debating Championship is a debating competition for students in higher education in Ireland. It has been run since 1960, sponsored by ''The Irish Times''. While most participants represent institutions in the Republic of ...

in 1984 for the

College Historical Society The College Historical Society (CHS) – popularly referred to as The Hist – is a debating society at Trinity College Dublin. It was established within the college in 1770 and was inspired by the club formed by the philosopher Edmund Bu ...

. He subsequently attended the

King's Inns The Honorable Society of King's Inns ( ir, Cumann Onórach Óstaí an Rí) is the "Inn of Court" for the Bar of Ireland. Established in 1541, King's Inns is Ireland's oldest school of law and one of Ireland's significant historical environment ...

. He was called to the

Bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

in 1989 and became a senior counsel in 2002.

Legal career

Murray practised in the areas of constitutional and commercial law. He represented the State in 2005 in defending a judicial review case taken by the former judge

Brian Curtin Brian Curtin (b. 1951/52) is a former barrister and Irish circuit court judge, who was tried for possessing images of child pornography. After the case collapsed, the question of whether Curtin could continue as a judge became the focus of politi ...

. He has also appeared for the State and the

Data Protection Commissioner The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (Irish: An Coimisinéir Cosanta Sonraí) (DPC), also known as Data Protection Commission, is the independent national authority responsible for upholding the EU fundamental right of individuals to ...

in defending actions launched by

Max Schrems Maximilian Schrems (born 1987) is an Austrian activist, lawyer, and author who became known for campaigns against Facebook for its privacy violations, including violations of European privacy laws and the alleged transfer of personal data to t ...

, the

Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement The Corporate Enforcement Authority (CEA) is the competent authority in Ireland for the general promotion of compliance with the Companies Acts, the investigation of breaches of the Companies Acts and the taking of any necessary enforcement act ...

in a case against

Independent News & Media Mediahuis Ireland (formally Independent News and Media (INM) )) is a media organisation that is based in Dublin and publishes national daily newspapers, Sunday newspapers, regional newspapers and operates multiple websites including Independent. ...

and the

Irish Bank Resolution Corporation The Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) was the name given to the entity formed in 2011 by the court-mandated merger of the state-owned banking institutions Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide Building Society. Following a High Court ord ...

against members of the

Seán Quinn John Ignatius Quinn, commonly known as Seán Quinn (born 5 December 1947), is an Irish businessman and conglomerateur. In 2008 he was the richest person in the Republic of Ireland, but in 2012 he was declared bankrupt. The '' Sunday Times Ric ...

family. He represented

Bertie Ahern Bartholomew Patrick "Bertie" Ahern (born 12 September 1951) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach from 1997 to 2008, Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1994 to 2008, Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 1997, Tánaiste a ...

in the High Court against the

Mahon Tribunal The Tribunal of Inquiry into Certain Planning Matters and Payments commonly known as the Mahon Tribunal after the name of its last chairman, was a public inquiry in Ireland established by Dáil Éireann in 1997 to investigate allegations of c ...

in 2008. He has acted for the State in a first instance hearing taken by Graham Dwyer, the man convicted of the

murder of Elaine O'Hara Elaine O'Hara (17 March 1976 – ) was an Irish childcare worker who was murdered in August 2012 by architect Graham Dwyer. She was last seen alive at a public park in Shanganagh, Dublin, Ireland, on 22 August. The remains of her body were dis ...

, in the High Court, regarding the applicability of the

Data Retention Directive The Data Retention Directive (Directive 2006/24/EC), a directive, later declared invalid by the European Court of Justice, was at first passed on 15 March 2006 and regulated data retention, where data has been generated or processed in connect ...

in Irish law. In addition to appearing in the Irish courts, Murray has also acted as counsel for Ireland in the two EU courts, the General Court and the Court of Justice. He acted for Ireland in ''

Ireland v Commission On 29 August 2016, after a two-year investigation, Margrethe Vestager of the European Commission announced: "Ireland granted illegal tax benefits to Apple". The Commission ordered Apple to pay €13 billion, plus interest, in unpaid ...

''. He taught

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...

at Trinity College Dublin from 1986 to 1987 and again between 1988 and 1989, and subsequently lectured in Company Law between 1989 and 2003. He also lectured at the King's Inns. He provided advice on the law of abortion at a meeting of the

Citizens' Assembly A citizens' assembly (also known as citizens' jury or citizens' panel or people's jury or policy jury or citizens' initiative review or consensus conference or citizens' convention) is a body formed from randomly selected citizens to delibera ...

in March 2017, which made recommendations which ultimately resulted in the

Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland The Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland (previously bill no. 29 of 2018) is an amendment to the Constitution of Ireland which permits the Oireachtas to legislate for abortion. The constitution had previously prohibited abortio ...

Judicial career

Court of Appeal

Following the enactment of legislation to increase the number of judges of the

in 2019, Murray was appointed a judge of the Court of Appeal in November 2019. He has occasionally acted as a judge of the High Court. Murray has written judgments for the Court of Appeal in the areas of judicial review, enforcement of debt, insolvency law, the proceeds of crime, media law, tax law, the law of tort, military law, contract law, and civil procedure.

Supreme Court

Murray was nominated to the

Supreme Court of Ireland , image = Coat of arms of Ireland.svg , imagesize = 120px , alt = , caption = Coat of Arms of Ireland , image2 = Four Courts, Dublin 2014-09-13.jpg , imagesize2 = , alt2 ...

in January 2022. His appointment was made in February 2022.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, Brian Living people Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Alumni of the University of Cambridge Judges of the Court of Appeal (Ireland) Judges of the Supreme Court of Ireland 21st-century Irish judges Alumni of King's Inns Year of birth missing (living people) Irish Senior Counsel 20th-century Irish lawyers