Sir Donnell Justin Patrick Deeny , KC, SC (born 25 April 1950), styled as the Rt Hon Sir Donnell Deeny, is a mediator and arbitrator (ACIArb) and a former member of the

Court of Appeal of Northern Ireland The courts of Northern Ireland are the civil and criminal courts responsible for the administration of justice in Northern Ireland: they are constituted and governed by the law of Northern Ireland. Prior to the partition of Ireland, Northern I ...

. Sir Donnell is also member of the Court of Arbitration for Art at The Hague. Born in

Lurgan Lurgan () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, near the southern shore of Lough Neagh. Lurgan is about south-west of Belfast and is linked to the city by both the M1 motorway and the Belfast–Dublin railway line. It had a population ...

, Deeny was educated at

Clongowes Wood College Clongowes Wood College SJ is a voluntary boarding school for boys near Clane, County Kildare, Ireland, founded by the Jesuits in 1814, which features prominently in James Joyce's semi-autobiographical novel '' A Portrait of the Artist as ...

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

Queen's University, Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

. During his time in Trinity College he acted as Auditor of 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 ...

, the oldest undergraduate debating society in the world. Donnell Deeny won the Irish Times University Debating Trophy three times, the only person ever to do so. He was called to the

Bar of Northern Ireland The Bar of Northern Ireland is the professional association of barristers for Northern Ireland, with over 600 members. It is based in the Bar Library, beside the Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast, together with the Bar Council of Northern Irel ...

in 1974 and took silk in March 1989. He was also called to the

Bar of Ireland The Bar of Ireland ( ga, Barra na hÉireann) is the professional association of barristers for Ireland, with over 2,000 members. It is based in the Law Library, with premises in Dublin and Cork. It is governed by the General Council of the Ba ...

(

Senior Counsel The title of Senior Counsel or State Counsel (post-nominal letters: SC) is given to a senior lawyer in some countries that were formerly part of the British Empire. "Senior Counsel" is used in current or former Commonwealth countries or jurisdictio ...

1996), and to the

Bar of England and Wales Barristers in England and Wales are one of the two main categories of lawyer in England and Wales, the other being solicitors. Barristers have traditionally had the role of handling cases for representation in court, both defence and prosecutio ...

(as a

bencher A bencher or Master of the Bench is a senior member of an Inn of Court in England and Wales or the Inns of Court in Northern Ireland, or the Honorable Society of King's Inns in Ireland. Benchers hold office for life once elected. A bencher ca ...

in the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's I ...

). Deeny was appointed a High Court judge on 6 September 2004, and was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the G ...

some months afterwards. He was appointed as a Lord Justice of Appeal in September 2017 and a

Privy Councillor A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mo ...

in October 2017. He was appointed in 2000 to the British Government's Spoliation Advisory Panel, which advises on claims relating to cultural objects lost during the Nazi era. He served two further terms before becoming chairman of the Panel in 2012. Deeny had served as an Alliance Party Councillor on

Belfast City Council Belfast City Council ( ga, Comhairle Cathrach Bhéal Feirste) is the local authority with responsibility for part of the city of Belfast, the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland. The Council serves an estimated population of (), the ...

in 1981–85, and was

High Sheriff of Belfast The High Sheriff of Belfast is a title and position which was created in 1900 under the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898, with Sir James Henderson the first holder. Like other high sheriff positions, it is largely a ceremonial post today. The ...

in 1983, the first Catholic to hold office in the City since the Partition of Ireland.Debretts.com biography
Deeny was a member of the

Arts Council of Northern Ireland The Arts Council of Northern Ireland (Irish: ''Comhairle Ealaíon Thuaisceart Éireann'', Ulster-Scots: ''Airts Cooncil o Norlin Airlan'') is the lead development agency for the arts in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1964, as a successor to ...

in 1991–94, and its chairman 1994–98. He was President of the

Ulster Architectural Heritage Society Ulster Architectural Heritage Society was founded "to promote appreciation and enjoyment of good architecture of all periods and encourage the conservation, restoration and re-use of Ulster's built heritage to regenerate and sustain our communitie ...

in 2006 to 2017; and president of the Irish Legal History Society in 2015- 2018; and the founding chairman, Ireland Chair of Poetry Trust in 1997–2008. He is a Deputy Lieutenant for the City of Belfast and an Honorary Member of the Royal Town Planning Institute. He was elected as the 56th Pro-

Chancellor of the University of Dublin Introduction This is a list of chancellors of the University of Dublin, founded in 1592. Chancellors of the University of Dublin * 1592 – 1598: The 1st Baron Burghley * 1598 – 1601: The 2nd Earl of Essex * 1601 – 1612: The ...

in 2014.Trinity College Dublin
/ref>

References

External links

Northern Ireland courts infoBiodata
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deeny, Donnell Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Auditors of the College Historical Society Deputy Lieutenants of Belfast High Sheriffs of Belfast Knights Bachelor Northern Ireland King's Counsel Irish Senior Counsel Lawyers from Belfast 20th-century King's Counsel 21st-century King's Counsel Members of the Middle Temple Members of Belfast City Council Living people 1950 births Place of birth missing (living people) People educated at Clongowes Wood College High Court judges of Northern Ireland Lords Justice of Appeal of Northern Ireland Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom