Marie Baker (born 6 February 1954) is an Irish judge who has served as a Judge of the Supreme Court of Ireland since December 2019. She previously served as a Judge of the High Court from 2014 to 2018 and a Judge of the Court of Appeal from 2018 to 2019.

Early career

Baker was educated at

University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile Corcaigh) is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one ...

, where she received BA, MA and BCL degrees. She later attended and studied at the King's Inns and became a barrister in 1984 and a senior counsel in 2004. Her practice predominantly focused on commercial law,

conveyancing In law, conveyancing is the transfer of legal title of real property from one person to another, or the granting of an encumbrance such as a mortgage or a lien. A typical conveyancing transaction has two major phases: the exchange of contrac ...

family law Family law (also called matrimonial law or the law of domestic relations) is an area of the law that deals with family matters and domestic relations. Overview Subjects that commonly fall under a nation's body of family law include: * Marriage ...

and litigation. She specialised on cases involving the

National Asset Management Agency The National Asset Management Agency (NAMA; ga, Gníomhaireacht Náisiúnta um Bhainistíocht Sócmhainní) is a body created by the government of Ireland in late 2009 in response to the Irish financial crisis and the deflation of the Irish ...

towards the end of her career as a barrister. She was a member of the Study Group on Pre-nuptial Agreements, which reported to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform in 2007. She has previously acted as a part-time commissioner of the

Law Reform Commission A law commission, law reform commission, or law revision commission is an independent body set up by a government to conduct law reform; that is, to consider the state of laws in a jurisdiction and make recommendations or proposals for legal chang ...

and lectured in several areas of law.

Judicial career

High Court

She was appointed to the High Court in January 2014. She sat in on a three-judge division of the High Court in December 2014 in the case of '' PP v. HSE''.

Court of Appeal

Baker was elevated to the Court of Appeal in June 2018. She holds a statutory position as the designated judge for the purpose of two acts: the Interception of Postal Packets and Telecommunications Messages (Regulation) Act 1993 and the Communications (Retention of Data) Act 2011. In this role she produces an annual report for the Oireachtas. She also communicates with the

Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legislature) and the o ...

in relation to privacy and interception of communications issues.

Supreme Court

She was appointed to the Supreme Court in December 2019. Her appointment followed the retirement of Susan Denham in 2018. Her first sitting on the court occurred on 16 January 2020, marking the first time four women had sat together on the Supreme Court. Baker is the Assigned Judge for the Irish courts for the purpose of supervising the use of personal data while courts act in their judicial capacity.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Maries Living people High Court judges (Ireland) Alumni of University College Cork 1954 births 21st-century Irish judges 20th-century Irish lawyers Irish women judges Judges of the Court of Appeal (Ireland) Alumni of King's Inns Judges of the Supreme Court of Ireland 21st-century women judges