Niamh Margaret Hyland is an Irish judge and lawyer who has served as a Judge of the High Court since December 2019. Prior to becoming a judge, she was a barrister and academic specialising in EU law.

Education

Hyland received her secondary school education at

Newpark Comprehensive School Newpark Comprehensive School () is a mixed, Church of Ireland, state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newsp ...

. She obtained an LL.B. 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 was elected a scholar of the university in 1987. She achieved a BCL master's degree from the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, attending

Magdalen College Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the st ...

. She later 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 ...

Legal career

She began her career as the Jean Monnet Professor of

European Union law European Union law is a system of rules operating within the member states of the European Union (EU). Since the founding of the European Coal and Steel Community following World War II, the EU has developed the aim to "promote peace, its valu ...

at Trinity College Dublin. She then worked in

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

as référendaire to

Donal Barrington Donal Patrick Michael Barrington (28 February 1928 – 3 January 2018) was an Irish judge who served as a Judge of the Supreme Court from 1996 to 2000, a Judge of the European Court of Justice from 1989 to 1996 and a Judge of the High Court from ...

at the

Court of First Instance A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance w ...

. In 1996, she was appointed by the

European Commission Representation in Ireland The European Commission Representation in Ireland is part of the Commission’s network of representative offices throughout the Member States of the European Union. It is the Commission’s voice in Ireland and aims to communicate EU affairs at b ...

to provide legal advice on people's EU law rights. She 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 1994 and commenced practice in 1996. She became a

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 jurisdicti ...

in 2012. Her expertise was in aspects of EU and regulatory law, including public procurement, competition law, environmental law and sectoral specialisations in health, finance and telecommunications, and also advised on constitutional and administrative law. She has appeared before the

European Court of Justice The European Court of Justice (ECJ, french: Cour de Justice européenne), formally just the Court of Justice, is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Un ...

. Among clients she represented were Esat Telecom,

AIG American International Group, Inc. (AIG) is an American multinational finance and insurance corporation with operations in more than 80 countries and jurisdictions. , AIG companies employed 49,600 people.https://www.aig.com/content/dam/aig/amer ...

IKEA IKEA (; ) is a Dutch multinational conglomerate based in the Netherlands that designs and sells , kitchen appliances, decoration, home accessories, and various other goods and home services. Started in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad, IKEA has been t ...

Vodafone Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...

Facebook, Inc. Meta Platforms, Inc., (file no. 3835815) doing business as Meta and formerly named Facebook, Inc., and TheFacebook, Inc., is an American multinational technology conglomerate based in Menlo Park, California. The company owns Facebook, Instagra ...

and

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...

. In December 2010, she appeared with

David Barniville David Barniville is an Irish judge who has been the President of the Irish High Court (Ireland), High Court since July 2022. He formerly practiced as a barrister and was the chair of the Bar Council of Ireland. He served as a judge of the High ...

for the

Minister for Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

in the High Court regarding the nationalisation of

Allied Irish Banks Allied Irish Banks, p.l.c. is one of the so-called Big Four commercial banks in Ireland. AIB offers a full range of personal, business and corporate banking services. The bank also offers a range of general insurance products such as home, trav ...

. She represented

Michael Lowry Michael Lowry (born 13 March 1953) is an Irish Independent politician who has served as a Teachta Dála (TD) since 1987, currently for the Tipperary constituency. He previously served as Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications from 1 ...

in a challenge to his costs arising from the

Moriarty Tribunal The Moriarty Tribunal, officially called the Tribunal of Inquiry into certain Payments to Politicians and Related Matters, was an Irish Tribunal of Inquiry established in 1997 into the financial affairs of politicians Charles Haughey and Michael ...

. The

Central Bank of Ireland The Central Bank of Ireland ( ga, Banc Ceannais na hÉireann) is Ireland's central bank, and as such part of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). It is the country's financial services regulator for most categories of financial firms ...

employed Hyland as counsel in their inquiry into

Irish Nationwide Building Society Irish Nationwide Building Society was a financial institution in Ireland from 1873 to 2011. One of the country's oldest financial institutions, it was originally called the Irish Industrial Building Society; it changed its name in 1975 when it had ...

. She lectured at legal conferences and delivered a paper to 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 January 2018 on referendums in Ireland. Outside of her practice, she was a member of the Bar Council and served on boards including

The Rehab Group The Rehab Group is an international not-for-profit organisation providing health and social care, training and education, rehabilitation, employment and commercial services. Operating primarily in Ireland and the United Kingdom, it was originally ...

and Open Spectrum CLG.

Judicial career

Hyland was appointed to the High Court in December 2019. She has presided over cases involving data protection law, freedom of information law, environmental law, medical negligence, insolvency law, and company law. She was part of a three-judge division of the High Court with the President of the High Court

Mary Irvine Mary Irvine (born 10 December 1956) is an Irish judge who was the President of the Irish High Court between 2020 and 2022. She first practiced as a barrister. She was a judge of the High Court between 2007 and 2014. She was a judge of the Cou ...

and

Denis McDonald Denis McDonald is an Irish judge and lawyer who has served as a Judge of the High Court since April 2018. He was previously practiced as a barrister with a speciality in commercial law. He was the chair of the Irish Takeover Panel between 2010 ...

in June 2020. The lead plaintiff

Ivana Bacik Ivana Catherine Bacik (born 25 May 1968) is an Irish Labour Party politician who has been Leader of the Labour Party since 24 March 2022 and a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin Bay South constituency since winning a by-election on 9 July 2 ...

took action against the

Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Republic of Ireland, 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 legisl ...

to ask the court if

Seanad Éireann Seanad Éireann (, ; "Senate of Ireland") is the upper house of the Oireachtas (the Irish legislature), which also comprises the President of Ireland and Dáil Éireann (the lower house). It is commonly called the Seanad or Senate and its memb ...

could sit without its nominated members. The three judges held that it could not.

Personal life

She is married to singer, filmmaker and former member of

The Fat Lady Sings The Fat Lady Sings were a rock band from Dublin, Ireland, fronted by singer and songwriter Nick Kelly. Almost immediately after forming in March 1986, they relocated to London, and remained there for the rest of their career. Despite this, the ...

Nick Kelly, who is the son of John M. Kelly.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hyland, Niamh Living people High Court judges (Ireland) Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Irish women judges Alumni of King's Inns 21st-century Irish judges 21st-century women judges Year of birth missing (living people) People educated at Newpark Comprehensive School