Paul Burns is an Irish lawyer who has been a judge of the

High Court of Ireland The High Court ( ga, An Ard-Chúirt) of Ireland is a court which deals at first instance with the most serious and important civil and criminal cases. When sitting as a criminal court it is called the Central Criminal Court and sits with judg ...

since March 2020. He previously practised as a barrister with a focus on criminal trials.

Early life

Burns attended

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 ...

where he obtained a bachelor's degree in legal science in 1984 and a

Master of Letters The Master of Letters degree (MLitt or LittM; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. Ireland Trinity College Dublin and Maynooth University offer MLitt degrees. Trinity has offered them the longest, owing largely to its tradition as Ireland ...

in law in 1987.

Legal career

He became a barrister in 1986 and became a senior counsel in 2004. His practice was predominantly focused on criminal law, appearing for both accused persons and the Director of Public Prosecutions. Among the trials he has been involved with included serious offences of murder, sexual offences and drug offences. He has also acted in actions involving judicial review, constitutional law, personal injuries and defamation. In 1998 he appeared in the

Special Criminal Court The Special Criminal Court (SCC; ga, Cúirt Choiriúil Speisialta) is a juryless criminal court in Ireland which tries terrorism and serious organised crime cases. Legal basis Article 38 of the Constitution of Ireland empowers the Dáil to ...

for Paul Ward in his trial for the murder of Veronica Guerin and in 2003 in the Court of Criminal Appeal for Catherine Nevin in an appeal of her murder conviction. He represented 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 ...

at trial and in Oireachtas proceedings and later former judge Heather Perrin in her trial for false accounting. In 2007 he was counsel for the Garda Síochána in a case for damages taken by Frank McBrearty Snr and appeared for solicitor Michael Lynn in preliminary hearings. Burns has also represented the wife of John Gilligan in civil proceedings and, in defamation actions against media organisations,

Declan Ganley Declan James Ganley (born 23 July 1968) is an English-born Irish entrepreneur, businessman, and political activist. He was the founder and leader of the Irish branch of the Libertas Party. Primarily a telecommunications entrepreneur, Ganley has ...

, Paddy McKillen and

Denis O'Brien Denis O'Brien (born 19 April 1958) is an Irish billionaire businessman, and the founder and owner of Digicel. He was listed among the World's Top 200 Billionaires in 2015 and was Ireland's richest native-born citizen for a period of several ye ...

. He prosecuted cases against Thomas "Slab" Murphy and against a man accused of the shooting of Gareth Hutch. He was appointed to the Electronic Communications Appeals Panel in 2005.

Judicial career

Burns was nominated to become a judge of the High Court of Ireland in December 2019 and was appointed in March 2020. The vacancy was created following Donald Binchy becoming a judge of the Court of Appeal. He has heard cases involving extradition and bail applications. In October 2020 he refused to order the extradition of Ian Bailey to France for trial arising from the

death of Sophie Toscan du Plantier Sophie Toscan du Plantier, a 39-year-old French woman, was killed outside her holiday home near Toormore, Goleen, County Cork, Ireland, on the night of 23 December 1996. British journalist Ian Bailey, who lived near Toscan du Plantier's home i ...

. He has also presided over cases involving personal injuries, medical negligence and homicide. Coffey is a judge of the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burns, Paul Living people High Court judges (Ireland) Irish barristers Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Alumni of King's Inns Year of birth missing (living people)