Síofra O’Leary (born 20 September 1968) is an Irish lawyer and judge who served as president of the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...

from November 2022 to July 2024 and as a judge of the

since July 2015. She previously served as a vice-president of the European Court of Human Rights in 2022.

Early life

O’Leary was born in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

where she completed a

Bachelor of Civil Law Bachelor of Civil Law (abbreviated BCL or B.C.L.; ) is the name of various degrees in law conferred by English-language universities. The BCL originated as a postgraduate degree in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge; at Oxford, the BCL contin ...

degree at University College Dublin in 1989. She went on to study at the

European University Institute The European University Institute (EUI) is an international postgraduate and post-doctoral research-intensive university and an intergovernmental organisation with juridical personality, established by its founding member states to contribu ...

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, where she defended her

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in European law, titled ''The evolving concept of Community citizenship : from the free movement of persons to union citizenship'', in 1993.

Academic career

O'Leary then worked in research at the Universities of Cadiz and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

before going on to become assistant director in the Centre for European Law Studies at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

in 1996. O'Leary went on to become a Fellow at Emmanuel College there . Starting in 1996 for three years, O'Leary held the position of '' Référendaire'' (consultant) at the

Court of Justice of the European Union The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ( or "''CJUE''"; Latin: Curia) is the Judiciary, judicial branch of the European Union (EU). Seated in the Kirchberg, Luxembourg, Kirchberg quarter of Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, this EU ins ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

. She then became the "Chef de cabinet" from 2000 to 2004. During her time at the Court of Justice, O'Leary also was a visiting fellow at University College Dublin's faculty of law from 1999 to 2004. Since 2003, she has been a visiting professor at the

College of Europe The College of Europe (; ; ) is a post-graduate institute of European studies with three campuses in Bruges, Belgium; Warsaw, Poland; and Tirana, Albania. The College of Europe in Bruges was founded in 1949 as a result of the 1948 Congress of ...

Bruges Bruges ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is in the northwest of the country, and is the sixth most populous city in the country. The area of the whole city amoun ...

. Her lectures address practitioners, government agencies and academics on fundamental rights, EU law and European Court of Justice practice and procedure. She writes articles on fundamental rights, EU employment law, the free movement of persons and services and EU citizenship.

Judicial career

O'Leary held various positions at the Court of Justice of the European Union until April 2015 when she was elected to replace

Ann Power Ann Power (born 23 November 1962) is an Irish judge who has served as a Judge of the Court of Appeal since November 2019. She previously served as a Presiding Judge of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor's Office from 2017 ...

as Ireland's judge at the

. Her term began on 2 July 2015 and is expected to end on 1 July 2024. From 1 January 2020, O'Leary has been President of the Section. On 15 November 2021 she was elected as the court's vice president. On 19 September 2022, she was elected president of the court and became the first woman to hold that position when she took up office on 1 November 2022 replacing Róbert Ragnar Spanó who is Icelandic.

Bibliography

* The Evolving Concept of Community Citizenship (Kluwer, 1996) * Employment Law at the European Court of Justice (Hart Publishing, 2001)

References and sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:OLeary, Siofra 1968 births Living people Lawyers from Dublin (city) Presidents of the European Court of Human Rights Alumni of University College Dublin European University Institute alumni