Siofra O'LEARY

Síofra O'Leary is a former Judge and President of the European Court of Human Rights (2015 – 2024). While at the European Court she served as President of Section V, Vice-President and as the Court’s 17th President, the first woman to be elected to this position.

Prior to joining the European Court of Human Rights, she worked for almost two decades at the Court of Justice of the European Union in both judicial and administrative capacities.

In 2025-2026, Síofra O’Leary will attend New York University (NYU) as a Hauser/Remarque Global Fellow.

She is also a Full Adjunct Professor at University College Dublin (UCD) and a Visiting Professor at the College of Europe (Bruges) and Instituto de Empresa (IE) in Madrid. She has served on the Editorial Board of the Common Market Law Review and is now a member of its Advisory Board and a Vice-President of the Irish Centre for European Law. She is also a member of the Society of Legal Scholars and is on the board of several national and European periodicals.

Síofra O’Leary is an Honorary Bencher of the Honorable Society of King’s Inns, Dublin and of Lincoln’s Inn, London, an Honorary Fellow of Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge and a recipient of an LLD h.c. from the University of Edinburgh. In 2024, UCD conferred on her the Ulysses Medal in recognition of her legal work and European service. 

A graduate of University College Dublin (BCL) and a postgraduate of the European University Institute (PhD), Dr. O’Leary was previously the Assistant Director for the Centre of European Legal Studies at the University of Cambridge, a Fellow of Emmanuel College, a Visiting Fellow at the Faculty of Law, University College Dublin, a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Cádiz, Spain and a Research Associate at the Institute for Public Policy Research in London.

Síofra O’Leary is the author of two books entitled The Evolving Concept of Community Citizenship (Kluwer, 1996) and Employment Law at the European Court of Justice (Hart Publishing, 2001) and has published numerous articles in academic journals and legal monographs on the protection of fundamental rights in EU law and under the ECHR, EU employment law, the free movement of persons and services and EU citizenship generally.