The Right
Honourable Lord Justice Higgins
(Malachy)
Sir Malachy Higgins was educated at Queen’s University of Belfast.
He
was called to the Bar of Northern Ireland in 1969 and to the Bar of Ireland in
1978 and he has been elected as Honorary Bencher of the Middle Temple. He took
silk in 1985.
He was
appointed to the County Court Bench in 1988 and was Recorder of Londonderry from
1990 to 1993. In 1993 he was appointed to the High Court and was Family Judge
from 1996 until January 2001. He was appointed Lord Justice of Appeal on 8
January 2007.
The
Honourable Mr Justice McLaughlin (Richard)
The Honourable Mr Justice McLaughlin was appointed as a High Court Judge on 6
September 1999.
He was educated at Queens
University (LLB) and Strathclyde University (LLM in Construction Law).
He was called to the Bars
of Northern Ireland (1971), England and Wales (Gray’s Inn 1974), Kings Inn,
Dublin (1978) and New South Wales (1992). He was appointed Queen’s Counsel
(1985) and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
He Served as Chairman of
the Bar Council of Northern Ireland and the Bar European Law Group.
His
Honour Judge McFarland (David)
His
Honour Judge McFarland was appointed as a County Court Judge in September 1998.
He
attended the University of Liverpool and Queens University, Belfast.
He was
admitted as a solicitor in July 1979.
His
Honour Judge McKay QC (Randal)
His
Honour Judge McKay was appointed as a County Court Judge on 4 January 1994.
He
attended Queens University, Belfast.
He was
called to the Bar of Northern Ireland in 1970 and appointed as QC in 1989.
District Judge Brownlie (Isobel)
District
Judge Brownlie was appointed as a District Judge in September 1997.
She
practised as a solicitor between 1984 and 1997. She was appointed as District
Judge and Deputy County Court Judge in September 1997. She was previously a
Deputy District Judge between 1993 and 1997.
Master Kelly (Fiona)
Master Kelly was appointed
Master (High Court) Bankruptcy on 1st July 2005.
She previously practised as a solicitor between 1991 and 2005 specialising in
insolvency.
District Judge (Magistrates’ Courts) McKibbin
(Harry).
District
Judge (Magistrates’ Courts) McKibbin was appointed as a Resident Magistrate for
Northern Ireland in March, 1995.
He attended
Royal Belfast Academical Institution and Dublin University (Trinity College).
He was
admitted as a solicitor in 1974.
He also sits
as a Deputy County Court Judge and is currently Hon. Secretary of the Northern
Ireland Resident Magistrates’ Association.
Mr Sherrard (Brian),
Coroner
Mr Sherrard graduated in
law from Queen’s University Belfast in 1991. He was called to the Bar in
September 1992 and remained in private practice until 1998. In 1995 he became a
lecturer in Property Law at Queens University Belfast. From 1998 until 2006 Mr
Sherrard was the Legal Secretary to the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland
and from 2004 until 2006 was also the Secretary to the Judicial Studies Board of
Northern Ireland. Mr Sherrard was appointed as a Coroner in April 2006.
Professor Norma Dawson,
Queens University
Norma
Dawson was appointed to a lectureship in the Faculty of Law in Queen’s
University Belfast in 1976, and became a senior lecturer in 1988, and professor
of Law in 1995. She was head of the department of commercial and property law
from 1989 to 1994, and director of the Law School and Dean of Faculty from 1994
to 1997. She chaired the university’s central student appeals committee from
2000 to 2004.
She
teaches property law and intellectual property law. Her current research
interests are in the fields of trade mark law, property law and legal history.
She has written and published books and articles in the fields of land law,
charity law, trade mark law and legal history. In 2005-6, she was awarded a
British Academy Senior Research Fellowship to facilitate her work in legal
history.
She
is a vice president of the Irish Legal History Society, and a member of the
society’s publications committee. She has been a trustee of the Hamlyn Trust, a
member of the Broadcasting Council for N.I., the Law Reform Advisory Committee
for N.I., the council of the Society of Legal Scholars, and the council of the
N.I. Medico-Legal Society.
Ms
Miriam Dudley, Programme Director of SLS, QUB
Miriam
Dudley M.A. is a graduate of both the University of Cambridge and the University
of Sheffield. She was the first professional Law Librarian in the Bar Library
from 1984 to 1994 and then moved to Queen’s University Belfast as Law and
Government Publications Librarian. In 1998 she was appointed Director of SLS
Legal Publications which is a legal publishing and training company sponsored by
the Northern Ireland Court Service, the Bar Council, the Law Society and Queen’s
University. As well as publishing practitioners’ textbooks and current awareness
services, SLS is the main provider of continuing professional development to the
legal profession in Northern Ireland.