Judge Síofra O’Leary elected president of European Court of Human Rights
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Judge Síofra O'Leary
Judge Síofra O’Leary, the Irish judge on the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), has been elected as the president of the court for a two-year term.
She is the first woman and the first Irish person to serve as president of the court in its 63-year history, and will take up office on 1 November 2022.
Human rights campaigners and legal experts previously told our sister publication Irish Legal News that they would welcome the Dublin-born judge’s potential appointment to the prominent role as a boost to the court as well as to Ireland’s international reputation.
A graduate of University College Dublin with a PhD from the European University Institute in Florence, Judge O’Leary spent years lecturing on EU law at a number of universities prior to her appointment as an ECtHR judge in 2015.
She was appointed as vice-president of the court in January 2022.