Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC is an Irish-born

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

at Doughty Street Chambers in

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 ...

, specialising in

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

and

civil liberties Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties of ...

Life

Gallagher studied at

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

and graduated in 1999 with a Bachelor's degree in Civil Law. She also holds degrees from the Honorable Society of the King's Inns, Dublin; and Cambridge University. She is one of the three joint founders of the ‘Act for the Act’ campaign (with Martha Spurrier and Fiona Bawdon), a

crowdfunded Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance, to fund projects "without standard financial ...

advertising campaign to tell positive stories about the

Human Rights Act 1998 The Human Rights Act 1998 (c. 42) is an Act of Parliament (United Kingdom), Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which received royal assent on 9 November 1998, and came into force on 2 October 2000. Its aim was to incorporate into UK law the ...

. left, At the 2017 Freedom of Expression Awards (2nd from right) Gallagher led the lawyers working for the release of Ibrahim Halawa, an Irish citizen from

Firhouse Firhouse () is an outer suburb of Dublin, in the county of South Dublin, in the south of the traditional County Dublin in Ireland. It developed from a rural village by the River Dodder, with a second settlement, Upper Fir-house, nearby. It is ju ...

South Dublin South Dublin () is a county in Ireland, within the province of Leinster and the Eastern and Midland Region. It is one of three successor counties to County Dublin, which was disestablished for administrative purposes in 1994. South Dublin Cou ...

who was imprisoned in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

between 2013 and 2017. Halawa was adopted by

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

as a

prisoner of conscience A prisoner of conscience (POC) is anyone imprisoned because of their race, sexual orientation, religion, or political views. The term also refers to those who have been imprisoned or persecuted for the nonviolent expression of their conscienti ...

and

Lynn Boylan Lynn Boylan (; born 29 November 1976) is an Irish Sinn Féin politician who has been a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Ireland for the Dublin constituency since July 2024. She was previously an MEP for Dublin from 2014 to 2019. Fr ...

led a vote in the European parliament of 500 to 11. Gallagher has spoken about the importance and value of pro bono work. She has represented survivors of the

Hillsborough disaster The Hillsborough disaster was a fatal crowd crush at a football match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989. It occurred during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in the tw ...

and the 7/7 bombings. In 2017, she received UCD's alumni award in Law and she became a

Queen's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

in the same year. Gallagher also served as a judge that year at the

Freedom of Expression Awards Index on Censorship is an organisation campaigning for freedom of expression. It produces a quarterly magazine of the same name from London. It is directed by the non-profit-making Writers and Scholars International, Ltd (WSI) in association wit ...

with actor

Noma Dumezweni Noma Dumezweni (born 28 July 1969) is a South African-British actress. In 2006, she won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role for her performance as Ruth Younger in '' A Raisin in the Sun'' at the Lyric Hammersmith ...

Tina Brown Christina Hambley Brown, Lady Evans (born in England on 21 November 1953), is a journalist, magazine editor, columnist, broadcaster, and author, with dual British/United States citizenship. She is the former editor in chief of '' Tatler'' (197 ...

, Anab Jain and Stephen Budd. In 2022, she spoke out against what she saw as anti-Irish and anti-lawyer talk made by British government ministers. She thought these were a result of Brexit. She had personally received death threats and

supported her view that politicians should be more cautious in their accusations against lawyers and judges. In 2023, she was appointed to the Irish independent role of ''Special Rapporteur-for Children''. She replaced Professor Conor O'Mahony and will serve for three years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gallagher, Caoilfhionn Living people Irish King's Counsel Alumni of University College Dublin Irish human rights activists 21st-century King's Counsel Year of birth missing (living people) Lawyers from Dublin (city)