Caroline Costello is an Irish judge who has served as President of the

Court of Appeal An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to Hearing (law), hear a Legal case, case upon appeal from a trial court or other ...

since July 2024 and a Judge of the

since November 2018. She previously served as a Judge of the High Court from 2014 to 2018. Costello graduated with a BA in Classics and History from

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 ...

in 1982. She subsequently attended the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

and the

King's Inns The Honorable Society of King's Inns () is the "Inn of Court" for the Bar of Ireland. Established in 1541, King's Inns is Ireland's oldest school of law and one of Ireland's significant historical environments. The Benchers of King's Inns aw ...

. She became a barrister in 1988 and a senior counsel in 2010. She had a commercial-oriented practice, focusing on

commercial law Commercial law (or business law), which is also known by other names such as mercantile law or trade law depending on jurisdiction; is the body of law that applies to the rights, relations, and conduct of Legal person, persons and organizations ...

banking law Banking regulation and supervision refers to a form of financial regulation which subjects banks to certain requirements, restrictions and guidelines, enforced by a financial regulatory authority generally referred to as banking supervisor, with ...

, and

insolvency law In accounting, insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company (debtor), at maturity; those in a state of insolvency are said to be ''insolvent''. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-sheet ins ...

. She was appointed to the High Court in September 2014. She presided over High Court bankruptcy proceedings involving Seán Dunne. She served a term as chair of the judicial wing of INSOL Europe, a federation of insolvency lawyers. In 2018, she made a reference to 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 ...

arising out of an action taken by

Max Schrems Maximilian Schrems (born 1987) is an Austrian activist, lawyer, and author who became known for campaigns against Facebook for its privacy violations, including violations of European privacy laws and the alleged transfer of personal data to t ...

regarding the

EU–US Privacy Shield The EU–US Privacy Shield was a legal framework for regulating transatlantic exchanges of personal data for commercial purposes between the European Union and the United States. One of its purposes was to enable US companies to more easily receive ...

. She was appointed a Judge of the

in November 2018. Her appointment to the Court of Appeal along with Isobel Kennedy resulted in the first Irish court with a gender balanced number of judges. She is the daughter of the former

Attorney General of Ireland The attorney general of Ireland () is a constitutional officer who is the legal adviser to the Government and is therefore the chief law officer of the State. The attorney general is not a member of the Government but does participate in cabine ...

and President of the High Court Declan Costello and the granddaughter of former

Taoiseach The Taoiseach (, ) is the head of government or prime minister of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the President of Ireland upon nomination by Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...

John A. Costello John Aloysius Costello (20 June 1891 – 5 January 1976) was an Irish Fine Gael politician who served as Taoiseach from 1948 to 1951 and from 1954 to 1957. He was leader of the opposition from 1951 to 1954 and from 1957 to 1959 and attorney gene ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Costello, Caroline Living people Alumni of University College Dublin Judges of the Court of Appeal (Ireland) High Court judges (Ireland) 21st-century Irish judges 20th-century Irish lawyers Alumni of the University of Oxford Year of birth missing (living people) Alumni of King's Inns 21st-century Irish women judges