Joseph Gerald Finnegan (1 October 1942 – 16 December 2023) was an Irish judge who served as a Judge of the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

from 2006 to 2012, President of the High Court from 2001 to 2006 and a Judge of the High Court from 1999 to 2006. Finnegan was technically the second highest ranking judge in Ireland while he was President of the High Court and was an ''ex officio'' member of the Supreme Court that he was subsequently appointed to as a full member.

Biography

Joseph Gerald Finnegan was born on 1 October 1942. He was educated at

Synge Street CBS Synge Street CBS (colloquially Synger) is a boys' non-fee-paying state school, under the auspices of the Edmund Rice Schools Trust, located in the Dublin 8 area of Dublin, Ireland. The school was founded in 1864 by Canon ...

and St. Mary's College

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ) is the county town of County Louth, Ireland. The town is situated on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the north-east coast of Ireland, and is halfway between Dublin and Belfast, close to and south of the bor ...

. He attended

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 was awarded degrees of Bachelor of Civil Law and Bachelor of Laws. He qualified as a

solicitor A solicitor is a lawyer who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and enabled to p ...

in 1966. He was Assistant Secretary of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland from 1968 to 1973. He was

called to the Bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in 1978 and became Senior Counsel in 1990. He practised mainly in general common law and chancery matters. He had a particular interest in conveyancing and title-related litigation. He was appointed to the bench of the High Court in 1999 and was appointed President of the High Court in 2001, a position which he held until his appointment to the

Supreme Court of Ireland The Supreme Court of Ireland () is the highest judicial authority in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is a court of final appeal and exercises, in conjunction with the Court of Appeal (Ireland), Court of Appeal and the High Court (Ireland), Hig ...

in December 2006. He retired from the Supreme Court in 2012. Finnegan was a member of the Board of the Courts Service from 2001 to 2006 sat on the finance committee and remuneration committee and was chairman of its audit committee. He had a keen interest in legal education and was a member of the education committee of the Honorable Society of 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 ...

from 2000 until his death. He was also a Bencher of the Honorable Society of King's Inns and a Bencher of the Honorable Society of

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

. Finnegan died in Dublin on 16 December 2023, at the age of 81.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Finnegan, Joseph 1942 births 2023 deaths Lawyers from Dublin (city) Presidents of the High Court (Ireland) 20th-century Irish judges Alumni of University College Dublin People educated at Synge Street CBS Alumni of King's Inns 21st-century Irish judges People educated at St Mary's College, Dundalk