Mark Sanfey is an Irish judge and lawyer who has served as a Judge of the High Court of Ireland since December 2019. He previously practiced as a barrister specialising in insolvency and bankruptcy law.

Early life

Sanfey was educated at

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

and trained to be a barrister at 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 ...

Legal career

He became a barrister in 1987 and became a senior counsel in 2004. Sanfey specialised in aspects of insolvency law while in practice, including cases involving examinership, bankruptcy, receivership, and liquidation. He represented the former chair of

Anglo Irish Bank Anglo Irish Bank was an Republic of Ireland, Irish bank headquartered in Dublin from 1964 to 2011. It began to wind down after nationalisation in 2009. In July 2011 Anglo Irish merged with the Irish Nationwide Building Society, forming a new co ...

Seán FitzPatrick in bankruptcy proceedings in 2010. His practice also extended to other commercial litigation, including contractual disputes. He appeared for

Michelle Rocca Michelle Mary Teresa Rocca (born 1961) is an Irish-Italian TV host, former model and beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss Ireland 1980. The following year, she married footballer John Devine. Two years after their divorce in 1990 she met a ...

in 2015 in the High Court relating to a land dispute with her neighbour. He acted for businessman Richard Lynn at the

Mahon Tribunal The Tribunal of Inquiry into Certain Planning Matters and Payments, commonly known as the Mahon Tribunal after the name of its last chairman, was a public inquiry in Republic of Ireland, Ireland established by Dáil Éireann in 1997 to investiga ...

. Outside of practice, he was a founding member of the Construction Bar Association of Ireland, for which he was chairman between 2013 and 2018. In 1991, he co-authored "Bankruptcy Law and Practice in Ireland", with a second edition published in 2010.

Judicial career

Sanfey was appointed to the High Court of Ireland in December 2019. He has heard cases involving bankruptcy, insolvency law, injunctions, judicial review, and professional misconduct. He replaced

Denis McDonald Denis McDonald is an Irish judge and lawyer who has served as a Judge of the Court of Appeal since November 2024. He previously served as a Judge of the High Court from 2018 to 2024. He also previously practised as a barrister with a speciality ...

as the High Court's designated judge hearing personal insolvency matters. As of 2021, he is the judge appointed to oversee arbitration cases in the High Court.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanfey, Mark Living people High Court judges (Ireland) Irish barristers Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Scholars of Trinity College Dublin Alumni of King's Inns Year of birth missing (living people)