Michael Dougan is Professor of

European Law European Union law is a system of Supranational union, supranational Law, laws operating within the 27 member states of the European Union (EU). It has grown over time since the 1952 founding of the European Coal and Steel Community, to promote ...

and Jean Monnet Chair in EU Law, at the

University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...

. He came to the attention of social media users in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

when a video of one of his lectures was uploaded to

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

and other social media platforms, in which he dissected the academic validity and honesty of the legal arguments presented by those advocating the

United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET). The UK, which joined th ...

– more commonly known as "Brexit" – in the lead up to the June 2016 referendum. During the approximately 25 minute long

viral The word ''Viral'' means "relating to viruses" (small infectious agents). It may also refer to: Viral behavior, or virality Memetic behavior likened that of a virus, for example: * Viral marketing, the use of existing social networks to spre ...

clip, Dougan surmises the

Leave campaign Campaigning in the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum began unofficially on 20 February 2016 when Prime Minister David Cameron formally announced under the terms of the European Union Referendum Act 2015 that a referendum wou ...

as "degenerat nginto dishonesty on an industrial scale". Dougan has provided both written and live expert testimony to the

UK Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of ...

; submitting to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

European Scrutiny Committee The European Scrutiny Committee was a Select committee (United Kingdom), select committee of the British House of Commons, House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Following Britain's withdrawal from the European Union in January ...

and

Foreign Affairs Select Committee The Foreign Affairs Select Committee is one of many select committees of the British House of Commons, which scrutinises the expenditure, administration and policy of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office The Foreign, Commonwea ...

, as well as the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

European Union Committee The European Union Committee was a select committee of the House of Lords in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Its terms of reference were "to consider European Union documents and other matters relating to the European Union", as well as " ...

, amongst others. He has also acted as an external advisor to UK Government departments on important EU legal developments, including discussions about the enactment of the

European Union Act 2011 The European Union Act 2011 (c. 12), was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, requiring a referendum be held on amendments of the Treaty on European Union or the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Introduced in the Ho ...

, as well as the Review of the Balance of Competences Between the UK and the EU. Additionally, he has acted as a

fact checker A fact is a truth, true data, datum about one or more aspects of a circumstance. Standard reference works are often used to Fact-checking, check facts. Science, Scientific facts are verified by repeatable careful observation or measurement by ...

for

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"Reality Check" service during the

Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...

referendum. He is a joint editor of the ''

Common Market Law Review The Common Market Law Review is a bi-monthly, peer-reviewed law journal covering European Union law. It is the oldest dedicated journal on EU law, EU (originally EEC) law, founded in 1963 by the Europa Institute of Leiden University in cooperation ...

'', a bi-monthly,

peer-reviewed Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work ( peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...

law journal A law review or law journal is a scholarly journal or publication that focuses on legal issues. A law review is a type of legal periodical. Law reviews are a source of research, imbedded with analyzed and referenced legal topics; they also provi ...

covering European Union law.

References

External links

University of Liverpool Biography
European Union law scholars Academics of the University of Liverpool Living people Year of birth missing (living people) {{UK-academic-bio-stub