Michael Peart is a retired Irish judge who served as a Judge 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 ...

from 2014 to 2019 and a Judge of the High Court from 2002 to 2014.

Early life

Peart attended

Glenstal Abbey Glenstal Abbey is a Catholic Church, Catholic Order of St. Benedict, Benedictine monastery of the Congregation of the Annunciation located in Murroe, County Limerick, Ireland. It is dedicated to Saint Joseph and Saint Columba. In July 2024, Col ...

and obtained a BCL degree 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 ...

. Following his education at the

Law Society of Ireland The Law Society of Ireland () is a professional body established on 24 June 1830 and is the educational, representative and regulatory body of the Solicitor, solicitors' profession in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. As of 2020, the Law Society ha ...

, he was admitted 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 1970. He worked at Pearts Solicitors with a speciality in litigation. He represented Bula Mines in litigation against

Tara Mine Tara Mines is a zinc and lead mine near Navan, County Meath, Ireland. Tara is an underground mine where the orebody lies between 50 and 900 metres below the surface. The orebody is within the carbonate-hosted lead-zinc ore deposits of the Nav ...

which frequently reached 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 ...

. He is a bencher 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 ...

Judicial career

He was appointed a High Court judge in 2002. He was the first Solicitor appointed to the High Court. He presided over cases in the High Court involving criminal law, judicial review, personal injuries, immigration law and commercial law. Peart became a Judge of the

in October 2014 upon its establishment. In the Court of Appeal, he delivered judgments on appeals involving defamation, judicial review, land law, criminal law,

discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discovery ...

, and professional misconduct. He chaired a committee to reform legal education of solicitors in Ireland through the

, which presented its findings in 2018. He retired in October 2019 in advance of his seventieth birthday.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peart, Michael Living people 20th-century Irish lawyers Alumni of University College Dublin Judges of the Court of Appeal (Ireland) High Court judges (Ireland) Year of birth missing (living people) People educated at Glenstal Abbey School 21st-century Irish judges Lawyers from County Dublin People from Sandymount