Paul Burns is an Irish judge and lawyer who has served as a Judge of the High Court of Ireland since March 2020. He previously practiced as a barrister with a specialisation in criminal trials.

Early life

Burns attended

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 ...

where he obtained a bachelor's degree in legal science in 1984 and a

Master of Letters A Master of Letters degree (MLitt or LittM; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. Ireland Trinity College Dublin and Maynooth University offer MLitt degrees. Trinity has offered them the longest, owing largely to its tradition as Ireland's ...

in law in 1987.

Legal career

He became a barrister in 1986 and became a senior counsel in 2004. His practice was predominantly focused on criminal law, appearing for both accused persons and the Director of Public Prosecutions. Among the trials he has been involved with included serious offences of murder, sexual offences and drug offences. He has also acted in actions involving judicial review, constitutional law, personal injuries and defamation. In 1998, he appeared in the

Special Criminal Court The Special Criminal Court (SCC; ) is a juryless criminal court in Ireland which tries terrorism and serious organised crime cases. Legal basis Article 38 of the Constitution of Ireland empowers the Dáil to establish "special courts" with ...

for Paul Ward in his trial for the murder of

Veronica Guerin Veronica Guerin Turley (5 July 1959 – 26 June 1996) was an Irish investigative journalist focusing on organised crime in Ireland, who was murdered in a contract killing believed to have been ordered by a South Dublin-based drug cartel. Bor ...

and in 2003, in the Court of Criminal Appeal for

Catherine Nevin Catherine Nevin (; 1 October 1950 – 19 February 2018) was an Irish woman who was convicted of arranging to have her husband Tom Nevin murdered in a suspected contract killing at Jack White's Inn, a pub owned by the couple in County Wicklow, ...

in an appeal of her murder conviction. He represented former judge

Brian Curtin Brian Curtin (b. 1951/52) is a former barrister and Irish circuit court judge, who was tried for possessing images of child pornography. After the case collapsed, the question of whether Curtin could continue as a judge became the focus of polit ...

at trial and in Oireachtas proceedings and later former judge Heather Perrin in her trial for false accounting. In 2007, he was counsel for the Garda Síochána in a case for damages taken by

Frank McBrearty Snr Frank McBrearty Snr is an Irish people, Irish businessman who was the victim of police harassment following the death of Richie Barron. He was awarded nearly €2.5 million in compensation by the High Court (Ireland), Irish High Court. Part of th ...

and appeared for solicitor Michael Lynn in preliminary hearings. Burns has also represented the wife of John Gilligan in civil proceedings and, in defamation actions against media organisations,

Declan Ganley Declan James Ganley (born 23 July 1968) is an English-born Irish entrepreneur, businessman, and political activist. He was the founder and leader of the Irish branch of the eurosceptic Libertas Party. Primarily a telecommunications entrepreneur ...

Paddy McKillen Patrick McKillen (born 1955) is an international hotelier, property investor and businessman. Biography McKillen was born in Andersonstown, West Belfast. His father owned a garage in the same suburb. At the age of 16, he joined and built up ...

and

Denis O'Brien Denis O'Brien (born 19 April 1958) is an Irish billionaire businessman, and the founder and owner of Digicel. He was listed among the World's Top 200 Billionaires in 2015 and was Ireland's richest native-born citizen for several years. His bus ...

. He prosecuted cases against Thomas "Slab" Murphy and against a man accused of the

shooting of Gareth Hutch Gareth Hutch was shot dead in Dublin on Tuesday 24 May 2016. He was a nephew of Gerry Hutch. He was also a cousin of Gary Hutch and a nephew of Eddie Hutch Snr. Shortly before he was shot, Gareth Hutch was issued with a Garda Information Mess ...

. He was appointed to the Electronic Communications Appeals Panel in 2005.

Judicial career

Burns was nominated to become a judge of the High Court of Ireland in December 2019 and was appointed in March 2020. The vacancy was created following Donald Binchy becoming 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 ...

. He has heard cases involving extradition and bail applications. In October 2020, he refused to order the extradition of Ian Bailey to France for trial arising from the

death of Sophie Toscan du Plantier Sophie Toscan du Plantier (28 July 1957 – 23 December 1996), a 39-year-old French woman, was killed outside her holiday home near Toormore, Goleen, County Cork, Ireland, on the night of 23 December 1996. Victim Sophie Toscan du Plantier, ' ...

. He has also presided over cases involving personal injuries, medical negligence and homicide. Coffey is a judge of the

References

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