Biography
Susan Leahy, BCL, LLM, PhD (UCC), is a lecturer in law at UL. Her PhD research was funded by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences. Her thesis was entitled The Rules and Realities of Consent in Irish Sexual Offences Law: Perspectives on Reform and examined the rules relating to consent in Irish sexual offences legislation. She has published her research on sexual offences in both national and international journals including the Common Law World Review, the International Journal of Evidence and Proof, the Journal of Criminal Law, and the Child and Family Law Quarterly. She has co-authored, with Dr Margaret Fitzgerald-O'Reilly, a book entitled Sexual Offending in Ireland: Laws, Procedures and Punishment, (Clarus, 2018). Susan's primary research interests lie in the area of criminal justice (with particular emphasis on sexual violence and victims of crime) and family law (specifically domestic abuse and marriage). Susan lectures in Criminology, Family Law, Child Law, and Media Law. She completed a specialist diploma in Teaching, Learning, and Scholarship at UL in 2014. She is the director of the BA (Criminal Justice) and co-director of the Centre for Crime, Justice and Victim Studies (CCJVS).
Teaching Interests
Susan teaches Child Law (LA4021), Media Law (LA4013 and LA5021), Family Law (LA4038), and Criminology (LA6052). She completed a specialist diploma in Teaching, Learning and Scholarship in 2014. Susan has a keen interest in legal pedagogy and has organised workshops on legal pedagogy involving national and international experts on law teaching in UL (2014 and 2016). Susan has co-authored (with Professor Shane Kilcommins and Dr Eimear Spain) a chapter on criminal law pedagogy which was published in Gledhill & Livings (eds), The Teaching of Criminal Law: The pedagogical perspectives (Routledge, 2017).
Susan has supervised a number of Advanced Lawyering projects for 4th year Law Plus students. These projects have focused on family law issues (e.g. the Child and Family Relationships Act 2015 and domestic abuse legislation) and victims' rights (e.g. rights of victims of sexual offences and of families of victims of homicide). Partners on these projects have included ADAPT Domestic Abuse Services, OneinFour and Advic.
Publications
Book
The Victim in the Irish Criminal Process
Shane Kilcommins, Susan Leahy, Kathleen Moore Walsh, Eimear Spain
Sexual Offending in Ireland: Laws, Procedures and Punishment
Susan Leahy and Margaret Fitzgerald O'Reilly
Sports Law in Ireland
Donnellan L, (with Leahy S)
Sports Law in Ireland
Donnellan L, and Leahy S,
Book Chapter
Recognition of Muslim Marriages Ceremonies in Ireland: An Analysis'
Leahy, S and O'Sullivan, K
Minority Religions under Irish Law: Islam in National and International Context
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004398252_007
Sexual Offences Law: the Impact of Gender Stereotypes on Adjudications of Consent in Rape Trials in Ireland'
Leahy, S
Law and Gender in Modern Ireland: Critique and Reform
Section 5 Criminal Law (Rape) (Amendment) Act 1990 (Ireland)'
Leahy, S
'Women's Legal Landmarks: Celebrating 100 Years of Women in Law in the UK and Ireland'
The Development of Victims Rights in Ireland
Shane Kilcommins, Susan Leahy, and Eimear Spain
Criminal Litigation
Conference Publication
Minority Religions under Irish Law Symposium, University of Limerick, Ireland
O'Sullivan K; Leahy S
Unregistered Muslim Marriages Regulations and Contestations Symposium
OSullivan, K; Leahy S
Society of Legal Scholars Annual Conference
O'Sullivan, K; Leahy, S
Irish Association of Law Teachers Annual Conference, Waterford, Ireland
O'Sullivan, K; Leahy, S
Society of Legal Scholars Annual Conference
Margaret Fitzgerald O'Reilly and Susan Leahy
Other Journal
Hard Cases and Bad Law: An Overview of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2006'
Leahy, S
Irish Law Times
In a Woman's Voice: A Feminist Analysis of Irish Rape Law'
Leahy, S
Irish Law TImes
Other Publication
Privilege, Third Party Disclosure, and Mandatory Recording of Offences
Shane kilcommins, Susan Leahy, Andrea Ryan
Peer Reviewed Journal
Changing Conceptions of Marriage in Ireland: Law and Practice'
Leahy, S and O'Sullivan, K
Child and Family Law Quarterly
Exploring the impact of the Victims' Directive on service provision for victims of crime in Ireland
Susan Leahy and Eimear Spain
Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly
Exploring the impact of the Victims' Directive on service provision for victims of crime in Ireland'
Leahy, S and Spain, E
Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly
Too Much Information? Regulating Disclosure of Complainants' Personal Records in Sexual Offence Trials'
Leahy, S
Criminal Law Review
Reform of Irish Rape Law: The Need for a Legislative Definition of Consent'
Leahy, S
Common Law World Review
DOI: 10.1350/clwr.2014.43.3.0272
Published Report
Analysis of Text for the Mid-term Review of the Second National Strategy on Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence 2016-2021
Leahy, S, Cusack, A, Kilcommins, S, Spain, E & Vaughan, E