Davy Lalor BL

Davy is a barrister in civil practice, with a focus on public and commercial law. He is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor in EU law at the School of Law in Trinity College Dublin.  He is regularly briefed by State entities, public bodies, commercial entities, and private clients to provide both contentious and advisory services.

Additionally, he is in the closing stages of a Ph.D funded by the Irish Research Council in comparative constitutional law at the School of Law & Government in Dublin City University, where he has lectured in constitutional law and legal theory for several years. He also acts as a tutor on a range of programmes at the Honorable Society of the King’s Inns.

Prior to coming to the Bar, he worked as a trainee solicitor with McCann FitzGerald and completed a master’s degree at the University of Oxford.

Below is a selection of recent cases in which Davy has acted:

State Work

• Jones v Minister for Public Expenditure (Record No. 2024/1393 JR): junior counsel for the State in a constitutional challenge to the application of a particular pension scheme.
• Hegarty v AGS (SC Record No. 2024/0002):  junior counsel for the Garda Commissioner in a Supreme Court appeal seeking to clarify the scope of a statutory power to dismiss members of the force outside of the “ordinary” disciplinary processes. Judgment awaited.
• Cawley v Tipperary County Council & Ors (Record No. 2024/496 JR): junior counsel for the State in a constitutional challenge to certain provisions of the Planning and Development Acts.
• ESB v Good & Ors (SC Record No. 2023/0058): research junior counsel in a Supreme Court appeal which may have constitutional implications for several aspects of the State’s compulsory purchase order framework. Judgment awaited.
• Re Article 26 and the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill [2023] IESC 24: research junior counsel to the successful counsel team appointed to defend the constitutionality of the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill in the most recent Article 26 reference to the Supreme Court.
• Advisory Work: regularly provide advisory services to the Office of Attorney General across a range of matters such as the constitutionality of rent pressure zones and the implications for Ireland arising out of the State’s proposed ratification of certain international treaties.

Public Law

• Heneghan v Minister for Housing [2023] IESC 7: research junior for the Applicant in successful challenge to the constitutionality of the legislation governing the Seanad university electoral franchise.
• The O’Toole Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in Schools: research junior counsel in Scoping Inquiry into the most appropriate means of dealing with allegations of historical child sexual abuse in schools.
• Central Bank v A Person Concerned: acting for a “person concerned” in an inquiry under Part IIIC of the Central Bank Act 1942 accused of breaching several aspects of the Central Bank’s accountability framework during the “Celtic Tiger” years.
• Inherent Jurisdiction / Wardship: regularly appear in sensitive inherent jurisdiction and wardship matters.
• Advisory Work: regularly instructed to provide advice to both public bodies and private clients in a range of areas such as the recognition of professional qualifications across the EU, freedom of information, the duties owed by statutory and / or public entities, the Proceeds of Crime Act 1996, and the merits of judicially reviewing decisions of public bodies.

Commercial/Chancery:

• Simro v Wright & Ors (Record No. 2019/5769 P): junior counsel in dispute involving members of the Wright’s of Howth business which was scheduled to run for 12 days in the High Court. Settled on confidential terms.
• Personal Insolvency: regularly appear unled for financial institutions in personal insolvency matters.
• Advisory Work: have provided advice across a diverse range of areas including trusts law, the conflict of laws, and the amenability – from a first principles perspective – of particular types of decision affecting commercial interests to judicial review to some of the State’s largest commercial/private entities.

• Standards of Review and Article 40.1 in the aftermath of Donnelly v Minister for Social Protection’ (2023) 5 Irish Supreme Court Review 219.
• ‘Ontario (Attorney General) v G and ‘Principled’ Remedial Discretion: Lessons for Ireland’ (2022) 5(2) Irish Judicial Studies Journal 55.
• ‘Damache v Minister for Justice and Equality & Ors [2020] IESC 63’ Dublin Law & Politics Review (2021) 2(1) Dublin Law & Politics Review 51

• ‘From Parliamentary Elections to the Criminal Code: the Value of Remedial Flexibility in Constitutional Review’ Contesting Constitutional Governance, Trinity College Dublin, June 2023.
• ‘Article 40.1 in the Aftermath of Donnelly v Minister for Social Protection’ Irish Supreme Court Review, Trinity College Dublin, November 2022.
• ‘Judicial Remedies for the 21st Century’ ICON-S: the Future of Public Law Global Conference, July 2021.
• ‘Remedial Judicial Discretion in Constitutional Review: A Comparative Analysis’ Annual Doctoral Workshop in Constitutional Theory, University of Sheffield, December 2020