James Rooney BL

James is a practising barrister specialising in public law, particularly childcare, housing, immigration, non-discrimination law, and constitutional law. In 2022, James was the Catherine McGuinness Fellow in Children’s Rights and Child Law at the Children’s Rights Alliance. In 2025, James was awarded the Anthony Lester Fellowship from Bard College to undertake practical fieldwork in human rights and the rule of law. On foot of this Fellowship, from July to October 2025, James is providing legal support to the Streha Centre in Tirana, the first residential centre in Albania providing support for the LGBTI community.

Prior to coming down, James completed his PhD at the School of Law, Trinity College Dublin for which he received scholarships from both the Government of Ireland and Trinity College Dublin. Outside the bar, James is an academic and lecturer, currently Lecturing at the School of Social Policy  at Trinity College Dublin, and along with Cillian Bracken BL runs the FLAC LGBTQI+ Legal Advice Clinic.

‘McD v L and M Reimagined’ in Nuno Ferreira, Maria Moscati and Senthorun Raj (eds) Queer Judgments Project (Counterpress 2025) 315. [with Claire O’Connell]

‘McGee, Norris, and the AIDS Crisis’ (2024) 44(1) Dublin University Law Journal 207

‘Judges, Education, and Class in Ireland’ (2023) 7(3) Irish Judicial Studies Journal 105

‘TD v Minister for Education: Hard Case, Bad Law’ (2022) 6(3) Irish Judicial Studies Journal 71

‘Housing and Minorities’ in Lorcan Sirr (ed) Housing in Ireland: Beyond the Market (IPA, 2022), 72 [with Rebecca Keatinge]

‘Covid-19 Lockdowns and the Right to Education in Ireland’ (2011 – 2022) 440 Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review 415 [with Alan Brady]

‘The Minority Rights Implications of Irish Unification’ in Oran Doyle, Aileen McHarg, and Jo Murkens (eds) Constitutions under Pressure: The Brexit Challenge for Ireland and the United Kingdom (CUP 2021) 153.

‘Minority Groups and Housing Services: Barriers to Access’ Mercy Law Resource Centre (March 2021)

‘International Human Rights as a Source of Unenumerated Rights: Lessons from the Natural Law’ (2019) 42 Dublin University Law Journal 141

‘Class Actions and Public Interest Standing in South Africa: Practical and Participatory Perspectives’ (2017) 33:3 South African Journal on Human Rights 406

James lectured at the School of Law, Trinity College Dublin  2020-2025, lecturing in Constitutional Law II, Foundations of Law I, Mooting and Clinical Legal Education modules. James is now lecturing on child law at the School of Social Policy, Trinity College Dublin.

‘McGee, Norris, and the AIDS Crisis’ (Contraception and the Constitution: Reproductive Autonomy and Constitutional Change, Trinity College Dublin, 2 December 2023)

‘Socioeconomic Rights and Constitutional (Under-)Transformation: The Irish Experience’ (World Congress of Constitutional Law, University of Johannesburg, 6 December 2022)

Panel Member, ‘Housing and Distributive Justice post-TD’ (Trinity Centre for Constitutional Governance: Situating Social Rights in a Constitutional Democracy: A Symposium on TD at 21, 9 April 2022)

‘The Language Question and Parity of Esteem’ (The Legal Status of the Irish Language Conference 30 April 2021).

‘The Contingency of Rights Protection upon Judicial Culture in Common Law Systems’ (Society of Legal Scholars 110^th Annual Conference, 3 September 2019).

‘The Threat of Recent Unenumerated Rights Jurisprudence to the Legislature’s Power in a Dualist System’ (UCC Sovereignty, Populism and Constitutional Politics Conference, 31 August 2019).

‘The Rights Implications of Irish Unification’ (ICON-S British-Irish Chapter Annual Conference, 31 April 2019).

‘International Human Rights as a Source of Unenumerated Rights: Lessons from the Natural Law’ (Trinity College Law Student Colloquium, 9 February 2019).

‘The Injusticiable Constitution and the Common Good: The Preamble and Directive Principles in Contrast’ (University of Limerick ‘The Constitution at 80’ Conference, 11 November 2017).

Free Legal Advice Centre LGBTQI+ Unmet Legal Need Co-organiser.

Public Interest Law Alliance Pro-Bono Register

Home for Good Legal Sub-Committee Member

Professional Associations and Memberships:

– Home for Good Legal Sub-Committee

– Public Interest Law Alliance

– The Immigration, Asylum and Citizenship Bar Association