Legal Writing

Legal Writing

BOOKS

The Belfast Agreement: a practical legal analysis

[London, 2000]

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The Hand of History?: legal essays on the Belfast Agreement

[London, 2011]

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Tony Blair and the IRA: the 'on the runs' scandal

[London, 2016]

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Pretence: why the UK needs a written constitution

Published 30 May 2023

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Pretence: why the UK needs a written constitution

Appearances; interviews; reviews etc.

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BOOKS

Legal Essays

ARTICLES

'The Belfast Agreement'

Fordham International Law Journal, Vol. 22, no. 4, April 1999, Austen Morgan and Duncan Shipley-Dalton MLA

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'Permeating the Irish Border'

Boundary and Security Bulletin, vol. 7, no. 3, autumn 1999

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'What Bill of Rights?'

Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, vol. 52, nos. 3 & 4, autumn & winter 2001

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'Recent European Anti-discrimination Law'

2002, 3, University of Limerick Law Review

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'The Northern Ireland (Location of Victims' Remains) Act 1999; amnesty, immunity or what?'

Irish Jurist, 2003

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'Did David Trimble Really Agree to a United Ireland?'

Commonwealth Lawyer, April 2003

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'The Changing Constitution of the UK'

Commonwealth Lawyer, August 2005

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'Northern Ireland terrorism: the legal response'

In James Dingley, ed., Combating Terrorism in Northern Ireland, London 2009

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'From Belfast to St Andrews: the constitution of Northern Ireland'

In Brian Barton & Paddy Roche, eds., The Northern Ireland Question, London 2009

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'Arguments for a UK Bill of Rights and Responsibilities'

Commonwealth Lawyer, December 2011

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(With Others) 'Mutual Interest: how the UK and EU can resolve the Irish border issue after Brexit'

Legatum Institute special trade commission, September 2017

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Technical Note regarding the above

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(With Victoria Hewson) ‘A Hard Question: managing the Irish border through Brexit’

[2017] 20(1) IJEL

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‘When to Recuse and When Not'

Commonwealth Lawyer, December 2017

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ARTICLES

LAW STATUTES

Northern Ireland (Location of Victims' Remains) Act 1999

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Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000

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Justice (Northern Ireland) Act 2002

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Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2003

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Northern Ireland (Monitoring Commission etc.) Act 2003

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Justice (Northern Ireland) Act 2004

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Constitutional Reform Act 2005

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Inquiries Act 2005

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Northern Ireland Act 2006

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Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2006

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Northern Ireland (St Andrews Agreement) Act 2006

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Northern Ireland (St Andrews Agreement) Act 2007

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Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Act 2007

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Northern Ireland Act 2009

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Equality Act 2010

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Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010

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European Union Act 2011

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LAW STATUTES

UK INSIGHT

Interpretation of convention rights - Human Rights Act 1998

(18 August 2025)

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Religious freedom: Human Rights

(10 October 2025)

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Right to respect for private and family life: Immigration

(18 August 2025)

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ECHR: duty to undertake effective investigation

(18 August 2025)

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UK INSIGHT

LEXISNEXIS

The Queen's Speech 2015

[11 June 2015]

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LEXISNEXIS

JOURNALISM

'Where Now Constitutional Reform?'

Barrister, January 2005

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'Why We Don't Need a Bill of Rights'

News Letter (Belfast), 21 January 2008

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'No Devolving Human Rights'

Guardian, 24 February 2010

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'Union 2021'

News Letter (Belfast), 16 July 2010

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'Configuring a UK Bill of Rights and Responsibilities'

Barrister, June 2010

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... (amended version)

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'This Undignified Human Rights Wake is Futile'

News Letter (Belfast), 17 September 2010

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'The New Laws We Need'

News Letter (Belfast), 10 October 2011

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'The human rights act and a question of legitimacy’

The Justice Gap, 6 May 2015

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'A constitutional crisis with precedents from the past as well as fresh uncertainties'

Belfast Telegraph, 10 January 2017

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'Election was followed by loose talk of nationalism winning'

News Letter (Belfast), 17 March 2017

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'Why Gerry Adams is wrong on the Belfast agreement'

Policy Exchange, 16 June 2017

'Proposed Irish language act could breach Good Friday agreement, lawyer says'

Guardian, 10 July 2017

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'Something less than worthwhile'

This Union, 17 January 2018

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'Key questions that arise from judge’s unprecedented withdrawal in Loughinisland case'

News Letter (Belfast), 31 January 2018

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'Questions over the Irish border are eminently soluble, if only the EU would allow the work to begin'

BrexitCentral, 20 February 2018

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'London might have to bring in direct rule after incinerator ruling'

News Letter (Belfast), 23 May 2018

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'Brexit should not have been this complicated'

Belfast Telegraph, 16 November 2018

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'Is Buckland letting the judges set the pace on reform?'

Conservativehome, 31 March 2021

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'The strange story of Adams, the IRA, imprisonment, compensation - and an important decision for ministers'

Conservativehome, 21 April 2021

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'Hooded men ruling might be beginning of end to NI lawfare'

News Letter (Belfast), 8 January 2022

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'Will Raab's new Bill of Rights end the Strasbourg court's role in British law?'

Conservativehome, 7 March 2022

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'EU misuse of deal is biggest threat to NI stability since '98' (scroll down)

News Letter (Belfast), 15 June 2022

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'How Truss can make the legal case for unilaterally changing the Protocol'

Conservativehome, 27 June 2022

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'Three ways in which a new prime minister can improve the Northern Ireland legacy plan'

Conservativehome, 22 July 2022

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'Why the government needs a new approach to equalities'

Conservativehome, 21 September 2022

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'Why the United Kingdom needs a written constitution'

The Constitution Society, 24 November 2022

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'Can Labour do constitutional reform again?'

The Constitution Society, 24 January 2023

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'There may be peace but there is not justice for past violence'

News Letter (Belfast), 30 March 2023

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'Unseating Lord Chancellors'

Counsel magazine, June 2023

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'Writing a Constitution for the UK'

Counsel magazine, August 2023

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'Ireland should hesitate before suing the UK over legacy act'

News Letter (Belfast), 20 September 2023

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'I do not expect Ireland to win its legacy legal action against the UK'

News Letter (Belfast), 10 January 2024

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'Decision to hold Finucane inquiry continues the rewriting of history'

News Letter (Belfast), 13 September 2024

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'Dublin continues to cheerlead for nationalists on legacy'

News Letter (Belfast), 30 September 2024

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'How Labour put the "hokey cokey" into Troubles legacy law'

Conservativehome, 17 November 2025

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'Operation Kenova exposed not just the weaknesses of a Chief Constable but the Northern Irish criminal justice system'

Conservativehome, 29 December 2025

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'Boutcher should be sacked over his handling of Kenova'

News Letter (Belfast), 13 January 2026

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'Phil Shiner knew Starmer, and Starmer knew him - but wants you to forget that'

ConservativeHome, 11 February 2026

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'How to use the law to save the Diego Garcia base from Starmer's bad Chagos deal'

ConservativeHome, 6 March 2026

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'why did Gerry Adams pull the plug on the victims' claim?'

ConservativeHome, 25 March 2026

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'why does Labour target our veterans?'

ConservativeHome, 20 April 2026

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'We now know more than we did about the Mandelson affair - so what happens next?'

ConservativeHome, 23 April 2026

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'How you stop the breakup of the United Kingdom with a slightly unpopular tool'

ConservativeHome, 26 May 2026

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'The Northern Ireland legacy Policy was already in tatters before today'

ConservativeHome, 23 June 2026

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'The UK has slapped down Troubles lawfare against the security forces'

News Letter (Belfast), 26 June 2026

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'Nigel Farage's big gamble with "the people versus parliament" could work'

ConservativeHome, 15 July 2026

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JOURNALISM