UCC School of Law Appoints Eight New Adjunct Professors

23 Sep 2024

The new Adjunct Professors will take up their three-year terms this month.

UCC School of Law is delighted to announce that eight new adjunct professors have been appointed for three-year terms, beginning in semester one of the 2024/25 academic year.

Mr Éamon Ó Cuív

Mr Éamon Ó Cuív has been a partner at McCann Fitzgerald since 2017, commencing his career there as a trainee in 2008 following a BCL and LLM at UCD.  He is a recognised expert in the ESG field, particularly on sustainable finance having been a lead adviser on many of the key landmark green and sustainable finance initiatives in Ireland over the past few years. Mr Ó Cuív’s appointment is a planned part of the development of ESG education at UCC, based in the School of Law which aligns with both the UCC Sustainability Cluster and the SDGs and as part of the sponsorship agreement between McCann Fitzgerald LLP and UCC. He will be involved in the co-delivery of the ESG module, Environmental, Social & Corporate Governance (ESG) and Businesses: Law, Policy and Practice, led by Prof Femi Amao, and generously supported by McCann Fitzgerald LLP.

Mr Ian Drennan

Mr Ian Drennan is an accounting professional with twenty years’ experience, at Chief Executive Officer/Board level, of leading and developing statutory bodies having public interest remits as CEO of the Irish Auditing & Accounting Supervisory Authority (IAASA)(2004-2012), Director of Corporate Enforcement Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE)(2012-2022) and since 2022 CEO of the Corporate Enforcement Authority.  Mr Drennan is a highly experienced leader of both civil and criminal investigations in the corporate/white-collar sphere.  He has academic qualifications in leadership, governance, and regulatory/white-collar crime.  Mr Drennan’s appointment will support the School’s aim of providing students with access to the highest level of expertise in practice as part of their studies with the School and will contribute to the enhancement of the LLM Business Law.

Dr John McGlynn

Dr John McGlynn is an outstanding Scottish business person. He did his undergraduate degree at Glasgow Caledonian University in accounting, also undertaking an LLB at the University of Strathclyde.  While undertaking his LLB, McGlynn set up an airport car-parking business. This led to further success in the storage (Storage Vault) and workspace (Co-Vault Workspace), property investment and development, and ultimately to Alba, a new Scottish based investment bank and Scottish Capital, a private equity firm based in Monaco.   Dr McGlynn has also secured a role as Business Ambassador for Glasgow Airport and serves on the Board of Advisors for Isle of Man Airport.  He has an honorary doctorate from the University of West of Scotland for services to entrepreneurship. As an adjunct professor, Dr McGlynn brings a wealth of expertise and experience to the School and College across a wide range of areas including entrepreneurship and aviation, as well as highlighting the value of law studies in business.

Mr Sandeep Kumar, Former Indian Ambassador to Ireland

Mr Sandeep Kumar enjoyed a hugely successful 36-year diplomatic career in the Indian Foreign Service from 1985 to 2021, serving in various Indian Embassies abroad. From 2008 to 2013, he served with the UN Development Programme in Kabul where he worked extensively on police reforms in Afghanistan. From 2013 to 2015, he served as Joint Secretary in the West Asia and North Africa Division of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi, with charge of several complex issues in the region.  From 2015 to 2018, Kumar served as Ambassador to Croatia. From 2018 to 2021, his final posting was as Ambassador to Ireland, before his retirement. Kumar holds an M.Phil. in Environment and Development (Cambridge) along with an M.Sc. in Security Studies (Chennai), LL.B. (Delhi) and BA Hons. in English Literature (Delhi). As an adjunct professor, Mr Kumar offers the School a significant opportunity for stronger engagement with India and support for Indian students at UCC. His engagement with students through events and guest lectures will contribute towards UCC’s aim of developing global citizens.

Hon Ms Justice Siobhán Stack

The Hon Ms Justice Stack is an alumnus of UCC with BCL (1991) and LLM (1992) degrees, as well an LLM from the University of Cambridge (1993), and a Barrister-at-Law degree from King’s Inns (1995). Ms Justice Stack worked as an assistant lecturer at UCD 1993-1996 and thereafter she commenced practice as a junior counsel, becoming a senior counsel in October 2013. Her practice encompassed judicial review, asylum law, EU law and law relating to the European Convention on Human Rights.  She frequently appeared on behalf of the Irish government and acted for defendants in the Special Criminal Court.  Ms Justice Stack became a judge of the High Court in March 2021.  She has presided over cases involving personal injuries, injunctions, constitutional law, trustee law and judicial review. Ms Justice Stack brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the School and as an alumnus, she will serve as a role model for our students.

Professor Gautam Gulati

Professor Gulati is a Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist and is a consultant to Cork Prison and District and Circuit Courts in Cork, Kerry and Waterford and the High Court. He holds research doctorates in Law (PhD) and in Medicine (MD) with expertise in human rights, policing and prisons. He has held an Adjunct Professorship in Law at the University of Limerick and a Visiting Professorship in Boston, Massachusetts. He has served as an advisor to the Oireachtas, Ministry of Justice, An Garda Siochana and GSOC in sensitive matters. He has been elected by the Council of Ministers at the Council of Europe as the Irish member of the European Committee for the prevention of torture, inhuman and degrading treatment or Punishment (CPT). Professor Gulati’s appointment builds on integrating medico-legal expertise in existing Law teaching programmes at the School and inform the development of novel cross-disciplinary programmes.

Professor Stefan Kirchner

Professor Kirchner is a Government Advisor in Germany and was previously Professor of Arctic Law at the Arctic Centre of the University of Lapland. He studied sociology in Dresden and the UK, before earning his doctoral and post-doctoral degrees at Universität Hamburg. He has been a practising lawyer in Germany, specializing in international human rights litigation, and has taught international law at universities in Germany, Lithuania, Ukraine, Finland, Italy, and Greenland. His work is focused on the intersection of human rights and the protection of the natural environment, and he is an expert on the law of the sea, human rights, environmental law and disaster risk reduction.  Professor Kirchner’s appointment will further build on the School’s expertise in the areas of Environmental Law and Maritime Law.  

Mr Marc Willers KC

Mr Marc Willers is a highly experienced Kings Counsel and is recommended in the Chambers UK Bar Guide and the Legal 500 in planning law, environmental law and civil liberties & human rights. He is also a member of the Irish Bar, and he is registered with the Bar Council for public access work and assists private clients in all the areas of his expertise. He has acted in a number of high-profile cases, and most recently represented represent the Swiss Senior Women in Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz and Others v. Switzerland, instructed by Greenpeace. His expertise in administrative law, human rights and discrimination; and Gypsy, Traveller and Roma law and also in planning law, environmental law and climate justice aligns well with a number of programmes and research centres within the School including the Traveller Equality and Justice Project (of which he is Chair of the Executive Board) and the Centre for Law & the Environment.  

Welcoming the eight new adjunct professors, Dean of the School of Law, Professor Mark Poustie said:

UCC’s Adjunct Professor programme is designed to ensure the appointment of distinguished individuals who have made or have the potential to make significant contributions to the University.   This can be readily demonstrated in the School’s latest Adjunct Professor appointments.  I am delighted to welcome all our new Adjunct Professors to the School of Law.  All are eminent and distinguished in their various fields – diplomacy, judiciary, legal practice, academia, business, and regulatory - and will make a tremendous tangible contribution to the School, the wider College of Business and Law and the University, inspiring our students as role models through their diverse careers, achievements and leadership.  I look forward to working with our new Adjuncts in the coming years.