Maeve O'Rourke

  • Year of Call 2012

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Introduction

Introduction

Maeve is a remarkable lawyer and tireless human rights campaigner notably on behalf of Irish women who have suffered at the hands of the Irish state. She also has the unique distinction of having had a junior brief in the UK Supreme Court in her own right during her pupillage and has been the recipient of the prestigious Harvard Law School Global Human Rights Fellowship.

Maeve led the legal side of the ‘Justice for Magdalenes’ campaign between 2010 and 2013. Her advocacy before Irish and United Nations human rights bodies was instrumental in bringing about a State apology and €58m ex gratia redress scheme for women formerly incarcerated and exploited in Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries.

Since 2015, Maeve has worked with the international law firm Hogan Lovells on an evidence-gathering initiative entitled ‘Clann: Ireland’s Unmarried Mothers and their Children: Gathering the Data’. This project aims to record and advocate in respect of the experiences of women and their children who were institutionalised and forcibly separated during the 20th century in Ireland. Maeve also advises and represents individual survivors of institutional abuse in Ireland.

Maeve regularly teaches on human rights-related university courses. Prior to being called to the Bar, she worked for the international women’s rights organisation, Equality Now, and as a researcher at Harvard Law School and the University of Minnesota Law School’s Human Rights Center.

Maeve is not only qualified in England and Wales but has also been called to the New York State Bar (2011) and is registered to practise in the Republic of Ireland pursuant to the Establishment Directive 98/5 EC.

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Notable Cases

Qualifications

Awards & Prizes

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