My name is Dermot Feenan, a researcher, writer and editor working mainly on socio-legal issues.

Recently an Associate Research Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London, I also held a number of other university appointments in the UK and USA, plus visiting appointments worldwide, including at the American Bar Foundation, Columbia, Cornell, London, Melbourne, Oxford, and Trinity College Dublin. I have published widely, and also worked as a copy editor for Cambridge University Press titles. I hold an LL.M. from Queen’s University, Canada, an M.A. in Medical Ethics and Law from King’s College London, an LL.B. from The Queen’s University of Belfast, and am a Barrister-at-Law (non-practising). I am also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, admitted largely for founding Café Jurist – free café-style talks, bringing important legal and political discussions into a community-friendly, egalitarian space.

I have delivered research output based on funding from a wide range of bodies, including the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission and the Commissioner for Judicial Appointments for Northern Ireland.

I am founder and convenor of the Law and Compassion Research Network. Until recently, I was co-founder and convenor of the International Research Collaborative on Law, Reason and Emotion within the Law and Society Association and convened the Law, Politics and Ideology theme at the annual conferences of the Socio-Legal Studies Association.

My recent community outreach included work as an Independent Assessor appointed by the Commissioner for Public Appointments for Northern Ireland.