Galway lawyer appointed deputy High Court judge in England and Wales

Deirdre Fottrell

She was one of 32 people appointed by the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, Lord Burnett of Maldon, for a fixed four-year term yesterday.

Judge Fottrell was born in Galway and studied English literature and law at NUI Galway, followed by public international law at LSE.

She called to the Bar in 2001 and was appointed as Queen’s Counsel in 2015.

Her practice is in family law with a particular focus on the law relating to children. In public law she represents children and parents, and local authorities. She has acted in cases on modern families, fertility and surrogacy, and in private international law.

Since 1997, Judge Fottrell has held a number of academic appointments and has both taught and published on European human rights, international child law and women’s human rights.