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Dr. Brian Barry

Associate Professor (Law)
      
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Dr. Brian Barry

Associate Professor (Law)

 BRIAN.BARRY@tcd.ie

 


Dr. Brian Barry is Associate Professor in the School of Law. He teaches teaches and supervises dissertations in the areas of AI regulation and AI for law at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Dr. Barry's research is primarily concerned with understanding and improving decision-making in justice systems. His research is empirically-focused and interdisciplinary, linking areas such as the psychology of judicial decision-making, the operation of courts, and technologies for judging, particularly AI tools and systems. He is also interested in judicial education and training, and dispute resolution more broadly. He was awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant (value €2 million) in 2025 for JUDGEASSIST, a project to investigate the appropriate and principled development of AI for assisting judicial decision-making. He is the author of How Judges Judge: Empirical Insights into Judicial Decision-Making (Informa Law from Routledge, 2021) and of numerous peer-reviewed articles and other published works. His research has attracted large-scale funding and has been cited by leading courts such as the Irish Supreme Court and the Australian Federal Court. Dr. Barry has advised several government departments and agencies on improving decision-making in their operations, and he regularly delivers training to judges and adjudicators at various judicial and quasi-judicial bodies, particularly on the psychology of judicial decision-making. Before joining the School of Law as an associate professor, Dr. Barry lectured in law at Technological University Dublin. He graduated from the School of Law with an LL.B. in 2009 and a Ph.D. in 2013 for his thesis on workplace dispute resolution reform in Ireland. He was a visiting scholar at Columbia University and the University of Toronto, and qualified and practised as a solicitor in a large Dublin law firm for some time.
Project Title
 GroSafe: Building Societal Resilience Against Online Grooming
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Summary
Funding Agency
Research Ireland

Details Date
Co-convenor (1 of 3) Collaborative Research Network 43 on Innovations in Judging, Law and Society Association 2019
External Examiner - Undergraduate and Postgraduate Law Programmes - Ulster University 2024-present
External Examiner - PhD candidate, Queens University Belfast 22-Oct-2025
Committee Member, International Future of Law Association 2023-Present
Co-convenor (1 of 3) on International Research Collaborative: Judges and Technology, Law and Society Association 2020
External Programme Reviewer - IT Carlow's Faculty of Business and Humanities, Programmatic Reviewer 2016
Peer reviewer to various international journals and leading publishing houses including: Oxford University Press, Human Rights Law Review, Australian Law Journal, Law & Society Review, Dublin University Law Journal, International Journal for Court Administration, International Journal of Conflict Management, Irish Journal of Academic Practice, European Journal of Legal Education. 2015
External Ethics Committee member for CISC MARIE CURIE International Training Network - https://www.ciscproject.eu/ 2022
Employment Law Association of Ireland. Served on committee that established and ran the Association for 9 years, co-drafted Association's constitution, developed website. Later served as membership secretary for the Association. Organised multiple seminars, annual meetings and dinners for several years for 200-strong membership of employment law practitioners, representatives, and academic experts. 2010
External Programme Reviewer - Griffith College Dublin - LL.M. Programme 2017
Reviewer / interviewer for SFI Project / LERO Centre 2024
Reviewer for EU Cost Action 2025
External Examiner - Undergraduate and Postgraduate Programmes - University of Essex 2020
Reviewer for National Science Centre, Poland 2025
Details Date From Date To
Non-practising Solicitor (admitted to roll of solicitors) 2015 Present
Law and Society Association (co-convenor and member of Collaborative Research Network `Innovations in Judging and co-convenor of International Research Collaborative `Judges and Technology') 2018 Present
International Future of Law Association (inaugural and currently serving committee member). 2023 Present
Irish Association of Law Teachers (member, served as Secretary 2018-19) 2015 Present
Employment Law Association of Ireland (inaugural committee member and membership secretary) 2010 2018
AI and Courts: Challenges and Opportunities in, editor(s)Monika Zalnieriute and Agne Limante , The Cambridge Handbook of AI and Technologies in Courts, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2026, pp17 - 31, [Tania Sourdin and Brian Barry], Book Chapter, IN_PRESS  URL
The Culture and Practice of Dissent in the Court of Appeal, Brian Barry in, editor(s)Mark Coen, Noel McGrath , The Irish Court of Appeal: The First Decade of an Intermediate Appellate Court, 2026, [Brian Barry], Book Chapter, IN_PRESS  URL
Brian M Barry and Tania Sourdin, Using AI to Enhance the Court Journey (accepted/forthcoming/in press), World Comparative Law, 2026, Journal Article, ACCEPTED
Christina Thorpe, Fiona Jennings, Armin Shams, LinYuan Chong, Kamran Mir, Brian Barry, Susan McKeever, Matt Bowden, Building Societal Resilience against Child Grooming: A Design Thinking Approach to Understanding the Problem and Priorities (accepted/forthcoming/in press), Children and Youth Services Review, 2026, p108834-, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Brian M Barry, Using AI to Enhance the Court Journey, Workshop for World Comparative Law Special Issue, Radboud University, 2025, Conference Paper, PUBLISHED
Brian M Barry, Explanation matters: the impact of explanations on trust and procedural justice perceptions of AI-assisted judicial decision-making processes, Towards Trustworthy and Responsible AI in Adjudication, Workshop for Cambridge Forum: AI and Governance Special Issue, 2025, Conference Paper, PUBLISHED
Ireland: Judicial restraint in a stable political environment in, editor(s)Kálmán Pócza , Constitutional Review in Western Europe Judicial-Legislative Relations in Comparative Perspective, Routledge, 2024, pp169 - 190, pp169-190 , [Brian Barry], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED
Brian M Barry, AI for assisting judicial decision-making: Implications for the future of open justice, Australian Law Journal, 98, (9), 2024, p656 - 669, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Rónán Kennedy, Brian M Barry, Introduction: Law As Data, Data As Law, Law, Technology and Humans, 6, (3), 2024, p1 - 4, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Brian M Barry, Second draft of Irish chapter - JUDICON-EU, JUDICON-EU second workshop, 2023, Conference Paper, PUBLISHED
  

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Brian M Barry, Keynote Address at national annual conference of Netherlands judiciary on decision-making and artificial intelligence, Keynote Address to the Annual Conference of the Netherlands Judiciary, Netherlands, 11 February, 2027, Dutch Council for the Judiciary, Invited Talk, PRESENTED
Brian M Barry, Would you trust Judge AI?, TedXTrinityCollegeDublin, Trinity College Dublin, 5 March, 2026, Invited Talk, ACCEPTED
Brian M Barry, Expert panelist, 'The Gavel and the Algorithm - Courts in a Data-Driven World', The Gavel and the Algorithm - Courts in a Data-Driven World, 2026, DCU, Invited Talk, PRESENTED
Brian M Barry, Democracy, Law, and Artificial Intelligence, German Academic Scholarship Foundation, 2026, Invited Talk, PUBLISHED
Brian M Barry, AI for assisting judicial decision-making: challenges and opportunities, TCD Law Student Colloquium, 2026, Invited Talk, PUBLISHED
Brian M Barry, How procedural justice can improve AI for judicial systems, Law and Society Association, 2025, Conference Paper, PUBLISHED
Brian M Barry, Presentation to PhD cohort on career advice, Northumbria University, 2025, Invited Talk, PUBLISHED
Brian M Barry, Presentation at Annual Conference on survey of Irish judges on their use of technology, Association for Criminal Justice Research and Development, 2025, Invited Talk, PUBLISHED
Brian M Barry, Invited guest lecture on AI in courts to staff, students, and selected senior judges affiliated with the School of Law, University of Ljubljana, University of Llubljana, 2025, Invited Talk, PUBLISHED
Brian M Barry, 'Contributor to Courts Service Podcast on theme of AI in judicial work', Irish Courts Service, 2025, -, Music Production, PUBLISHED

  


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Award Date
TU Dublin Research and innovation Excellence Award 2025
TCD Teaching Award (Nomination) 2025
TCD Supervision Award (Nomination) 2025
Teaching Hero Award 2021