Please note that this event is taking place as part of the Young Professionals Network, a forum for young professionals and students between the ages of 18 and 35. There will be a reception taking place from 6.00p.m. 

Mr. Justice Donal O’Donnell was appointed Chief Justice of Ireland in 2021. He was called to the Bar of Ireland in 1982, and commenced practice in 1983, and was called to the Bar of Northern Ireland in 1989 and became a senior counsel in 1995. He was appointed directly to the Supreme Court of Ireland in 2010.

Mr. Justice O’Donnell was educated at St Mary’s CBS, Belfast, UCD, King’s Inns and the University of Virginia. He is a Bencher of the Honourable Society of King’s Inns and an Honorary Bencher of Lincoln’s Inn. He is also a Joint Patron of the Irish Legal History Society, an Honorary Member of the Society of Legal Scholars, Vice-President of UCD Law Society and holds Honorary Doctorates from both Dublin City University and University College Dublin. He chairs the Judicial Appointments Commission and is a member of the Council of State and the Presidential Commission and in 2025 was elected President of the Network of Presidents of the Supreme Court Judicial Courts of the European Union. In May 2026, he was inducted as a member of the Royal Irish Academy.