Commissioners and Chief Executive
The Honourable Mr Justice McCloskey
Part-Time Chairman
Mr Justice McCloskey was educated at Queen’s University, Belfast, achieving a Second Class Honours, First Division degree. Subsequently, acquired a Certificate in International Human Rights Law at Strasbourg. Called to the Bar in 1979 and took silk in 1999. Junior Crown Counsel from 1993 - 1999. Senior Crown Counsel from June 2004 until September 2008. Appointed High Court Judge in Northern Ireland in September 2007. Appointed Chairman of The Northern Ireland Law Commission in November 2009. Appointed Northern Ireland Judge of The United Kingdom Upper Tier Tribunal in December 2010. Judge In Residence at Queen’s University, Belfast. Member of the Association of European Administrative Judges. Member of The Commonwealth Magistrates’ and Judges’ Association. Member of the Franco-British Lawyers’ Society. Has delivered over 150 judgments in the High Court, Court of Appeal and UK Upper Tier Tribunal spanning a broad range of fields. Author of “The Human Rights Act 1998: Recurring Themes and Principles” and of various other papers in the fields of human rights law, public law, extradition law, immigration law, procurement law, planning and environmental law and procedural law. Author of publications in The Commonwealth Law Journal, The Commonwealth Law Bulletin, The Bracton Law Journal and in Servicing The Legal System [N.I.] “Judicial Voices” series. Occasional Judicial Studies Board and Continuing Professional Development lecturer. Occasional visiting university lecturer. Has also addressed a number of seminars and conferences, national and international, presenting papers on diverse subjects - mainly human rights, public law, EU law, immigration law, extradition law, judicial responsibility and accountability and modern litigation procedural practice.
Professor Sean Doran
Part-Time Commissioner
Professor Sean Doran is a practising member of the Bar of Northern Ireland. His main areas of practice are crime and judicial review. He is an Honorary Professor of Law at Queen's University Belfast, having taught in the School of Law from 1994 to 2004 and having been promoted to a professorship in 2000. He was also appointed as a Global Law School Professor at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium for 2006-2007. Professor Doran is a graduate of Queen's (1985) and Cambridge University (1986) and he lectured at the University of Manchester (1988-1993). He is the author of several publications in the areas of evidence, criminal procedure and criminal justice and is co-author with Professor John Jackson of Judge Without Jury: Diplock Trials in the Adversary System (Oxford University Press 1995) and co-editor of The Judicial Role in Criminal Proceedings (Hart Publishing Oxford 2000). He is a member of the Bar’s Professional Conduct Committee and was Secretary to the Committee of the Criminal Bar Association of Northern Ireland from 2004 to 2006. He is a former member of the Northern Ireland Legal Services Commission and served on the Council of Legal Education for Northern Ireland from 1997 to 2004.
Mr Neil Faris
Part-Time Commissioner
Mr Faris is a graduate of the University of Dublin, Trinity College, Dublin (1969 – 1973). He also holds a Diploma in International Law from University of Cambridge (Christ’s College 1974) and a Professional Diploma in Management (with merit) from the Open University in 2006. He was admitted as a Solicitor in Northern Ireland in 1977, joining Cleaver Fulton and Rankin as an Assistant Solicitor, becoming a Partner in 1981 and managing partner in 1998. Since 2003 Neil has worked in independent practice, and he specialises in advisory work in areas of public and commercial law. He intends to continue this practice alongside his work as a Law Commissioner. Neil has contributed delivered papers to conferences and seminars and contributed articles to legal and academic journals, on a variety of legal areas: in particular public law (including a study of the legal structure of the cross-border Implementation Bodies), property law and environmental law. In 2004, he and the late Professor Eithne McLaughlin conducted an operational review of the Section 75 Equality Duty (the statutory duty under section of the Northern Ireland Act 1998). Neil has also served as a member of the Panel of Legal Experts on the Single Equality Bill and as a member of the Bill of Rights Forum.
Mr Robert (Bobby) Hunniford
Part-Time Commissioner
Mr Hunniford was a serving police officer in the PSNI for twenty nine years before retiring from the Service in 2007. He served in a wide range of locations across Northern Ireland in a variety of ranks and has broad operational and Headquarter experience including leading managerial functions. His most recent rank was Chief Superintendent and he held the position of District Commander in Newry and Mourne where he proactively led in the normalisation process and in developing working relationships with the many groups, organisations and individuals which made up the community. As a previous Head of Community Safety Branch he was responsible for leading in diversity, public consultation, partnership working, youth justice responses and in the development of the ‘policing with the community’ policy. He is a trained Restorative Justice facilitator and was the PSNI officer responsible for the development of Restorative Justice Interventions. Robert holds a BA (Hons) in Public Policy and Management and has trained in various functions relating to both policing and community partnership areas of work, both within the UK, Republic of Ireland and at Boston University. He serves on the Board of Governors of a local Belfast Grammar School.
Dr Venkat Iyer
Part-Time Commissioner
Dr Venkat Iyer is a barrister and academic. He is attached to the School of Law at the University of Ulster where he teaches constitutional law, media law, and business law. A former Nuffield Press Fellow at Cambridge University, Dr Iyer has lectured in a number of foreign universities and acted a consultant to several governments and non-governmental organisations. In 2003-04 he was invited by the Royal Government of Bhutan to advise on, and draft, media laws for that kingdom. In 2007 he was appointed a consultant by the World Bank to review and design a programme on Continuing Legal Education for the Kenyan Bar. Dr Iyer runs training courses on media law and ethics for newspapers and other media organisations around the world. He is the author of a number of books and articles, and the Editor of The Commonwealth Lawyer, and The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs, both published from London.
Ms Judena Goldring
Chief Executive
Judena Goldring holds a Masters Degree in History from the University of Dublin, Trinity College and a Degree in Law from the Queen’s University of Belfast. She was admitted as a solicitor in Northern Ireland in 1987, and worked for a number of years in private practice. She joined the Office of Law Reform in 1990 and was appointed Director of Law Reform in 1994. She held this post for 7 years. In 2000 she moved to work within the senior civil service; during this time she held the post of Director of Environmental Policy and Director of Sustainable Development within the Department of the Environment and Director on RPA within the Department of Culture Arts and Leisure.
