Foreword to the Fourteenth Edition

• Author: Claire Loftus
• Position: Director of Public Prosecutions
• Pages: 6-6

[2015] COLR

vi

FOREWORD TO THE FOURTEENTH EDITION

I am honoured to have been asked to write the foreword to the 14th edition of the

UCC Online Law Review. I understand that this is very much a student led initiative,

being a law journal established by the UCC Law Society. I had the pleasure of being

invited to speak to members of the Law Society earlier in this academic year and was

very struck by the level of interest among law students as evidenced by several

thoughtful and incisive questions which followed my address.

At the outset I must commend the very impressive standard of writing and the

diverse range of subjects covered by the journal. I had an unofficial preview of

advanced drafts on topics ranging from examinership to company law, and from

sovereignty to “sexting”. The entire collection of articles has a very contemporary

feel, touching on aspects of the law which have great significance for all our citizens.

Naturally there are several topics in the journal upon which as a criminal lawyer I

would not hold myself out as an expert. It was nevertheless very rewarding to learn

more about such subjects and to see such a high standard of scholarship and debate.

Topics which had more relevance for my own area of criminal law were thought

provoking. It was very refreshing to read such reasoned analysis putting complex

concepts into an overall context.

Having a law review within a faculty of law is a marvellous outlet whereby not only

legal writing can be honed but skills of reasoning, analysis and research developed.

In order to present a concise paper on a complex subject all the authors had to

navigate and master the seemingly endless online legal resources available now and

discern those of greatest value to their subject.

Equally for the hard working editorial board with, I am sure, great support and input

from members of the Law Faculty the process of distilling and refining articles is

invaluable experience for their later careers. The collaboration and academic rigour

required in the editing process is very significant. The editorial board have had many

decisions to make, firstly selecting, I am sure, a very few articles from the many

submitted for publication, then editing them to ensure a consistent style and

absolute accuracy. I commend the Editor in Chief and Editorial Board and of course

the authors themselves on the results which we see in this edition. I congratulate

everyone involved in this initiative and I wish UCC Law Society and the Online Law

Review continued success in the future.

Claire Loftus, Director of Public Prosecutions