Liam McKechnie was born in 1951 and educated at Presentation Brothers College, Cork.
19 Facts About Liam McKechnie
1.
2.
Liam McKechnie graduated from University College Cork in 1971 with a BCL degree and the King's Inns in 1972.
3.
Liam McKechnie holds a master's degree in European law from University College Dublin, which he obtained while a High court judge.
4.
Liam McKechnie became a Senior Counsel in October 1987, on the same day as future Supreme Court colleagues Susan Denham and Mary Laffoy.
5.
Liam McKechnie's practice focused on commercial law, medical negligence, chancery law and the law related to local authorities.
6.
Liam McKechnie was elected chairman of the Bar Council in 1999, and was elected again in 2000.
7.
Liam McKechnie was the vice chairman in 1993 and 1997.
8.
Liam McKechnie served a term as the chair of the professional practices committee of the Bar Council, and was a member of the Commission on the Private Rented Residential Sector, the Valuation Tribunal and the Courts Service Board.
9.
Liam McKechnie presided over competition matters in the High Court from 2004 to 2010.
10.
Liam McKechnie heard the case of Competition Authority v Beef Industry Development Society at first instance in 2006.
11.
Liam McKechnie sat as a judge in the Special Criminal Court and the Court of Criminal Appeal.
12.
Liam McKechnie heard the Miss D case in 2007, where he determined that a seventeen-year-old girl in care could travel to the United Kingdom to obtain an abortion.
13.
Liam McKechnie heard a challenge to the legality of the Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland in 2009.
14.
Liam McKechnie was appointed by President of Ireland Mary McAleese in July 2010.
15.
Liam McKechnie was the first graduate of UCC to be appointed to the Supreme Court.
16.
Liam McKechnie disagreed with six other judges of the Supreme Court in 2017 in DPP v Doyle by holding that people in custody had a right of access to a solicitor during questioning.
17.
The approach of McKechnie in Gorry v Minister for Justice and Equality, where he held that there was a constitutional right for spouses to cohabit, was not adopted by his colleagues.
18.
Liam McKechnie was a member of the Administration of Civil Justice Review Report chaired by Peter Kelly which made recommendations on modernising and lowering the cost of civil litigation in the Irish courts.
19.
Liam McKechnie retired upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70 in April 2021.