1 CURRICULUM VITAE Aidan O'Neill QC PROFILE Aidan O’Neill is qualified to appear as counsel in Scotland, as well as in the courts of England and Wales. He practises in both jurisdictions, and has a public law/commercial practice involving a significant element of advice and court appearances on issues of European law, particularly in the fields of human rights, private international law, commercial contract, and employment and discrimination law. He has appeared as senior counsel before the European Court of Justice, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the House of Lords, the Court of Session (Inner and Outer House), and the High Court of England & Wales (Administrative Division), as well as before the sheriff courts in Scotland and the county court in England and Wales From 1997 to 1999, Aidan O’Neill was standing Junior Counsel to the Scottish Office Education & Industry Department. Since taking silk in Scotland in 1999 he has maintained a strong profile in discrimination and employment law issues, while his practice has continued to develop in the area of judicial review, (notably in relation to prisoners’ rights) as well as in issues of constitutional law post-devolution. He has a particular interest in the inter- relationship between EU law, human rights law and domestic law. In addition to law degrees from Edinburgh and Sydney universities, Aidan O’Neill also holds a Masters degree in European and International law from the European University Institute, Florence and has recently been elected to a Fellowship at Princeton University. He has written three legal text books to date: EC for UK Lawyers, a guide to the impact which EU law has on a wide variety of domestic fields of practice including company law, immigration and asylum, intellectual property, employment protection and discrimination, consumer law and private international law; Decisions of the European Court of Justice and their constitutional implications, a survey of the manner in which the ECJ created the conditions for a European constitution and has transformed the UK constitution; and Judicial Review in Scotland: a practitioner’s guide. He has also contributed chapters to a number of legal books, and is the author of many talks and articles in academic journals, particularly in the field of human rights, constitutional law and EU law. 2 PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE English Bar September 2000 Associate, Matrix Chambers, Gray's Inn, London July 1996 Called to the Bar of England and Wales Scottish Bar July 1999 Appointed QC in Scotland 1997 - 1999 Standing Junior Counsel to the Scottish Office Education and Industry Department July 1987 Called to the Scottish Bar Academic and advisory work 2007-2008 Visiting Professor, Senior Research Scholar and Fellow in the Law and Public Affairs Program, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, NJ, USA. 1985-1987 Member of Legal Advisory Group, Scottish Consumer Council, Glasgow 1985-1987 Tutor in Jurisprudence, University of Edinburgh (Tutorial teaching in legal philosophy and the sociology of law) 1985-1987 Tutor in Mercantile Law, University of Edinburgh (Tutorial teaching in the law governing companies, trade and commerce) Legal training 1986-1987 Bar Pupillage to D. S. Mackay, Advocate (now Lord Mackay of Drumadoon, Senator of the College of Justice) Edinburgh 1985-1986 Bar Trainee, Brodies WS, Edinburgh (Professional training in litigation in the Court of Session, Sheriff Court and the Employment Tribunal system from the late David Williamson WS QC, formerly senior partner of the Court Department of Brodies WS) 3 SIGNIFICANT CASES European Court of Justice 2003 Joined Cases C-20/00, C-64/00 Booker Aquaculture and Hydro Seafoods v. Scottish Ministers [2003] ECR I-7411 (Reliance on the fundamental right to property to found a claim for compensation against an EU Member State) Judicial Committee of the Privy Council 2001 Millar v. Dickson, 2002 SC (PC) 30, [2002] 3 All ER 1041, JCPC (Successful appeal to the Privy Council from the High Court of Justiciary on the question of the waiver of the right under Article 6 ECHR to an independent and impartial tribunal) House of Lords 2007 Somerville v. Scottish Ministers [2007] UKHL 44 (successful appeal on time bar, just satisfaction damages and the constitutional relationship between the Scotland Act 1998 and the Human Rights Act 1998) 2007 Beggs v. Scottish Ministers [2007] 1 WLR 455, 2007 SLT 235, HL (House of Lords confirming the competency of, and mens rea for, a finding of contempt of court against Scottish government departments) 2005 Davidson v. Scottish Ministers, 2006 SC (HL) 42 (Successful constitutional challenge to the denial of availability of interim and final coercive court orders against the acts and omissions of the Government) 2004 Davidson v. Scottish Ministers (No. 2), 2005 SC (HL) 7 (Successful challenge to the Inner House decision in Davidson No. 1 on the grounds of apparent judicial bias given previous legislative and executive involvement of one of that bench when Lord Advocate in the very legal issue raised in that case) 2004 Davidson v. Scottish Ministers (No. 3), 2005 SC (HL) 1 (The requirements relating to leave to appeal to the House of Lords from decisions of the Inner House and the possibility of cross-appeals) 2004 Archibald v. Fife Council [2004] ICR 954, HL, 2004 SC (HL) 117 (the scope of the duty of reasonable adjustment under sections 5 and 6 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995) 4 2003 MacDonald v. Ministry of Defence 2003 SC (HL) 35; [2003] ICR 937 (Whether sex discrimination legislation encompassed discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation) 1989 Litster v. Forth Dry Dock Engineering Co. Ltd., 1989 SC (HL) 96, [1990] 1 AC 546, HL (Decision of the House of Lords on the proper approach to the interpretation and application of the Transfer of Undertakings ("TUPE") Regulations) High Court of Justiciary 2000 Millar v. Dickson, 2000 JC 648, HCJ (On the question of the waiver of the right under Article 6 ECHR to an independent and impartial tribunal) 2000 Lord Advocate's Reference (No. 1 of 2000) re nuclear weapons, 2001 JC 143, HCJ (Concerning reliance on norms derived from customary international law by way of defence to a prosecution for criminal damage to Government property associated with the Trident missile defence system) 1997 HM Advocate v. Orru and Stewart, 1998 SCCR 59, HCJ (Criminal Appeal against conviction for unlawful avoidance of UK Excise Duties on alcohol imported duty paid from other Member States of the European Union) Inner House of the Court of Session 2007 Bell v. Inkersall Investment Ltd., 2007 SLT 737 (Second Division considering the relationship between specially urgency cover and final legal aid certificate) 2007 X v. Scottish Ministers and others, 2007 SLT 657 (First Division considering the inter-relationship of reserved and devolved competence in the context of prisoner disenfranchisement) 2007 Smith v. Scott, 2007 SC 345, 2007 SLT 137, RAC/IH (Registration Appeal Court pronouncing a declaration of incompatibility in relation to the maintenance of blanket ban on voting by convicted prisoners) 2007 Fatima Helow v. Advocate General for Scotland, 2007 SC 303, 2007 SLT 201, IH (an application to the Inner House against the refusal of a statutory review of the decision of the IAT by single judge on grounds of apparent bias) 5 2006 Somerville v. Scottish Ministers, 2007 SC 140, IH (time bar, just satisfaction damages and the constitutional relationship between the Scotland Act 1998 and the Human Rights Act 1998) 2005 Beggs v. Scottish Ministers 2006 SC 649, IH; 2005 SC 342, IH (On the competency of, and mens rea for, a finding of contempt of court against Scottish government departments) 2005 Napier v. Scottish Ministers, 2005 SC 307, IH (Successful judicial review challenge to the slopping out regime imposed on remand prisoners in Scotland on the basis of breach of Articles 3 and 8 ECHR, as well as common law duty of care) 2004 Archibald v. Fife Council 2004 SC 495, IH (the scope of the duty of reasonable adjustment under sections 5 and 6 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995) 2003 Secretary of State for Scotland v. Turner, 2003 SC 525, IH (On the interpretation of the NHS (Scotland) Superannuation Regulations 1980 and the extent of the jurisdiction of the Pensions Ombudsman) 2003 Davidson v. Scottish Ministers (No. 2), 2003 SC 103, IH (Successful challenge to the Inner House decision in Davidson No. 1 on the grounds of apparent judicial bias given previous legislative and executive involvement of one of that bench when Lord Advocate in the very legal issue raised in that case) 2002 Council of the Law Society of Scotland v. Hall, 2002 SC 620, 2002 SLT 989, IH (Reliance on unreasonable delay provisions of Article 6(1) to impugn professional disciplinary proceedings brought against solicitors) 2002 Davidson v. Scottish Ministers, 2002 SC 205, IH (Constitutional challenge to the denial of availability of interim and final coercive court orders against the acts and omissions of the Government) 2002 MacDonald v. Ministry of Defence 2002 SC 1, IH (Whether sex discrimination legislation encompassed discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation) 2000 King v. Tunnock, 2000 SC 424, IH; [2000] IRLR 569; [2000] EuLR 531 (On the use of French law before UK courts in interpreting EU based legislation) 2000 British Airways v. Boyce, 2001 SC 510, IH; [2001] IRLR 157 (Res Judicata, employment tribunals and race discrimination) 6 2000 BBC Scotland v. Souster, 2001 SC 458; [2001] IRLR 150, IH (English v. Scots Race discrimination case) 1999 Turnbull v. TSB Scotland plc, 1999 SC 121, IH ("Bank holidays" and the rights of bank employees) 1998 William Grant & Sons (Distillers) v. Stuart, 1998 SC 741, IH ("Reasonable employers" and the role of the Employment Tribunal) 1998 Swan v.