Dermot Gleeson

Who is Dermot Gleeson?

Dermot Gleeson is a barrister, former Irish government advisor and businessman born in Cork, Ireland in 1949. He is married with four children and lives in Dublin.

Educated in Blackrock College, Dublin, Gleeson holds B.A. and LL.M degrees and qualified as a barrister at the King's Inns, Dublin. His father was a solicitor and barrister and was later appointed a Circuit Court Judge and some of his brothers also work as lawyers. Called to the Irish bar in 1970 he first practised outside of Dublin, Ireland's main legal centre, on the Cork Circuit. In the early 1970s he was a part-time lecturer in Constitutional Law at University College Cork.

He then moved to the capital when he was appointed a Senior Counsel in 1979, at age 30.

Gleeson was a leading barrister in Ireland in the 1980s and 1990s before he became a senior government advisor and then a businessman. From 1994–1997 he was chief legal advisor to the government of Taoiseach John Bruton, serving as Attorney General of Ireland. Gleeson is a Bencher of King's Inns. He is also a Visiting Fellow at the School of Law at University College, Dublin. In more recent years he has become known for his business career.