Fidelma O'Kelly Macken is a judge of the Supreme Court of Ireland

Supreme Court (Ireland)

The Supreme Court of Ireland is the highest judicial authority in the Republic of Ireland. It is a court of final appeal and exercises, in conjunction with the High Court, judicial review over Acts of the Oireachtas . The Court also has jurisdiction to ensure compliance with the Constitution of...

 since 2005. She was appointed a High Court judge in 1998. She succeeded John L. Murray

John L. Murray

John Loyola Murray is an Irish judge and served as the Chief Justice of Ireland from 2004 to 2011.Murray was born in Limerick in 1943 and educated at Crescent College, Limerick, Rockwell College, County Tipperary, University College Dublin, and the Honorable Society of King's Inns. He was...

, Chief Justice

Chief Justice

The Chief Justice in many countries is the name for the presiding member of a Supreme Court in Commonwealth or other countries with an Anglo-Saxon justice system based on English common law, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the Court of Final Appeal of...

 since July 2004, as Ireland's appointee on the European Court of Justice

European Court of Justice

The Court can sit in plenary session, as a Grand Chamber of 13 judges, or in chambers of three or five judges. Plenary sitting are now very rare, and the court mostly sits in chambers of three or five judges...

 from 5 October 1999 to 22 September 2004. Appointed initially for a five-year term, she was the first female appointee to the ECJ but had her mandate renewed in 2003. She was reappointed a justice of the High Court on 18 October 2004 on her return to Ireland.

Macken was educated at King's Inns

King's Inns

The Honorable Society of King's Inns , is the institution which controls the entry of barristers-at-law into the justice system of Ireland...

 and Trinity College

University of Dublin

The University of Dublin , corporately designated the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin , located in Dublin, Ireland, was effectively founded when in 1592 Queen Elizabeth I issued a charter for Trinity College, Dublin, as "the mother of a university" – this date making it...

. She became a barrister in 1972; practiced as legal adviser, Patents and Trade Marks Agents (1973–1979) and became a Senior Counsel

Senior Counsel

The title of Senior Counsel or State Counsel is given to a senior barrister or advocate in some countries, typically equivalent to the title "Queen's Counsel" used in Commonwealth Realms...

 in 1995.

As a lawyer, she specialised on medical defence work and pharmaceutical actions. She acted as defence counsel in a series of cases brought by children against whooping cough vaccine manufacturers for damage allegedly caused by the vaccine. The Supreme Court nominated her to act in three referrals by the President of Ireland

President of Ireland

The President of Ireland is the head of state of Ireland. The President is usually directly elected by the people for seven years, and can be elected for a maximum of two terms. The presidency is largely a ceremonial office, but the President does exercise certain limited powers with absolute...

 querying the constitutionality of new legislation before she became a judge.

She has been a lecturer in Legal Systems and Methods and Averil Deverell Lecturer in Law at Trinity College Dublin.