Welcoming Professor Tobias Lock to the Department of Law

Monday, January 7, 2019 - 11:45

Tobias joins Maynooth University from the University of Edinburgh where he worked as a Lecturer and then Senior Lecturer in EU law from 2013-2018. He previously lectured at University College London, the University of Surrey and the University of Erlangen, where he also obtained most of his legal education. He is admitted to the German bar as Rechtsanwalt.

Tobias’ research interest lies broadly speaking in the EU’s multilevel relations with other legal orders. His main focus is on courts as frontline actors in this plural legal environment. He has published two books on the relations between the European Court of Justice and international courts and has done much work on the relationship between the EU and the European Convention on Human Rights, in particular the EU’s accession to the Convention. His other research interests include EU constitutional law; comparative constitutional law; and law and religion.

Tobias' research has recently been dominated by the many legal questions surrounding 'Brexit', on which he has published widely. In this context he has given written and oral evidence to numerous parliamentary committees at Westminster, Holyrood and Cardiff Bay and has been commissioned by the Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales to draft briefing papers on Brexit.
 
In recognition of his Brexit work, he received a British Academy Rising Star Engagement Award in 2018, which allowed him to create the Brexit and Rights Engagement Network for early careers scholars.

In 2018 he served as a member of the Scottish First Minister's Advisory Group on Human Rights Leadership, which produced a report recommending a stronger incorporation of human rights – in particular economic, social and cultural rights – in Scots law.