Graduate Student, Faculty of Laws
PhD Candidate, Teaching Fellow
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Prof. Ian Fletcher
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About
Joseph Spooner joined the faculty in September 2010 as a MPhil/PhD Candidate, and is conducting research under the supervision of Prof. Ian Fletcher and Prof. Robert Stevens. Joseph’s research is based on a comparative analysis of national personal insolvency laws in a selection of European Union Member States in the context of the increased EU harmonisation of the regulation of consumer credit markets.
Joseph studied law at undergraduate level at University College Dublin, spending a year of his degree at Universíté Paris II (Panthéon-Assass), where he obtained a diploma in French law. Joseph then undertook graduate studies at Balliol College, University of Oxford, where he graduated from the BCL degree in 2008.
Joseph worked as a full-time legal researcher with the Law Reform Commission of Ireland from 2008 to 2010. Here he held the position of Principal Legal Researcher on the Commission‘s Consultation Paper (September 2009), Interim Report (May 2010) and final Report (December 2010) on Personal Debt Management and Debt Enforcement. These documents examined a wide range of legal issues relating to personal indebtedness, while making comprehensive proposals for reform in particular in the areas of personal insolvency law and the enforcement of judgment debts. From 2009 to 2010, Joseph worked on a part-time basis as a tutor in the School of Law, University College Dublin.
Joseph also works as a Teaching Fellow in the Faculty of Laws, giving tutorials in the Conflict of Laws to students on the LLB programme.
Research Interests
Joseph’s main research interests lie in the law relating to personal indebtedness, with special focus on the comparative analysis of consumer bankruptcy regimes, the regulation of consumer credit markets, and the enforcement of judgment debts. Further research interests include private international law.
Conferences
"A Comparative Examination of the Contrasting Characterisations of Debtors underpinning National Personal Insolvency Laws", paper presented at the Law and Society Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco, 2-5 June 2011.
"Little Dorrit or the Artful Dodger? Reconstructing the Consumer Debtor in Ireland’s 'Dickensian' Personal Debt Laws”, paper presented at the Irish Society of Comparative Law Annual Conference, University College Dublin, 29-30 April 2011
“Long overdue: The Reform of Irish Law as a Case Study of Divergences and Convergences in National Personal Insolvency Laws in the Context of European ‘Bankruptcy Tourism’”, Paper presented at International Insolvency Law Conference, Nottingham Law School Insolvency and Corporate Law Research Group, Nottingham, UK, 15 September 2010. Available at: http://www.ntu.ac.uk/nls/news_events/insolvency_conference/conference_
“When Life Hands you a Lemon... Shifting Paradigms in Consumer Credit Regulation and the Accelerated Rise of the Principle of Responsible Lending after the Financial Crisis”, Paper presented at Regulation in the Age of Crisis, Third Biennial Conference of the European Consortium for Political Research Regulatory Governance Standing Group, University College Dublin, 17-19 June 2010.
“Comparative Personal Insolvency Law and ‘Bankruptcy Tourism’ within the European Judicial Area: from Debtors’ Prison to Debtors’ Paradise via the EC Insolvency Regulation”, Paper presented at the Irish Society of Comparative Law Conference 2010, Queen’s University Belfast, 5-6 March 2010.
“The Legal Options Available to Irish Defaulters”, Paper presented at Debt Settlements: Financial Inclusion or Exclusion? European Commission Mutual Learning on Financial Inclusion Project Workshop No. 10, Oslo, Norway, 28 September 2009. Presentation summary available at: http://www.fininc.eu/gallery/documents/w10/4-jspooner-debt-settlements
“An Ounce of Prevention, A Pound of Cure: Responsible Lending and a Preventative Legal Approach to Over-Indebtedness”, Paper presented at International Graduate Legal Research Conference 2009, King’s College London, 2-3 July 2009.
Publications
“Enforcement of Court Orders (Amendment) Act 2009” in Clark (ed.) Irish Current Law Statutes Annotated 2009 (Thomson Round Hall, 2010).
Legal Research Reports
Law Reform Commission of Ireland “Report on Personal Debt Management and Debt Enforcement” (LRC 100-2010),
available at: http://lawreform.ie/_fileupload/Reports/rDebtManagementsFinal.pdf
Law Reform Commission of Ireland “Interim Report on Personal Debt Management and Debt Enforcement” (LRC 96-2010), available at: www.lawreform.ie
Law Reform Commission of Ireland “Consultation Paper on Personal Debt Management and Debt Enforcement” (LRC CP 56-2009), available at: http://lawreform.ie/_fileupload/consultation%20papers/Consultation%20P
