Christopher McMahon is a legal researcher, academic and practising barrister. Christopher was called to the Bar of Ireland in 2020 and specialises in the fields of EU law, internal market regulation and their interaction with Irish law. He has worked as an intern at a number of different commercial law firms, as a judicial assistant, as a freelance legal researcher and as a consultant for a leading legal technology start-up company.
Christopher is currently completing his doctoral research at the School of Law, Trinity College Dublin with the support of the Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship from the Irish Research Council. His thesis examines the State aid rules in the European Treaties which regulate the ability of Member States to confer advantages on businesses in any form, with a particular focus on its interaction with national tax rules taxation and future trends in enforcement. His work has been published in a wide range of Irish and international journals. He is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the School of Law, Trinity College Dublin and a Lecturer in Administrative Law at the Honorable Society of King’s Inns in Dublin. He has also taught courses to undergraduate and postgraduate students in a wide range of different institutions, including University College Dublin and Griffith College Dublin.
Christopher also holds a first-class degree in law and political science from Trinity College Dublin and a postgraduate degree in law from the University of Oxford, having graduated with distinction. He received a range of scholarships and prizes in the course of his studies.
Can you speak a little bit about where you grew up and how that place shaped you?
I am from Dublin in Ireland. From a relatively young age, I have enjoyed learning different languages, including Irish, Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese.
This is part of what led me to study the European Union and its multilingual legal system.
You’re a trained Legal Expert. Can you talk about your educational steps and exploring that professional path?
I studied law and political science at Trinity College Dublin. I then went on to pursue a postgraduate law degree at the University of Oxford.
I qualified as a barrister in Ireland in 2020 and since then I have been pursuing my doctoral research in EU State aid and internal market law at Trinity College Dublin.
In these settings, I studied the EU and its legal system from a range of different perspectives which led me to my current work on the law of the EU’s energy market and how it interacts with Irish law.
How would you describe your current work to people who don’t know you?
My current work with Th!nk Europe involves understanding the legal obstacles in the EU and Ireland to taking steps towards energy sustainability and using this to inform policy.
How do you view your own personal development? What are you looking to explore or master?
I enjoy opportunities to apply my academic and legal knowledge in a practical way, especially when this also supports the broader goal of creating a sustainable and secure energy system.
