The Fifth Court

Episode 152 of The Fifth Court features a very special guest: Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia Interviewed by Mark Tottenham BL at Dalkey Book Festival. This is not just a tech-founder interview. It is a fascinating conversation about law, trust, neutrality, rules, evidence, platform responsibility, AI hallucinations, volunteer communities, public knowledge and why Wikipedia has survived while mu...

In Part 2 of our extended interview with retired Supreme Court judge Mr Justice Peter Charleton, Peter Leonard BL and Mark Tottenham BL continue a remarkable conversation about life at the Bar, life on the Bench, and life after the Supreme Court. Peter Charleton speaks about the reality of appearing in high-profile criminal cases, the discipline of addressing juries, why a good advocate must be ab...

The Fifth Court marks Episode 150 with Part 1 of a wide-ranging conversation with recently retired Supreme Court judge, Peter Charleton. To mark Episode 150 of The Fifth Court, Peter Leonard BL and Mark Tottenham BL are joined by Mr Justice Peter Charleton, recently retired from the Supreme Court. In Part 1 of this extended interview, he reflects on republicanism and nationalism, growing up near S...

Bloomsday Special: The secret political life of James Joyce — and Frank Callanan’s final masterpiece Was James Joyce really apolitical? For decades, many scholars claimed Ireland's greatest writer stood apart from politics. Frank Callanan disagreed. Before his untimely death, the renowned barrister, historian and Parnell scholar spent 25 years researching what became his final work: James Joyce: A...

Episode 148, The Fifth Court Peter Shanley SC on Barristers Direct, legal access and barristers becoming entrepreneurs Peter Leonard BL and Mark Tottenham BL are joined by Peter Shanley SC, founder of Barristers Direct. Peter explains how changes under the Legal Services Regulation Act opened the door to direct access to barristers in non-contentious matters, why Barristers Direct was created, and...

ON this episode of The Fifth Court, Peter Leonard BL and Mark Tottenham BL are joined by John O’Donnell SC — one of the Bar’s leading advocates… and one of Ireland’s most quietly brilliant writers. This is a conversation that moves from the Four Courts to the writing desk — and back again. We step into a different courtroom entirely — the imagination. John O’Donnell SC discusses: Winning the Franc...

Your Reputation on Trial — And Why the Rules Are Changing This is not just another legal interview. This is a story about growing up under armed protection, about a father who became the last Law Lord in the UK, and about a legal system that is about to change in a very big way. John Kerr — barrister, defamation specialist, and colleague — joins us to talk about: What it was like living through th...

The "referee" of Irish politics: Verona Murphy on power, pressure and running the Dáil What actually happens when you’re handed the whistle in Irish politics? On Episode 145 of The Fifth Court, hosts Peter Leonard BL and Mark Tottenham BL travel to Leinster House to sit down with Verona Murphy , Ceann Comhairle — the referee of the Dáil. This is not a standard political career story. From leaving...

Episode 144 – Mr Justice Brian Cregan, Judge of the High Court | Parnell, leadership, and the law In this very special episode of The Fifth Court , hosts Peter Leonard BL and Mark Tottenham BL are joined by Mr Justice Brian Cregan , Judge of the High Court, to discuss his book Parnell: A Novel and the legal, political, and historical legacy of Charles Stewart Parnell. Drawing on extensive original...

Máirín De Búrca is in front of the courts again | The Fifth Court There are some names that belong in the footnotes of Irish history. Máirín De Búrca belongs in the headlines. In this very special episode of The Fifth Court, Peter Leonard and Mark Tottenham visit Máirín at home to talk about a life that took her from Chicago and Newbridge to housing protests, anti-apartheid activism, women’s liber...

The Barrister Who Quit Law To Handicap Racehorses What kind of person leaves the Law Library… and ends up becoming one of the most quietly powerful men in Irish racing? Garry O’Gorman, that’s who. ON Episode 142 of The Fifth Court , Peter Leonard BL and Mark Tottenham BL meet the former barrister who swapped devilling and district courts for parade rings, pedigrees, handicap marks and the dark art...

Advocacy, Independence and the Modern Bar — Mr. Justice David Nolan | The Fifth Court EP 141 On Episode 141 of The Fifth Court, hosts Mark Tottenham BL and Peter Leonard BL are honoured to be joined by Mr. Justice David Nolan of the High Court. A former Chair of the Bar Council and long-standing advocate, Mr. Justice Nolan reflects on: • The evolution of advocacy in Irish courts • The importance o...

Expert evidence under pressure – Eavanna FitzGerald on changing court culture | Episode 140 On Episode 140 of The Fifth Court, Peter Leonard BL and Mark Tottenham BL examine a quiet but significant shift in Irish litigation: expert witnesses are now under real judicial scrutiny. Eavanna FitzGerald joins the show to explain why the traditional word-of-mouth system for sourcing experts is failing pr...

Episode 139 | Tom Flynn SC on planning judicial reviews, costs caps and access to justice In Episode 139 of The Fifth Court , hosts Peter Leonard BL and Mark Tottenham BL are joined by Tom Flynn SC , a leading planning and environmental law practitioner. The discussion examines the State’s proposal to cap recoverable legal costs in planning judicial reviews, the policy rationale behind the measure...

Episode 138 – Mary McAleese on the Rule of Law, Courage & Democracy Former President of Ireland Mary McAleese joins our hosts of The Fifth Court, Mark Tottenham BL and Peter Leonard BL, for a wide-ranging and deeply thoughtful conversation on the rule of law, human rights, judicial independence and democratic backsliding — drawing on her personal experience as a lawyer, academic and Head of St...

Episode 137 – Darragh Mackin, Human Rights, Legacy and the Rule of Law In Episode 137 of The Fifth Court , Peter Leonard BL travels to the Allingham Festival in Ballyshannon for a live recording with one of the most prominent human rights lawyers working on the island of Ireland today, Darragh Mackin , partner at Phoenix Law . This live podcast at the Allingham Festival 2025 was sponsored by www.b...

The Fifth Court Ep 136 Part 2: Strasbourg, dissent and Decisis casebook Part 2 of a two-part Fifth Court interview with two of Ireland’s most distinguished international judges: • Síofra O’Leary, former President of the European Court of Human Rights • Úna Ní Raifeartaigh, Ireland’s current judge at the European Court of Human Rights This episode examines judicial dissent, political pressure on th...

The Fifth Court – Part 1: Ireland and the European Court of Human Rights Part 1 of a two-part Fifth Court interview with two of Ireland’s most distinguished jurists on the international stage. Síofra O’Leary, former President of the European Court of Human Rights, and Úna Ní Raifeartaigh, Ireland’s current judge at the Court, discuss judicial life in Strasbourg, multilingual decision-making, and t...

 Courts, Climate & Common Sense – Austria’s Supreme Court President Georg Kodek on Why the Law Can’t Save the Planet In this compelling episode, The Fifth Court hosts Peter Leonard BL and Mark Tottenham BL sit down with Georg Kodek , President of the Austrian Supreme Court, during the European Law Institute Conference in Vienna. He explains why courts can’t be expected to fix climate chan...

The Fifth Court — Episode 133 Presented by barristers Mark Tottenham and Peter Leonard . This episode opens with Josepha Madigan — solicitor, former cabinet minister and family-law mediator — on why mediation is gaining ground, what makes it work, and how practice culture is changing for clients and lawyers alike. Then Mark and Peter review three recent Decisis cases (case-note segment sponsored b...

LCJ Keegan on the modern courtroom — AI, experts and leadership On Episode 132, The Fifth Court hosts Peter Leonard and Mark Tottenham have rare access to Dame Siobhán Keegan, the Lady Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, to discuss evaluating expert evidence in an age of AI and complex fact-finding, leadership on the bench, and the realities of administering justice in Belfast’s Royal Courts. The e...

E131 The Fifth Court Co-host of the Fifth Court, Peter Leonard, BL , met with Kirk Offel at the Dublin Tech Summit, promoter of the 5th Industrial Revolution. 'Data centres are the most important things to be manufactured in the world'. That's Kirk's view and that's just the beginning of this terrific chat about all things AI and Data Centres. Kirk is not your typical tech CEO. From a military fam...

Episode 130 – The Fifth Court Recorded at the Dublin Tech Summit, Peter Leonard BL speaks with Ukrainian Dr. Anna Mysyshyn , a leading expert in AI ethics, regulation, cybersecurity, and digital governance. Anna holds a PhD in Law and an LL.M. in Innovation and Technology, bringing both academic depth and practical insight to one of the most pressing issues facing courts, regulators, and governmen...

Episode 129 The Fifth Court Elizabeth Winkler is an acclaimed literary critic and investigative journalist whose work spans some of the world’s most respected publications. She chats to Mark Tottenham BL on this episode of the Law Society of Ireland Award Winning Podcast. A graduate of Princeton with a master’s in English literature from Stanford, Elizabeth has built a reputation for fearless, ins...

E128 The Fifth Court – Drawing the Line: The Story of the Irish Boundary Commission Dr. Cormac Moore – an historian with Dublin City Council’s Historian-in-Residence programme and author of Birth of the Border: The Impact of Partition in Ireland . He is a recognised authority on the politics, personalities, and legal frameworks surrounding the Irish border. It was meant to settle the border betwee...