Academic and Training
Ian assists lawyers, businesses and individuals to understand the general framework of rules and regulations applicable in Ireland, the UK and the EU.
In addition to his legal practice, Ian enjoys academic work, presenting at conferences and providing skills training, particularly for non-lawyers.
Academic
In 2025, Ian was awarded a Master of Laws degree (LLM) in food law from Liverpool John Moores University following a course of part-time study.
The title of his dissertation was “Does the current regime for the supervision and enforcement of food law provide an adequate balance between the protection of consumers’ health and the protection of the interests of the conscientious food business operator?”.
He received excellent guidance, support and feedback from his supervisor,
Elizabeth Dunphy LLM, PGDip OSH, B. Bus, FIFST CMIOSH MCIEH
Ian is a Visiting Professor at Ulster University where he provides online and on-campus lectures to undergraduate and post-graduate students on the Food and Veterinary Regulatory Affairs courses. He works with another Visiting Professor, Cliodhna McDonough-Stevens, Senior Regulatory Counsel at Gilead Sciences International Limited to prepare and deliver this course material
He also contributes to other academic courses including those at Technological University Dublin (Food Law and Policy) and Wageningen University in the Netherlands (Comparative Food Law).
Ian is the author of two books: A Practical Guide to Food Law in the United Kingdom www.lawbriefpublishing.com/product/foodlaw/ and Covid-19 and the Law Relating to Food in the UK and Republic of Ireland www.lawbriefpublishing.com/product/foodlaw/
He is writing two chapters (UK and Ireland) for a book project organised by Wageningen University on Food Advertisement Law, and he is writing multiple chapters for a revised Food Law book.
Ian regularly presents at conferences and contributes to the European Food and Feed Law Review.
Training
Ian is a regular presenter at conference and events organised by several organisations including, the Society of Food Hygiene and Technology and the Legal Training Consultancy.
For many year he has been associated with La Touche Training, Dublin.
With La Touche Training, Ian presents training across several areas of their work.
For example, Ian presented training to Irish Environmental Health Officers on preparing written evidence, courtroom skills and cross-examination.
He has also presented courses to several different groups on other topics including law, evidence and procedure, report writing, investigative interviewing and expert witnesses.
Examples of Ian’s work in Ireland and the UK
- Technological University of Dublin (Tallaght) - MSc in Applied Culinary Nutrition course – Development of Food Law and Policy
- Safefood/The Institute for Global Food Security – Honest and trustworthy labels guaranteed – it’s the law after all!
- Ulster University - Various lectures and contributions to undergraduate and post-graduate courses
- The Legal Training Consultancy - various including allergens
- Society of Food Hygiene and Technology - Product Recall
- Chartered Trading Standards Institute Conferences - various food and consumer topics
- La Touche Training – ongoing training
- Wageningen University - Food Advertisement Law book project
