Patricia O'Brien

Patricia was the Legal Counsel and Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs for the United Nations 2008-2013 and former Ambassador of Ireland to Italy and to San Marino, Permanent Representative to the United Nations Agencies based in Rome (2022-26). She previously served as Ambassador of Ireland to France and to Monaco and as Ambassador of Ireland to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Geneva.  

She also served as the Legal Advisor to the Department of Foreign Affairs of Ireland, Senior Legal Advisor to the Attorney General of Ireland and Ireland’s Legal Counsellor to the European Union in Brussels.  

Patricia earned her law degrees in Trinity College, Dublin, the Kings Inn, Dublin and the University of Ottawa, Canada. She is a member of the Irish Bar and of the Bar of England and Wales. She is a Fellow of the Society for Advanced Legal Studies, London and a Fellow of the Foreign Policy Association (US). She is Vice-President of the Dublin University (Trinity) Law Society, a Master of the Bench of the Middle Temple, London and an Honorary Bencher of the Kings Inn, Dublin. She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Laws by Trinity College Dublin.