It is with profound sadness that the Law School announces the sudden death of our beloved colleague Conor Gearty.
Conor joined LSE as founding Director of the Centre for Human Rights in 2002, a position he held until he became Professor of Human Rights in the Law School in 2009. He also served as Director of the Institute of Public Affairs from 2012 to 2016, a position in which he formed a formidable array of intellectual relationships right across the School, exemplified in his Gearty Grillings podcasts – conversations defined by his deep and wide-ranging intellectual curiosity as well as his personal charm and wit. A charismatic and devoted teacher, Conor brought tremendous learning and energy to his courses in civil liberties, human rights and anti-terrorism law. He also embodied the power of reasoned argument, as the caution about human rights which marked his early scholarship gradually gave way to a meticulously argued conviction in their potential for human good. This is reflected in an important body of scholarship, notably his Hamlyn Lectures, Can Human Rights Survive? (2006); Principles of Human Rights Adjudication (2004); and On Fantasy Island. Britain, Europe, and Human Rights (2016). In the post-2001 world, he became a leading scholarly voice on state uses and abuses of anti-terrorism law, with contributions such Liberty and Security (2013) and – most recently – Homeland Insecurity: the Rise and Rise of Anti-Terrorism Law (2024). His work was shaped by a keen historical sensibility as well as an appreciation of the risks of anti-terrorism policy which surely had deep roots in his Irish background.
Conor was that rare thing: someone who was brilliant at every aspect of his job. As well as being a gifted teacher and an important scholar, he was an influential public intellectual, writing regularly for the London Review of Books, Prospect and many other outlets, notably his own beautifully curated website which spanned his personal experiences and his intellectual, political and cultural passions: his most recent post was a sparkling and thoughtful meditation on his experience of Wagner’s Ring Cycle at Bayreuth, which also appeared in The Tablet. He was also a respected legal practitioner: a founding member of Matrix Chambers and an honorary KC and Bencher of both the Middle Temple in London and the King’s Inn in Dublin; and a Fellow of the Royal Irish Academy and of the British Academy, where he served as Vice President for Social Sciences from 2019 to 2023.
Underpinning Conor’s professional achievements were exceptional personal qualities: not merely extraordinary energy, curiosity and vitality, but ready humour, real kindness, and outstanding warmth. His office door was always open, often with students waiting outside for the appointments with which he was so generous, or colleagues chatting informally, more often than not accompanied by gusts of laughter. We treasure his memory, even as we measure the depth of his loss. Our keenest sympathy goes to his wife Aoife Nolan and his children Eliza, Owen, Éile and Fiadh.