The Law Reform Commission (LRC) has appointed Rebecca Coen as its director of research.  Rebecca is a graduate of University College Cork, where she completed a BCL and an LLM in criminal justice, and is also of the King’s Inns. Rebecca was called to the Bar in 2005.

From February 2008 to October 2009, she was a senior prosecutor and deputy head of the prosecution policy unit at the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

From October 2009 to February 2020 she worked in the directing division of the Office of the DPP where she was a principal prosecutor managing indictable cases at every stage of the criminal process.

Rebecca is the author of Garda Powers: Law and Practice (Clarus Press, 2014) and co-author of the Law Society publication Criminal Litigation 4th edition (Oxford University Press, 2016).

Extensive training

She has also contributed to the Irish Journal of Criminal Law and the British Journal of Criminology, and has delivered extensive training to fellow practitioners, gardaí, law students, non-governmental organisations and regulators on a variety of topics.

LRC President Ms Justice Mary Laffoy, said: “On behalf of my colleagues in the Commission, I am delighted to welcome Rebecca Coen as our Director of Research.

"I know that she brings to the role an enormous amount of practical and published experience, and a commitment to ensuring that proposals for law reform will have real benefit to our society.”