Michael White (judge)


Michael White is an Irish judge who currently serves as a Judge of the High Court. He was formerly a politician and solicitor and was one of the first solicitors to be appointed the Irish judiciary.

Early career

White was born in Carndonagh, County Donegal. His father Michael was a solicitor. He attended St Patrick's Boys' National School, Carndonagh Boys Secondary School and Gormanston College. He graduated with a degree in law from University College Dublin in 1973 and qualified as a solicitor in 1975. He engaged in socialist activism during his time in university and joined the Workers' Party of Ireland. He contested three general elections and one by-election in the Dublin Central constituency between 1981 and 1983 for the Workers' Party.
He set up a law firm with Pat McCartan and Paula Scully in 1976, before setting up his own practice in 1987. He later specialised in family law and labour law. He represented future Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore in a land dispute during his career as a solicitor.

Judicial career

He was appointed to the Circuit Court in 1996, one of the first three solicitors to be appointed to a judicial position. In the Circuit Court he sentenced George Redmond following findings by the Flood Tribunal. He presided over the trial surrounding the death of Brian Murphy, which influenced the fictional novel Bad Day in Blackrock and its film adaptation What Richard Did.
He was appointed to the High Court through application to the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board in October 2011. He is the chair of the Hammond Lane Project Board for the development of a new courthouse in Dublin. He publicly criticised the procedures and administration of the Irish family law courts in 2018.
As of 2020, White is the Judge in Charge of the Central Criminal Court.

Personal life

White lives in Dublin. He married Maud McKee in 1982, a doctor originally from Portballintrae, with whom he had four sons. Dr. McKee died in 2014.