Dr Liam Thornton is a lecturer in law and director of clinical legal education in the School of Law, UCD. In UCD, Liam teaches on a number of courses, including General Introduction to Legal Studies, Property Law and Legal Practice II. Dr Thornton has responsibility for developing innovative clinical modules in UCD, which seek to provide legal organisations with the benefit of UCD law students skills and expertise in a wide variety of areas. Dr Thornton is currently developing modules that focus on providing students with key skills to undertake legal placements in a variety of organisations. 

Liam has a strong interest in social justice and law, and researches in areas relating to immigration law, social security law, European law and human rights law. Liam was previously the social security sub-editor for the Bulletin of Northern Ireland Law and has published on issues relating to human rights, social security law, children's rights and immigration law in a number of journals including the Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, Refuge: Canadian Periodical on Refugee Studies, the Irish Yearbook of International Law, and the Irish Law Times. Liam also has acted in a number of editorial roles, both as the 2007 Book Reviews Editor for the Irish Yearbook of International Law and editor of a special issue of the Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly (2011) on the Convention on the Rights of the Child at 21. Liam has carried out tendered research for the Irish Human Rights Commission, the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission and the Odysseus Network/European Commission.  

Liam welcomes enquiries from potential PhD candidates on a range of topics, including: immigration and refugee law, social security/social welfare law, socio-economic rights and the interaction of law, politics and policy on human rights in the domestic, European and international spheres. Liam is a regular contributor to the Human Rights in Ireland blog and is a member of the UCD Human Rights Network. Outside of the law school, Liam is a member of the Free Legal Advice Centres  (FLAC) Council, which meets regularly to discuss high level issues relevant to the organisation and provide strategic direction. Liam is a member of the Irish Council of Civil Liberties  the Society of Legal Scholars and the International Law Association-Irish Branch. 

Dr Thornton obtained a first class honours BCL (International) degree and his PhD from the Faculty of Law and the Centre for Criminal Justice and Human Rights in University College Cork. Liam has also obtained a Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education Practice (PgCHEP) from University of Ulster and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Liam's PhD research was supervised by Professor Siobhán Mullally (UCC) and funded by the Irish Research Council for Humanities and Social Sciences. Liam's PhD examined reception conditions for asylum seekers in Ireland and the United Kingdom and explored the legal and administrative measures utilised to exclude asylum seekers from mainstream social assistance systems. Prior to taking up his position in UCD, Liam was Research and Policy Officer in the Irish Human Rights Commission (2008-9) and a lecturer in law in University of Ulster (2009-2012).