Kevin O'Malley
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN
HONORARY CONFERRING
Tuesday, 2 September 2025 at 11.30 am
TEXT OF THE INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS DELIVERED BY PROFESSOR ANTHONY BRABAZON, Principal College of Business on 2 September 2025 on the occasion of the conferring of the Degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa on KEVIN FRANCIS O’MALLEY
President, Colleagues, Honoured Guests,
President, Graduates, Colleagues, and Guests, it is my honor this afternoon to introduce Ambassador Kevin O’Malley, diplomat, lawyer, scholar, and educator.I am also delighted to welcome Dena, his wife of 54 years, to today’s conferring.
Ambassador O’Malley has deep Irish roots with his paternal grandparents hailing from Westport in County Mayo, emigrating to America in 1910, and his maternal grandparents hailing from County Tipperary, emigrating a generation earlier.
Kevin was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri in the heartland of the United States. During his second level and collegiate years he studied for the Roman Catholic priesthood, but eventually decided that law was his true vocation, completing both a Bachelors and Juris Doctor (JD) degree at St. Louis University.
On graduation Ambassador O’Malley began his legal career with the United States Department of Justice prosecuting Mafia and other organised crime cases across California, Nevada, Washington, and Arizona. In recognition of his contribution to society, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Award by the US Attorney General. Subsequently, he returned to his hometown of St. Louis and prosecuted financial fraud and other white collar crime cases.
After leaving government service Ambassador O’Malley entered the private practice of law trying cases which centered on medical issues.His courtroom skills earned him Fellowship of the American College of Trial Lawyers whose membership is limited to the top 1% of American lawyers, and the Award of Honor of the Lawyers Association of St. Louis which stresses civility in court.Kevin has been consistently listed in the publication “The Best Lawyers in America”.
As an educator, Ambassador O’Malley has served as an adjunct Professor of Law at Saint Louis University and at Washington University. He is currently Ambassador in Residence and Professor of Practice at Saint Louis University School of Law. Kevin is also a legal scholar and senior author of a nine volume treatise on jury trials that has been labeled by federal judges as “the bible” on the subject in the United States.
In 2014 Ambassador O’Malley was asked to serve his country as United States Ambassador to Ireland. Throughout his term he worked tirelessly to deepen the commercial, educational, and cultural bonds that have served Ireland and the United States so well. His tenure was marked not just by diplomacy, but by empathy and innovation, ensuring the bonds between Ireland and the United States grew deeper, more dynamic, and more forward-looking. Ambassador O’Malley is probably best known for his “Creative Minds” series where he brought together American and Irish talents in music, theatre, animation, filmmaking, science, and hospitality, to strengthen the cultural and commercial ties between young Irish and young Americans.
Ambassador O’Malley has served on the board of several publicly traded companies and currently chairs the boards of the Catholic Student Center (formally the Cardinal Newman Center) at Washington University, and the board of the St. Louis County Port Authority.
In connection with UCD, Kevin is a long-standing member of the North American Advisory Board of the UCD College of Business and generously gives of his time to speak at UCD events and to meet with students and alumni both in Ireland and the US, underscoring Kevin’s enduring commitment to the development of Irish-American relations and to his interest in developing the leaders of the future.
In honouring Kevin O’Malley today, we recognise a career of service and achievement at the very highest level of diplomacy, law and education. We recognise the impact of someone who has built bridges not just between governments, but between communities, cultures, and generations. His leadership has inspired young people to think globally and act with purpose.
In conclusion, I am delighted to present Ambassador Kevin O’Malley to the President of UCD, Professor Orla Feely, for the conferring of the Degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa.
Praehonorabilis Praeses, totaque Universitas,
Praesento vobis hunc meum filium, quem scio tam moribus quam doctrina habilem et idoneum esse qui admittatur, honoris causa, ad Gradum Doctoratus in utroque Jure, tam Civili quam Canonico; idque tibi fide mea testor ac spondeo, totique Academiae.