About

Clare O'Hare is a JSD candidate at the Notre Dame Law School, focusing on competition across commercial law and dispute resolution markets. Her dissertation advisor is Kellogg Faculty Fellow, Prof. Roger Alford. She has studied law in four countries and has in-country legal experience in a number of European and Middle Eastern jurisdictions. After completing an LL.M. in commercial law at the University of Cambridge, she qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales, working in Freshfield Bruckhaus Deringers’ finance and corporate practices in London and Dubai for over eight years before taking up a position as Associate General Counsel with the UnitedHealth Group in Dublin.

In addition to her finance expertise, Clare has advised governments and state bodies across Europe and the Middle East and has held teaching and/or visiting positions at Zayed University, Dubai, Notre Dame’s London Law Program, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and Raffles University, India . A regular speaker at conferences, Clare has been invited to speak to the American Society of International Law, the Dubai Chamber of Commerce, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Nanovic Institute for European Studies, and has given expert remarks on corruption and integrity risks to the OECD.

In addition to her LL.M., Clare holds a primary law degree (LL.B.) in Law & French law from Trinity College Dublin, and masters’ degrees from the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy and the University of Notre Dame.

Current Research

My work has two broad strands - legal reform and business and human rights. I intend to carry out research in why and how civil law countries adopt common law procedures, and how this affects (or not) the consolidation of the rule of law and whether it relates to increases in levels of democracy. The second broad area of interest is in business and human rights and the adoption of the UN's Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. I am interested in the role that transnational law firms play as norm entrepreneurs in developing a baseline understanding of the obligations of businesses to respect human rights across jurisdictions.

Regions
Research Tags