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Staff Profile

Dr Helene Tyrrell

Senior Lecturer

  • Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 4341
  • Personal Website: https://twitter.com/DrHeleneTyrrell
  • Address: Newcastle Law School,
    21-24 Windsor Terrace,
    Newcastle University,
    Newcastle upon Tyne,
    NE1 7RU.
Background

I am a Senior Lecturer in Law at Newcastle Law School, where I have worked since June 2016. Before joining Newcastle, I held academic roles at the University of Durham (where I completed both my LLB and Master of Jurisprudence degrees), Queen Mary University of London (where I completed my PhD), University of Essex, and the University of Lille in Paris.


My research focuses on public law and human rights, particularly courts, judges, and judicial reasoning. I am most proud of my monograph, Human Rights in the UK and the Influence of Foreign Jurisprudence (Hart 2018) which was a runner-up for the Society of Legal Scholars Peter Birks Prize for Outstanding Legal Scholarship and was long-listed for the Inner Temple Book Prize 2022 (Main Prize). I am currently co-leading a project on extra-judicial communication. Our article 'The Extrajudicial Voice' received the Society of Legal Scholars Best Paper Prize in 2023 and we are currently working on a co-edited book featuring a foreword by Lord Dyson: Extrajudicial Communication: Perspectives and Practice (forthcoming, Hart 2026). My scholarship has been referenced by judges of the UK Supreme Court and other senior courts internationally, and has informed government consultations and Parliamentary Committee inquiries and reports.


I really enjoy teaching and consider it to be the best part of my job. I aim to help students see the real-word value of studying public law subjects, as well as building confidence and developing the skills needed for academic and professional success. I teach across constitutional law, administrative law, human rights, legal skills, and judicial studies. I am always interested in examples of good practice and new teaching initiatives, and I enjoy creating learning experiences that are collaborative and engaging. I have shared aspects of my own teaching practice through prize-winning / prize nominated pedagogical publications, including the papers 'Let them Eat Cases' and 'The Student as Lecturer' (co-authored with undergraduate students). I am currently co-editing a book on staff–student partnerships in law schools (Edward Elgar, expected 2027). I was named 'Law Teacher of the Year' at the Northern Law Awards (2018) and I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. In 2025–26, I am teaching Constitutional Law (semester 1) and Administrative Law and Human Rights (semester 2).


I have taken on various administrative roles within the Law School, including programme leadership and employability initiatives. This year, I am serving as Deputy Director of Education the Law School, which means that I have 'stage lead' responsibility across all UG cohorts (incorporating induction programmes, NSS and other responsibilities). As part of this role, I am working on a project to map the skills and assessment design and delivery, across the Newcastle Law School curriculum.


Qualifications

LLB (Hons), University of Durham 2007

Master of Jurisprudence, University of Durham 2009

PhD, Queen Mary University of London 2014

Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy


Research

My legal research interests lie in the field of public law and human rights, with a focus on courts, judges, and judicial reasoning. My monograph, Human Rights in the UK and the Influence of Foreign Jurisprudence (Hart 2018) was a runner-up for the Society of Legal Scholars Peter Birks Prize for Outstanding Legal Scholarship and was long-listed for the Inner Temple Book Prize 2022 (Main Prize). My co-authored article 'The Extrajudicial Voice' received the Society of Legal Scholars Best Paper Prize in 2023. My work on human rights has contributed to multiple UK Government consultations and has been cited in Parliamentary Committee reports and I have provided oral evidence to the Joint Committee on Human Rights regarding proposed reforms to the Human Rights Act 1998. My scholarship has been referenced by judges of the UK Supreme Court and other senior courts internationally.


I also have a keen interest in legal education and has shared some of my own innovations through prize-winning / prize nominated pedagogical publications, including the papers 'Let them Eat Cases' and 'The Student as Lecturer' (co-authored with undergraduate students).


I am currently co-leading a research project on extra-judicial communication, for which the next major output is a co-edited volume featuring a foreword by Lord Dyson (forthcoming, Hart 2026). I am also co-editing a book on staff–student partnerships in law schools (Edward Elgar, expected 2027).



Publications

Books
  • Hélène Tyrrell, UK Human Rights Law and the Influence of Foreign Jurisprudence (Hart 2018).
  • Hélène Tyrrell and Conall Mallory (eds), Extrajudicial Communication: Perspectives and Practice (Hart, expected 2026).
  • Hélène Tyrrell and Rachael O'Connor (eds), How to Build Meaningful Staff/Student Partnerships in the Law School (Edward Elgar, expected 2026/7).
Articles. 
  • Conall Mallory and Hélène Tyrrell, 'The Extrajudicial Voice' (2024) 44(1) Legal Studies 1.
  • Conall Mallory and Hélène Tyrrell, 'Discretionary Space and Declarations of Incompatibility' (2021) 32(3) King's Law Journal 466.
  • Rosie Brain, Lydia Ezekiel, Arian Mansur, Nia Marshal, Namwila Mulwanda, Darby Okafor, Hélène Tyrrell, 'The Student as Lecturer: building confidence, collaboration, and community in first year undergraduate law lectures' (2021) The Law Teacher (epub ahead of print).
  • Hélène Tyrrell and Joshua Jowitt, ‘Let Them Eat Cases! Bridging the gap between school and degree level learning' (2019) The Law Teacher (epub ahead of print).
Chapters
  • Hélène Tyrrell 'Extrajudicial Communication: What Changes in Retirement?" in Tyrrell, H, and Mallory C (eds), Extrajudicial Communication: Perspectives and Practice (Hart, expected 2026).
  • Hélène Tyrrell and Conall Mallory, 'R (Nicklinson) v Ministry of Justice [2014] UKSC 38: The difficulty with discretion' in Graham, L, and Russell, J (eds) 'Public Law and the UK Supreme Court: Key Cases and Decisions (Routledge, 2025).
  • Hélène Tyrrell and Conall Mallory, 'Alison L Young, Parliamentary Sovereignty and the Human Rights Act' in O'Brien, P, and Yong, B, (eds), Leading Works in Public Law (Routledge 2024) (in press). 
  • Hélène Tyrrell, 'The Human Rights Act 1998: Two Decades Swimming Upstream' in Gordon, M and Tucker, A, (eds) The New Labour Constitution: Twenty Years On (Hart Publishing 2022). 
  • Alexander Horne and Hélène Tyrrell, ‘Sovereignty, Privilege and the European Convention on Human Rights’ in Horne, A, Le Sueur, A, (eds) Parliament: Legislation and Accountability (Hart Publishing 2016).
Book Reviews
  • Hélène Tyrrell, (Publication Review) Conor Gearty, On Fantasy Island (OUP 2016), [2018] Public Law 174.
  • Hélène Tyrrell, (Publication Review) Tania Groppi and Marie-Claire Ponthoreau (eds), The Use of Foreign Precedents by Constitutional Judges [2014] Public Law 358.
Reports
  • Lorna McGregor, Rachel Murray, Shirley Shipman, Hélène Tyrrell, ‘National Human Rights Institutions in Europe and Dispute Resolution: A mapping’ (April 2017). Part of project National human rights institutions and access to justice, funded by the Nuffield Foundation
  • Lorna McGregor, Rachel Murray, Shirley Shipman, Hélène Tyrrell, ‘First Contact with Complainants: A Human Rights Approach to Triage & Referrals’ (April 2017). Part of project National human rights institutions and access to justice, funded by the Nuffield Foundation.

Teaching

I really enjoy teaching and consider it to be the best part of my job. I aim to help students see the real-word value of studying public law subjects, as well as building confidence and developing the skills needed for academic and professional success. I teach across constitutional law, administrative law, human rights, legal skills, and judicial studies. I am always interested in examples of good practice and new teaching initiatives, and I enjoy creating learning experiences that are collaborative and engaging. I was named 'Law Teacher of the Year' at the Northern Law Awards (2018) and I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.


2025-26 Teaching:

LAW1220 Constitutional Law

LAW1240 Administrative Law & Human Rights


Wider Teaching Interests

Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, Human Rights, Academic Skills. 


PhD Supervision

Hélène welcomes PhD applications within the field of judicial studies, UK public law, legal education.

Publications