CP McGrath joined The Dickson Poon School of Law in January 2018, where his main duties involve convening both the Law of Tort and Comparative Law modules as well as various contributions to the School's postgraduate programmes.

He is a member of the School's Centre of Medical Law and Ethics, an Academic Fellow of the Middle Temple, a Global Associate Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame’s London programme, and a Visiting Professor in Comparative Law at Paris-Panthéon-Assas. His research has been hosted in addition by the Humboldt University of Berlin, the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law, and the University of Graz.

Previously, he was the WYNG Research Fellow in Medical Law and Ethics at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and was a member of the University of Cambridge’s Centre for Law, Medicine and Life Sciences. He was an undergraduate, doctoral student and then supervisor in various subjects at the University of Cambridge before beginning his academic career as a scientific assistant at the Institute for European Tort Law in Vienna.

Colm is joint General Editor of the long-running Journal of Professional Negligence and the Book Review Editor for the Journal of European Tort Law. He is a Fellow and Member of the European Centre of Tort and Insurance Law in Vienna and a member of the International Advisory Board of the Rivista Responsabilita Medica.

Born and raised in Belfast, he believes that studying law at university should be an option for anyone who wishes to do it, regardless of their background. He has extensive experience in providing accessible introductions to law for school students of all ages and is always happy to be asked to do so. When he is not surrounded by books he enjoys making music, cooking, and hiking.

Research interests

Colm's research focuses on comparative private law and professional liability, with a strong emphasis on the liability and regulation of the medical profession in the UK and beyond. His work often seeks to explain the relationship between private law and society both as a historical and a modern phenomenon.

He is currently working on an extended comparative study of medical disclosure duties and informed consent in different global jurisdictions, as well as more discrete projects on: 1) the role of the press as a driver of medical liability, 2) developing regulatory and liability frameworks for AI systems in healthcare and 3) the methodology of comparative law. Please do get in touch if you are interested in any of these topics.

His monograph, ‘The Development of Medical Liability in Germany 1800–1945,’ was selected as one of nine Legal Books of the Year by the leading German law journal, the Neue Juristische Wochenschrift in 2019.

Colm has provided Professional Education and Development modules for the medical professions in the UK and Hong Kong and is always happy to be approached for such events as it provides an invaluable opportunity to see law in action in the wider community.

Colm can currently take on PhD supervisions. 

Teaching interests 

• Comparative law
• Tort law
• Medical Law
• Contract Law
• Roman Law
• Legal History