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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

Hélène is a Senior Lecturer in Law at Newcastle Law School, appointed in June 2016. Prior to joining Newcastle, she held academic appointments at the University of Durham, Queen Mary University of London (where she completed her PhD) and the University of Lille in Paris.


Hélène's legal research interests lie in the field of public law and human rights, with a focus on courts, judges, and judicial reasoning. Her 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). Her co-authored article 'The Extrajudicial Voice' received the Society of Legal Scholars Best Paper Prize in 2023. Her work on human rights has contributed to UK Government consultations and has been cited in Parliamentary Committee reports. She has provided oral evidence to the Joint Committee on Human Rights regarding proposed reforms to the Human Rights Act 1998, and her scholarship has been referenced by judges of the UK Supreme Court and other senior courts internationally. She is 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).


Hélène is a passionate and innovative legal educator whose teaching spans constitutional law, administrative law, human rights, legal skills, and judicial studies. She is committed to helping students build confidence, develop essential legal competencies, and realise their full academic and professional potential. Hélène has shared some of her 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). She is currently co-editing a book on staff–student partnerships in law schools (Edward Elgar, expected 2027). She has been named 'Law Teacher of the Year' at the Northern Law Awards (2018) and is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. In 2025-26 she is teaching on two core first year modules: Constitutional Law (semester 1); Administrative Law and Human Rights (semester 2).


Hélène has had several administrative responsibilities at Newcastle, including co-directing pro-bono projects, acting as the university Academic Lead for the Virtual Learning Environment (Canvas), Senior Tutor, Stage 1 Lead, Undergraduate Degree Programme Director; Associate Director of Education (Employability) and International Employability Lead. In 2025-26 she is the Deputy Director of Education in the Law School.



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

Hélène's legal research interests lie in the field of public law and human rights, with a focus on courts, judges, and judicial reasoning. Her 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). Her co-authored article 'The Extrajudicial Voice' received the Society of Legal Scholars Best Paper Prize in 2023. Her work on human rights has contributed to multiple UK Government consultations and has been cited in Parliamentary Committee reports. She has provided oral evidence to the Joint Committee on Human Rights regarding proposed reforms to the Human Rights Act 1998, and her scholarship has been referenced by judges of the UK Supreme Court and other senior courts internationally.


Hélène also has a keen interest in legal education and has shared some of her 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).


She is 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). She is 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

Hélène is a passionate and innovative legal educator whose teaching spans constitutional law, administrative law, human rights, legal skills, and judicial studies. She is deeply committed to helping students build confidence, develop essential legal competencies, and realise their full academic and professional potential. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and her dedication to excellence in teaching has been recognised through multiple accolades, including being named 'Law Teacher of the Year' at the Northern Law Awards.


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