About
Áine (awn-ya) was appointed to the role of Lecturer in Law at the University of Liverpool in 2023. Prior to this, she lectured at the University of Sheffield, having completed her PhD thesis at Queen Mary University of London in 2022. Áine's thesis focused on the legitimacy and justifiability of unexplained wealth orders (UWOs) against politically exposed persons (PEPs).
Áine's research focus lies in the areas of illicitly acquired assets, grand corruption, money laundering, and white-collar crime. Issues of particular interest include anti-corruption measures introduced in response to ‘panic’, the jurisdictional implications of transnational crimes of corruption, the abuse of corporate vehicles as tools of corruption, and other matters specific to the investigation of financial crimes.
Her work has been published in leading journals including the Modern Law Review and Criminal Law Forum. A monograph entitled ‘Unexplained Wealth Orders and the UK’s Anti-Corruption Regime’ was published by Oxford University Press in 2025.
Before entering academia, she trained as a solicitor in Ireland and practised as a lawyer in Ireland and the UK in global commercial law firms, specialising in various aspects of finance law. She previously worked as a researcher at the Law Reform Commission of Ireland.