Martin O’Brien has been a practising Barrister at the Bar of Northern Ireland for 30 years, specialising in employment and discrimination law.

He has a Masters degree in Human Rights and Emergency Law, and was an academic lecturer at the Institute of Professional Legal Studies, Queen’s University, Belfast, for 19 years.

Martin is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.  Martin was called to the Bar of Ireland in 1998 and served as a part time Judge of Employment Tribunals from 1998-2009.

He is also a part-time Judge of Appeals Tribunals, and an Adjudicator of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeal Panel. The Minister for Justice appointed Martin a Parole Commissioner in January 2017.

In addition to sitting on a number of boards and committees, Martin was the Chairman of the Board of Governors of St. Patrick’s Academy, Dungannon, until 30 December 2019. He is a member of the Board of Governors of St. Mary’s University College, Belfast (a College of The Queen’s University, Belfast) and is also the Chairman of a children’s Safeguarding Advisory Panel.

Martin has been a qualified Mediator since 2010 (Mediators' Institute of Ireland), and qualified as an International Arbitrator with the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators in London in 2018.