Dimitrios Giannoulopoulos

Staff details

Position

Professor of Law

Dimitrios is the Head of the Department of Law. His research centres on the criminal process and human rights.

Professor Dimitrios Giannoulopoulos holds the Inaugural Chair in Law, is the Head of the Department of Law and the Associate Head of the School of Culture & Society. He is an Academic Bencher at the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, an Associate Tenant at Garden Court Chambers and a Senior Fellow of the HEA.

As the Inaugural Professor in Law, Dimitrios led on the launch of the Department of Law at Goldsmiths. As Associate Head of the School of Culture & Society, Dimitrios focusses on pedagogic/student experience synergies in Anthropology, History, Law, Media, Politics, and Sociology.

Dimitrios gained his PhD at the Sorbonne Law School (Paris I) and holds postgraduate degrees from Athens, Aix-Marseille and Brunel.

Dimitrios was an Associate Dean at Brunel University London (2014-2018), and the Deputy Head of Brunel Law School (2009-2013).

He holds Visiting Professorships at the Panteion University (Athens) (since 2021) and the University of Poitiers (2023-24).

Teaching and supervision

Dimitrios has designed and is coordinating Goldsmiths’ pioneering Law LLB and LLM degrees (3 undergraduate and 4 postgraduate), providing leadership on learning and teaching and the student experience in these programmes since launch and enabling the achievement of UK-leading rankings for the LLB. The Complete University Guide Law League Table 2024 has ranked Goldsmiths Law as #1 in the UK for 'student satisfaction'. In the NSS 2022, the Department was ranked #1 in the UK for 'intellectually stimulating teaching' and 'organisation of the degree', and #3 in the UK, #1 in London, #1 in South of England for 'learning opportunities'. In the NSS 2024, the Department was #4 in the UK on the 'quality of teaching' and joint #1 in the UK on the question of 'how good staff are at explaining things'.

Dimitrios' teaching practice blends traditional teaching methods with a range of experiential learning activities, assessment by student engagement, immersing students in legal London as well as integrating legal theory with legal practice, procedure and ethics.

Dimitrios has supervised a range of successful PhD projects including by Dr Jérémy Bourgais (co-supervision with Prof Raphaële Parizot) at the University of Poitiers, whose thesis on "Le rôle du juge pénal en matière de saisies et confiscations. Étude de droit comparé (France-Angleterre)" won the prestigious Prix Vendôme 2022 (awarded by the French Ministry of Justice) as well as the Prix spécial du jury de l'Institut des Hautes Etudes du Ministère de l’Intérieur (IHEMI) (2024).

He is currently co-supervising (with Prof Clare Finburgh Delijani in the Department of Theatre and Performance) an interdisciplinary post-doctoral project (bringing Law and Theatre together) by Dr Natalie Katsou on 'Performing Refuge and Asylum seeking: Ritual and the Law in the UK and Greece'.

Dimitrios warmly welcomes new PhD students in his areas of specialisation.

Research interests

Dimitrios has internationally leading expertise in how human rights norms are applied in domestic criminal justice systems. He has published widely on improperly obtained evidence, suspects’ rights, and the application of ECHR jurisprudence in domestic systems. His work has been cited extensively including by the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT).

His monograph on 'Improperly Obtained Evidence in Anglo-American and Continental Law' (Oxford, Hart Publishing, 2019) is the first book to offer an extensive cosmopolitan insight into the ‘exclusionary rule’ debate. It was reviewed very positively in leading journals, including the Modern Law Review, Criminal Law Review, and International Journal of Evidence & Proof, and was longlisted for the Inner Temple Book Prize (Major Prize).

In recent years, Dimitrios has also developed a strong interest in the impact of Euroscepticism, populism and Brexit on human rights, drawing on his cross-cultural research and dynamic public engagement work, and his ability for cross-cultural legal analysis. He was the founder and director of the academic thinktank, 'Britain in Europe', which contributed to public debate on EU membership, and provided analysis of the impact of Brexit (between 2016 and 2020). He also directed (2017-2020) the 'Knowing Our Rights' research project (funded by the Open Society Foundations), which sought to raise awareness about the impact of the European Convention on Human Rights in the UK.

Dimitrios was also a co-lead in the 'Human Rights in Action' project (2021) and is a trustee of the human rights charity, 'Each Other' (since October 2022).

Dimitrios' latest book, 'Judicial Independence Under Threat' (OUP, 2022), was published in the prestigious 'Proceedings of the British Academy' series and explores challenges to judicial independence in their legal, philosophical, political and historical contexts.

Featured publications

2022: Judicial Independence Under Threat
(Oxford, OUP, 2022)

2019: Improperly Obtained Evidence in Anglo-American and Continental Law
(Oxford, Hart Publishing, 2019)

2020: The Eurosceptic Rights and (Our) Human Rights: the Threat to the Human Rights Act and the European Convention on Human rights is Alive and Well
European Human Rights Law Review, 2020 (3), 225-242

2018: Falling on Deaf Ears": Looking for the Salduz Jurisprudence in Greece' in Jackson, J. and Summers, S. (eds.)
Obstacles to fairness in Criminal Proceedings: Individual Rights and Institutional Forms (Oxford, Hart Publishing, 2018)

2016: Strasbourg Jurisprudence, Law Reform and Comparative Law: A Tale of the Right to Custodial Legal Assistance in Five Countries'
(2016) 16 Human Rights 6 Human Rights Law Review 103

Grants and awards

2017: Knowing Our Rights
In February 2017, Dimitrios was awarded $94,855 by the Open Society Initiative for Europe and the Open Society Forum, to undertake research and public engagement activity on the ECHR

2017: Challenges to Judicial Independence in Times of Crisis
In May 2017, Dimitrios was successful (with Prof Yvonne McDermott) in an application to the prestigious British Academy conferences fund.

Publications and research outputs

Book

Giannoulopoulos, Dimitrios. 2019. Improperly Obtained Evidence in Anglo-American and Continental Law. Oxford: Hart Publishing. ISBN 9781849463829

Edited Book

Giannoulopoulos, Dimitrios and McDermott, Yvonne, eds. 2022. Judicial Independence Under Threat. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780197267035

Book Section

Giannoulopoulos, Dimitrios. 2024. "Good" and "Poor" Lawyering in Continental Law: the Criminal Defence Lawyer in Greece as a Case Study. In: Ashlee Beazley and Michele Panzavolta, eds. Poor Lawyering: A Comparative View. Abingdon: Routledge.

Giannoulopoulos, Dimitrios. 2020. Free circulation of evidence in the European Union and improperly obtained evidence. In: Union of Greek Criminologists, ed. The Criminal procedure of the European Union – movements and challenges. Athens: Nomiki Bibliothiki, p. 378. ISBN 9789606541988

Giannoulopoulos, Dimitrios. 2018. "Falling on Deaf Ears": Looking for the Salduz Jurisprudence in Greece. In: John D Jackson and Sarah J Summers, eds. Obstacles to Fairness in Criminal Proceedings: Individual Rights and Institutional Forms. Hart Publishing. ISBN 9781782258360

Article

Giannoulopoulos, Dimitrios. 2020. The Eurosceptic Right and (Our) Human Rights: the Threat to the Human Rights Act and the European Convention on Human Rights is Alive and Well. European Human Rights Law Review, 2020(3), pp. 225-242. ISSN 1361-1526

Giannoulopoulos, Dimitrios. 2020. Book review of Pitcher, Kelly, "Judicial Responses to Pre‐Trial Procedural Violations in International Criminal Proceedings" (Berlin: Springer, 2018). Modern Law Review, 83(2), pp. 477-504. ISSN 0026-7961

Giannoulopoulos, Dimitrios. 2019. What has the European Convention on Human Rights ever done for the UK? European Human Rights Law Review, 2019(1), pp. 1-10. ISSN 1361-1526

Conference or Workshop Item

Giannoulopoulos, Dimitrios. 2020. 'Improperly Obtained Evidence in Anglo-American and Continental Law'. In: Book talk with Prof Dimitrios Giannoulopoulos. Berkeley Law, United States 10 April 2020.

Giannoulopoulos, Dimitrios. 2019. 'Improperly Obtained Evidence in Anglo-American and Continental Law'. In: Bonavero Discussion Group. Oxford Law School, Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, United Kingdom 19 November 2019.

Giannoulopoulos, Dimitrios. 2019. 'A comparative assessment of the exclusionary rule'. In: Stanford Law School, Stanford Criminal Justice Center book talk. Stanford Law School, United States 9 April 2019.

Report

Dzehtsiarou, Kanstantsin; Falcetta, Silvia; Giannoulopoulos, Dimitrios and Johnson, Paul. 2021. Human Rights Law in Action: Assessing the Positive Impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 in the UK. Project Report. Human Rights in Action (HRiA).

Professional projects

As the Head of the Department of Law and Associate Head in the School of Culture & Society, Dimitrios' work places strong emphasis on social mobility, creating academic aspiration for young people and achievement of outstanding academic outcomes at University and setting students on pathways to pioneering careers. Examples of recent initiatives include securing for Goldsmiths students free-of-cost access to Harvard Law School’s pioneering Ζero-L programme; inaugurating the Lewisham Law Challenge programme (in collaboration with Lewisham Council and local schools); supporting the launch of the University of London Refugee Law Clinic; designing and setting in motion Goldsmiths' Law & Policy Clinics; initiating dynamic partnerships with Magic Circle law firms Clifford Chance and Linklaters; introducing academic prizes sponsored by Clifford Chance (for our students in commercial/company law) and the Orwell Foundation (for our LLB Law with Politics students).

Inner Temple: In his role as Master of the Bench at the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, Prof Giannoulopoulos supports the strengthening of links between the Bar and legal academia, notably as a member of the Inn's 'Education & Training Committee.

Human Rights in Action: In collaboration with Prof Kanstantsin Dzehtsiarou (Liverpool) and Prof Paul Johnson (York), Prof Giannoulopoulos founded the Human Rights in Action (HRiA) project whose aim was to collect written contributions from the foremost human rights experts in the UK, on how the Human Rights Act has shaped UK law and UK courts over the last two decades, leading to the publication of a comprehensive stand alone report and submission of evidence to the Independent Human Rights Act Review and Joint Committee on Human Rights (https://committees.p=arliament.uk/writtenevidence/24856/html/).

Internationalisation of legal education: Prof Giannoulopoulos is passionate about creating the conditions for a cosmopolitan legal education, particularly by immersing students into foreign legal systems through "study abroad" opportunities. In 2022, he has inaugurated (with Study in Greece) Goldsmiths Law's annual human rights summer school in Athens. In 2023, he introduced into the LLB an annual visit to the European court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, and has brought to fruition (with the International Development & Academic Partnerships - IDAP - office at Goldsmiths) an articulation agreement with St John's College in New York, which will allow students from the US to earn two legal degrees in four years: an associate’s degree in Legal Studies, and the LLB. Prof Giannoulopoulos is currently exploring a range of fascinating international partnerships with leading Law Schools in China, Greece and the United States.

Media engagements

2024: Fact check: Is the ECHR really blocking the UK from deporting migrants?
Euronews (quoted) (October 2024)

2022: Why the Human Rights Act matters
Better Human podcast (episode recorded at Goldsmiths)

2021: EU citizens detained by UK after landing without work visas
Politico

2020: Review of the Human Rights Act asks the wrong questions
The Guardian (December 2020)

2020: Goldsmiths adopts pioneering Harvard Law course
University Business (December 2020)

2020: The urgency of renewed UK commitment to human rights
Prospect (November 2020)

2020: Anti-lockdown libertarians distract attention from the true human rights challenge
Prospect (August 2020)

2020: The next target in the project to “take back control”: Strasbourg and the Human Rights Act
Prospect (March 2020)

2020: The Conservative Government, the Press and the Judiciary: Unfinished Business? (with Julian Petley)
Inforrm

2019: We can imagine what proper guarantees to EU citizens would look like—and it is not like this
Prospect (November 2019)

2019: Unsettled status for EU citizens
The Guardian (October 2019)

2019: The rule of law prevails against Boris Johnson
The Guardian (September 2019)

2019: Boris Johnson: a prime minister acting above the law
The Guardian (September 2019)

2019: Attacks on Grieve and Bercow stem from flawed, feudal ideas of “sovereignty”’ (with Prof Julian Petley)
Open Democracy (June 2019)

2019: Human Rights with a (Brexit) use-by date
The UK in a Changing Europe (February 2019)

2019: Comment on the 2019 general election
Radio interview to "Proto Programma" (national radio broadcaster in Greece)

2018: ‘A minimalist approach? Why the EU-UK security negotiations should be prioritizing human rights protection’
Fair Trials (September 2018)

2018: The constitutional deficit of Brexit
Opinion piece for Greek daily newspaper "Ta Nea" (July 2018)

2017: : 'EU citizens’ rights and Brexit negotiations: both sides could be violating human rights law'
The Conversation (November 2017)

2017: A violation of the right to private and family life?
Europe Street News (quoted) (November 2017)

Conferences and talks

2023: 'Looking into the (right wing) abyss': the assault of the British government on the European Court of Human Rights
Berkeley Law, Berkeley University, Miller Institute for Global Challenges and the Law

2022: The Conservatives and the HRA – undoing liberal democracy
SLS Annual Seminar - The Human Rights Act After 22 Years: Evolution, Impact, Future Directions (3-4 November 2022)

2022: ‘Pushing the accelerator, braking, shifting into reverse’: Strasbourg jurisprudence, and protecting custodial interrogation rights in practice
1st Michele Taruffo Evidence Week - Girona international conference on comparative criminal evidence and procedure

2022: "Poor lawyering"/ a comparative study of the quality of legal assistance: the perspective from Greece
Comparative criminal proedure conference at KU Leuven

2022: What future for social justice in the UK (when the government is already closing in on undermining the ECHR)?
The UK, European Human Rights and the Rule of Law: Seventy Years of the ECHR and Twenty Years of the HRA - A Time for Celebration? (11 November 2020)

2021: A new winter of discontent? Equality, Brexit and human rights
Goldsmiths Law public lecture series 2021-22, designed and coordinated by Prof Giannoulopoulos

2020: Improperly Obtained Evidence in Anglo-American and Continental Law
Book talk with Prof Dimitrios Giannoulopoulos. Berkeley Law, United States 10 April 2020.

2019: Improperly Obtained Evidence in Anglo-American and Continental Law
Bonavero Discussion Group. Oxford Law School, Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, United Kingdom 19 November 2019.

2019: A comparative assessment of the exclusionary rule
Stanford Law School, Stanford Criminal Justice Center book talk. Stanford Law School, 9 April 2019.

2019: How is illegally obtained evidence a challenge for human rights
Video explainer

2019: Britain in Europe seminar: Citizens' rights after Brexit from bargaining chips to collateral damage?
Britain in Europe research seminar at the Royal Society of Arts (designed and coordinated by Prof Giannoulopoulos)

2019: 'The state we're in': Brexit Britain on the cliff-edge
Britain in Europe public lecture at Goldsmiths University of London (designed and coordinated by Prof Giannoulopoulos)

2017: What has the European Convention on Human Rights ever done for the UK?
Video explainer (Knowing Our Rights project) (designed and coordinated by Prof Giannoulopoulos)

2016: Brexit: 'What lies ahead'
Brunel University public lecture. 15 November 2016 (designed and coordinated by Prof Giannoulopoulos)

2017: The ECHR and the rights of EU citizens in the UK
Britain in Europe public lecture at the British Academy (designed and coordinated by Prof Giannoulopoulos)

2013: Criminal Justice without Human Rights? Remembering the Past and Predicting the Future, of Police Interrogation and Law of Improperly Obtained Evidence
Howard League for Penal Reform International Conference on 'What is Justice? Re-imagining Penal Policy', Keble College, Oxford, 1-2 Oct 2013. Oxford, United Kingdom 1-2 October 2013.

Public engagement and impact

As director of the Britain in Europe thinktank and Knowing Our Rights project, Dimitrios has undertaken significant public engagement activity in recent years, making substantial contributions to the debates on Brexit (on the rights of EU citizens in the UK) and the Human Rights Act (HRA).

These include: expert consultation to the Delegation of the EU to the UK, on the Independent Human Rights Act Review (March 2021); oral and written evidence to the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee (LIBE) at the European Parliament (May 2017); oral evidence to the House of Lords' EU Justice Sub-committee (October 2017); supporting through his research the work of MEPs and human rights NGOs; establishing dynamic networks that brought together academic scholars, legal professionals, NGO experts and policy makers; convening national and international colloquia, public debates, film screenings and public talks (e.g. at the British Academy, Royal Society of Arts, BFI, Regent Street Cinema and the Frontline club).

Dimitrios also oversees the delivery of human rights workshops to 16-18 year old students in schools across London and the UK, in the process of which the 'Knowing Our Rights' team have taught over 2,500 students about the impact of the European Convention on Human Rights in the UK.

Dimitrios’ work on Brexit and European human rights has featured in the Guardian, the Times, the Financial Times, Politico, the Prospect magazine, LBC, La Libération, Euronews, France 24, Le Parisien, Open Democracy, the Solicitors’ Journal, the New European, the Express, LSE Brexit, the UK in a Changing Europe, Parliament Magazine, Europe Street News, EU Reporter, ‘Inforrm’, Cyprus’ ‘Fileleutheros’, and the Conversation, while he regularly appears on national radio and television in Greece, and frequently contributes op-ed pieces to Sunday papers there.