Dimitrios Giannoulopoulos

Staff details

Position Professor of Law
Department Law
Email d.giannoulopoulos (@gold.ac.uk)
Dimitrios Giannoulopoulos

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 degrees, 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. In the NSS 2022, Goldsmiths Law was ranked the No. 1 Law department in the UK for the organisation and management of the LLB degree, and the (joint) top Law School in the UK on ‘intellectually stimulating’ teaching. The Complete University Guide Law League Table 2024 ranked the Law department at Goldsmiths as number 1 in the UK for student satisfaction.

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.

Research interests

Dimitrios has internationally leading expertise in how human rights norms are applied in national criminal justice systems across different legal cultures. He has published widely on improperly obtained evidence, suspects’ rights, evidence obtained in violation of the right to privacy and the application of ECHR jurisprudence in domestic systems. 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. Attacks on the UK judiciary and HRA pre and post Brexit provided the inspiration for this book.

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. 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

Giannoulopoulos, Dimitrios. 2017. The right to custodial legal assistance as an expression par excellence of legal cosmopolitanism. In: Union of Greek Criminologists, ed. The right to legal assistance in the criminal trial. Athens: Nomiki Bibliothiki. ISBN 9789606220055

Giannoulopoulos, Dimitrios. 2016. La loyauté des preuves en droit anglais. In: Julie Alix; Geneviève Giudicelli-Delage; Mathieu Jacquelin; Stefano Manacorda and Raphaële Parizot, eds. Humanisme et justice: Mélanges en l'honneur de Geneviève Giudicelli-Delage. Paris: Éditions Dalloz, pp. 713-729. ISBN 9782247159642

Giannoulopoulos, Dimitrios and Parizot, Raphaele. 2016. France. In: Alan Reed; Michael Bohlander; Nicola Wake and Emma Smith, eds. Consent: Domestic and Comparative Perspectives. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 381-396. ISBN 9781472469953

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

Giannoulopoulos, Dimitrios. 2016. Fair Trial Rights in the UK Post Brexit. New Journal of European Criminal Law, 7(4), pp. 387-396. ISSN 2032-2844

Giannoulopoulos, Dimitrios. 2016. Strasbourg Jurisprudence, Law Reform and Comparative Law: A Tale of the Right to Custodial Legal Assistance in Five Countries. Human Rights Law Review, 16(1), pp. 103-129. ISSN 1461-7781

Giannoulopoulos, Dimitrios. 2013. Custodial Legal Assistance and Notification of the Right to Silence in France: Legal Cosmopolitanism and Local Resistance. Criminal Law Forum, 24(3), pp. 291-329. ISSN 1046-8374

Giannoulopoulos, Dimitrios. 2013. “North of the border and across the channel”: Custodial legal assistance reforms in Scotland and France. Criminal Law Review, 2013(5), pp. 369-384. ISSN 0011-135X

Giannoulopoulos, Dimitrios. 2013. Suspects' rights in custodial interrogation in France: Lessons for Greece. Poiniki Dikeosini, 16(4), pp. 339-350. ISSN 1108-2755

Giannoulopoulos, Dimitrios. 2013. A Review of Renaud Colson’s and Stewart Field’s ‘The Transformation of Criminal Justice: Comparing France with England and Wales’. Criminal Law Review, 2013(10), pp. 863-867. ISSN 0011-135X

Giannoulopoulos, Dimitrios. 2012. La theorie et la pratique de la garde a vue en grece (et leur signification pour la garde a vue du droit français) [The theory and practice of custodial interrogation in Greece (and their significance for French law on custodial interrogation)]. Archives de Politique Criminelle, 34, pp. 287-301. ISSN 0242-5637

Giannoulopoulos, Dimitrios. 2012. The notification of the right to silence to police suspects in Greece and the need to harmonise Greek legislation with international and comparative law. Poiniki Dikeosini, 15(7), pp. 640-649. ISSN 1108-2755

Giannoulopoulos, Dimitrios. 2010. La vidéosurveillance au Royaume-Uni: la caméra omniprésente, signe d’une évolution vers une « société de surveillance »? (CCTV in Great Britain: the omnipresent CCTV camera, sign of an evolution towards a “surveillance society”?). Archives de Politique Criminelle, 32, pp. 245-267. ISSN 0242-5637

Giannoulopoulos, Dimitrios. 2007. The Exclusion of Improperly Obtained Evidence in Greece: Putting Constitutional Rights First. The International Journal of Evidence & Proof, 11(3), pp. 181-212. ISSN 1365-7127

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.

Giannoulopoulos, Dimitrios. 2013. 'Criminal Justice without Human Rights? Remembering the Past, and Predicting the Future, of Police Interrogation and the Law of Improperly Obtained Evidence'. In: 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.

Giannoulopoulos, Dimitrios. 2013. 'The new landscape of suspects’ rights in Europe: Moving backwards in England and Wales?'. In: Society of Legal Scholars conference. Edinburgh Law School, United Kingdom 3-6 September 2013.

Giannoulopoulos, Dimitrios. 2012. 'Suspects’ rights in custodial interrogation in Greece and France: Isolationism, legal cosmopolitanism and local resistance'. In: Globalisation, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice conference. London, United Kingdom.

Giannoulopoulos, Dimitrios. 2010. 'Criminal justice in France after September 11: Has the balance between liberty and security been disturbed?'. In: Ninth Biennial International Conference on “Societies in Transition: Balancing Security, Social Justice and Tradition”, 2-5 June 2010, Marrakesh, Morocco, Marrakesh, Morocco, 2-5 June, 2010. Marrakesh, Morocco 2-5 June 2010.

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).

Further profile content

Professional projects

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 (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3797048) 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

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.

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.

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.

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