Dimitrios Giannoulopoulos

Overview

Professor Dimitrios Giannoulopoulos is the Head of Department at The City Law School (Academic Programmes), leading a team of over 110 academic members of staff, in one of the largest full-service Law Schools in the UK.

Professor Giannoulopoulos joined City St George's University of London from Goldsmiths University of London, where he was the Inaugural Chair in Law, Inaugural Head and founder of the Department of Law (2018-2025) as well as the Associate Head at the School of Culture & Society. 

Professor Giannoulopoulos 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. He obtained his PhD from the École doctorale de droit comparé at the Université Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne) and Masters degrees in criminal law and criminal procedure at the Athens Law School, the Institut de sciences pénales et de criminologie at the Université Aix-Marseille and Brunel University of London. He obtained his "Ptychion" (BA) from Athens Law School. 

Dimitrios was a Research Visitor at the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights at Mansfield College (Oxford University) in the Hilary and Trinity terms in 2025. He was previously appointed a Visiting Professor in Law at the Institut de Sciences criminelles at the Université de Poitiers, in 2023-24, and the Global Law Professor at the Faculty of Law and Criminology at KU Leuven in 2024-25. He has taught as a Visiting Professor since 2021 at the Masters in EU Criminal Law & Policy at the Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences in Athens.  

Research

Professor Giannoulopoulos has leading expertise in how human rights norms on criminal justice are applied in national jurisdictions across different legal cultures. He has published widely in a broad range of areas, from suspects’ rights, evidence obtained in violation of the right to privacy and the application of ECHR jurisprudence in the domestic criminal process to judicial independence, the rule of law and the impact of populism on human rights, especially in relation to Brexit and populist attacks upon the European Court of Human Rights.

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, was longlisted for the prestigious Inner Temple Book prize (Major Prize), and was described as “a hugely significant contribution to, and indeed advancement of, scholarship on the ever-captivating issue of improperly obtained evidence, and indeed criminal procedure more broadly” (review by Yvonne Daly in Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Books).

His edited collection (with Prof Yvonne McDermott) on Judicial Independence Under Threat, published in August 2022 (with OUP and the British Academy), was described, in the Law Society Gazette, as an “absorbing read” that “deserves to attract a wide audience”.

Public engagement

Since joining The City Law School as the Head of Department (Academic Programmes), Professor Giannoulopoulos has led on the launch of a Public Lecture series (including in being in conversation with Baroness Shami Chakrabarti for the inaugural publlic lecture), coordinated a symposium on criminal justice and AI, supported the redevelopment of 'work in progress' seminars, and joined up criminal justice and human rights experts in the department, amongst other research and public engagement initiatives.

Pre-City, his public engagement contributions include: providing oral and written evidence to the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee (LIBE) at the European Parliament; giving evidence to the House of Lords' EU Justice Sub-committee (October 2017); contributing expert opinion to the UK Mission to the EU (October 2020) on the future of the ECHR in the UK; supporting through research the work of Julie Ward MEP and human rights NGOs, notably New Europeans; submitting written evidence to the Independent Human Rights Act Review (March 2021).

Professor Giannoulopoulos has convened a range of national and international colloquia e.g. in February 2017 on the ECHR and rights of EU citizens in the UK, at the British Academy; on November 2018, on the impact of ECHR in the UK, at the British Academy; on May 2019, on the occasion of launching the Department of Law at Goldsmiths, on English criminal procedure and European human rights, with UK Supreme Court Justice Lord Hughes as the keynote speaker, again at the British Academy; on December 2020, on the occasion of celebrating the 70 year anniversary of the ECHR, with Prof Francesca Klug and Jonathan Cooper OBE as keynote speakers. 

He has also inaugurated the annual human rights lecture and the annual criminal justice lecture at Goldsmiths, which brought to the University internationally leading scholars and legal practitioners including Stanford's Prof David Sklansky (March 2019), Berkeley Law School's Prof Andrea Roth and Charles Weisselberg (June 2020), the UK Judge at the ECtHR (at the time of the lecture) Tim Eicke KC (March 2021), or the late Prof Conor Gearty (May 2024).  

He has likewise taken a strong interest in coordinating and chairing book launches and public debates e.g. in February 2019, roundtable discussions on the application of the ECHR in the UK (with Maya Sikand KC and Jonathan Cooper OBE amongst other speakers) and the state we're in with Brexit (with Will Hutton and Sir Geoffrey Nice KC as keynote speakers); in March 2019, on citizens' rights after Brexit; in December 2021, with Dominic Grieve KC and Jessica Simor KC, on Brexit; in February 2022, on Fair Treatment for Black People (in the CJS), with Leslie Thomas KC; or in February 2023, with Lord Justice Singh, on his book "The Unity of Law".

 

Community engagement/outreach activity

Professor Giannoulopoulos has for many years coordinated the delivery of human rights workshops to 16-18 year old students in schools across London and the UK, connecting with more than 2,500 students in the context of the Knowing Our Rights project. Surveys with workshop participants have demonstrated the highly positive impact on the students’ understanding of the topic.

Press

Professor Giannoulopoulos' 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, the Parliament Magazine, Europe Street News, EU Reporter, Sputnik ‘Inforrm’, Cyprus’ ‘Fileleutheros’, the Fair Trials blog and the Conversation. In the years following the EU Rererendum in the UK, he regularly appeared on national radio and television in Greece, and contribute op-ed pieces to Sunday papers there on a monthly basis. He has published over 100 op-ed pieces and other news articles in the press, in the UK, Greece and other international media.

Leadership in teaching design and the student experience

As the Head of Department at The City Law School, Professor Giannoulopoulos has helped introduce a range of professional legal practice visits and workshops at law firms and the Inns of Court, including a visit with 140 students to Linklaters, an AI and the law workshop at Simmons and Simmons, attending Social Context of the Law seminars at the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, Academy lectures at Mishcon de Reya and public lectures at Gresham College. He has also enthusiastically supported student-led initiatives including the Women in Law Society Moot and networking events by the Commercial Law Society. 

As the Inaugural Chair in Law at Goldsmiths University of London, Professor Giannoulopoulos designed the new LLB Law, LLB Law with Criminal Justice and Human Rights, LLB Law with Politics and Human Rights, LLM, LLM in International Human Rights, LLM in Criminal Justice, and LLM in Criminal Justice and Human Rights, writing over 30 modules and setting in motion innovative (immersive) teaching and assessment (by student participation) practice that have led to outstanding academic achievement and UK-leading results in the NSS 2022-2025 as well as a number 1 in the UK student satisfaction ranking in the Complete University Law League Table 2024.

His work as Head of Department ultimately led his former institution to a top 30 in UK Law School ranking in the Guardian Best UK Universities 2026 League Table. 

Professor Giannoulopoulos conceived and designed the Immigration Law & Policy Clinic and Counter-Terrorism and Human Rights Law & Policy Clinic at Goldsmiths, incorporated legal advice centre and summer internships, joined forces with the Refugee Law Clinic at the University of London, brought to the UK the Zero-L/Harvard Law School online course, set up partnerships with Clifford Chance, Linklaters, Kingsley Napley, Mishcon de Reya, The Orwell Foundation and other social science and humanities departments within the University, launched mooting and debating competitions, the Better Human podcast with Adam Wagner and human rights story tellers programme with Each Other. He also engineered the appointment of world-leading personalities from legal practice and politics as Visiting Professors, launched the Lewisham Law Challenge widening participating initiative, led on human rights talks to 6th form Colleges, co-designed the Class in courtroom at the Old Bailey with HHJ Angela Rafferty, KC and embedded CPS teaching into Criminal Law.

As Associate Head at the School of Culture & Society at Goldsmiths, he designed the Beyond the Classroom programme that exposed students to visits and experiential learning opportunities at UK Supreme Court, the RCJ, the Inns of Court, Europe House, Garden Court Chambers, the Migration Museum and Parliament, the National Theatre, the BFI, the Royal Academy of Arts, the RSA, the British museum, the British Academy, the Wallace Collection, the Frontline Club, the French Institute, Tate Modern, the UoL public lectures, while also inaugurating international study trips and summer schools in Strasbourg, Athens, Paris and Brussels.

As the Associate Dean (Student Welfare and Student Experience) and the Deputy Head of Law at Brunel University of London, he led on the restructuring of the LLB Law programme and achieved top quartile positions in the NSS for the institution.

Qualifications

• PhD, Pantheon-Sorbonne University, France, April 2009
• Program of Instruction of Lawyers, Harvard University, United States, July 2003
• MPhil, Brunel University London, United Kingdom, 2001
• LLM in Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (Law School_, Greece, September 2000
• DEA (LLM) droit pénal et sciences criminelles, Aix-Marseille University, France, September 2000

Languages

French (can peer review) and Italian (can read)

Publications by category