Bernard Keenan
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Overview
Overview
Biography
Dr Bernard Keenan is from Belfast and lives in London. He joined Birkbeck in 2017, after completing his PhD in law at the London School of Economics. His research sits at the intersection of law and communications technology, and draws on social theory, particularly systems theory and STS. He also tracks the development of national security law and its interaction with constitutional principles and quasi-secret legal practices.
He is finalising a monograph based on an archival study of the internal historical understanding of the power to intercept communications in Britain and its empire.
Prior to his doctoral research, he worked for five years at Wilson Solicitors LLP in Tottenham, representing migrants and refugees and working on complex national security cases. He has published on law and politics in newspapers and has discussed national security, immigration, and surveillance powers on television and radio.
Qualifications
- PhD, LSE, 2018
- LLM , LSE, 2008
- LLB Law and Politics, Queen's University Belfast, 2006
Professional memberships
Solicitor (not practising)
Fellow of AdvanceHE (2016)
ORCID
0000-0003-1978-8822 -
Research
Research
Research interests
- Law and technology
- Law, secrecy, and security
- Artificial Intelligence
- Social theory
- Systems theory
- Public law
Research Centres and Institutes
- Centre for Research on Race and Law
- Centre for Law and the Humanities
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Supervision and teaching
Supervision and teaching
Supervision
Proposals for doctoral research are welcomed from students interested in thinking critically at the intersection of law and technology, human rights, and social theory.
Teaching
Teaching modules
- MPhil/PhD Research Methods (LALA228Z7)
- Digital Surveillance (LALW015S7)
- Secrecy, National Security, and the Law (Level 5) (LALW018H5)
- Law of the Trial (LALW042S3)
- Critical Approaches to Technology (LALW059S7)
- Regulating Technology (LALW060S7)
- Trusts Law (LALW097H6)
- Equity and Trusts (GDL) (LALW117H6)
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Publications
Publications
Article
- Keenan, Bernard (2024) Profilicity and online safety. Journal of Law and Society 51 (3), pp. 367-389. ISSN 0263-323X.
- Keenan, Bernard (2023) Regulating communicative risk: online harms and subjective rights. Law and Critique ISSN 0957-8536.
- Keenan, Bernard (2022) The evolution of elucidation: the Snowden cases before the IPT. Modern Law Review 85 (4), pp. 906-937. ISSN 1468-2230.
- Keenan, Bernard (2021) Automatic facial recognition and the intensification of police surveillance. Modern Law Review 84 (4), pp. 886-897. ISSN 1468-2230.
- Keenan, Bernard (2020) State access to encrypted data in the UK: the ‘Transparent’ approach. Common Law World Review 49 (3-4), pp. 223-244. ISSN 1473-7795.
- Keenan, Bernard and Pottage, A. (2017) Ethics in rehearsal. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 23 (S1), pp. 153-165. ISSN 1359-0987.
Book Review
- Keenan, Bernard (2022) Glover, Phil, Protecting National Security: A history of British Communications Investigation Regulation, Abingdon, Routledge, 2021.
- Keenan, Bernard (2022) Review of Simon Deakin and Christopher Markou (eds), 'Is Law Computable: Critical Perspectives on Law and Artificial Intelligence', Oxford: Hart Publishing.
- Keenan, Bernard (2021) Simon Deakin and Christopher Markou (eds), Is Law Computable: Critical Perspectives on Law and Artificial Intelligence, Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2020. (In Press)
Book Section
- Keenan, Bernard (2022) Death. In: Goodrich, P. and Gandorfer, D. (eds.) Research Handbook on Law and Literature. Research Handbooks in Legal Theory. Edward Elgar. pp. 339. ISBN 9781839102257.
- Keenan, Bernard (2021) Carrier Bag Law. In: Goodrich, P. and Zartlaoudis, T. (eds.) The Cabinet of Imaginary Laws. Discourses of Law. Routledge. ISBN 9780367566586.
Other
- Keenan, Bernard (2023) Mimetic desire & the scapegoat: notes on the thought of René Girard. Critical Legal Thinking.
- Keenan, Bernard (2022) Baptizing the State – Vermeule’s Common Good. Critical Legal Thinking.
- Keenan, Bernard (2022) What is Autopoiesis?. Critical Legal Thinking.
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Business and community
Business and community
Media
I am happy to receive enquiries from the media on the following topics:
- National security law
- Law and new technologies
- Surveillance
- Systems theory
Services
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Consultancies and expert advice
Consultant researcher on international legal arrangements regarding surveillance powers and telecommunications services.
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Contract research
Contract research for AWO Agency