Staff profile

Dr Mark Hanna, Assistant Professor in Media Law, LLB, LLM, PhD

Mark's research focuses on freedom of expression and privacy, with a particular interest in defamation law in divided societies and the development of the tort of privacy.

Mark joined Durham Law School in September 2022. He obtained his PhD from Queen Mary, University of London, an LLM in Public International Law from Leiden University, and LLB from the University of Essex. He qualified as an Attorney-at-Law in New York. Prior to joining Durham, Mark was a Lecturer of Tort Law at Queen's University Belfast, and Lecturer of International Law at The Hague University of Applied Sciences. He has also been a visiting Scholar at the East China University of Political Science and Law in Shanghai, and at the School of Law, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Mark's previous work included a focus on defamation law reform in Northern Ireland as a post-conflict society, and he advised the Northern Ireland Assembly on the adoption of the Defamation Act (Northern Ireland) 2022.

Mark's current research focuses on the protection of public interest speech in private law in England and Wales since 2014, the development of the tort of misuse of private information, and international legal protection of freedom of expression and information under conflict conditions. 

Mark teaches on Media Law, Torts and Advanced Issues in Human Rights. 

Chapter in book

• An Empirical Agenda for Social Systems Theory. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003120391
• Hanna, M. P. (2019). Barking Up the Wrong Tree? Systems Theory and the ‘Social Positivisation’ of Human Rights. In Legal Positivism in a Global and Transnational Age. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24705-8_6

Journal Article

• Hanna, M. P. (2021). Foster v Jessen: a comment on law and online defamation in Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, 72(AD1), https://doi.org/10.53386/nilq.v72iad1.944
• Hanna, M. P. (2021). The ‘chilling effect’ of defamation law in Northern Ireland?. Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, 72(AD3), https://doi.org/10.53386/nilq.v72iad3.951
• Hanna, M. P. (2018). The Substantive/Procedural Distinction: Law's Solution to the Problem ofJus Cogensin a World of Sovereign States. German law journal, 19(1), https://doi.org/10.1017/s2071832200022586
• Hanna, M. (2017). Between Law and Transnational Social Movement Organizations: Stabilizing Expectations of Global Public Goods. Journal of Law and Society, 44(3), https://doi.org/10.1111/jols.12034
• Hanna, M. (2016). Luhmann’s ›Other‹ Book on Law: Observations on the Reception of Niklas Luhmann’s A Sociological Theory of Law. Soziale Systeme, 19(1), https://doi.org/10.1515/sosys-2014-0109