CPD Training (UK) Limited

Fiona Donnelly was for many years a Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Professional Legal Studies at Queen’s University, Belfast, and has been admitted as a solicitor since 1987. The Institute is the primary training organisation for solicitors and barristers in Northern Ireland. Fiona designed, taught and examined courses in litigation and advocacy until 2025.

Fiona has acted as an SRA-approved assessor for Higher Court advocacy in England & Wales. She assessed solicitors' Higher Rights of Audience for CPD Training (UK) from 2012 until our accreditation expired in 2025. She is also an approved assessor in Northern Ireland.

For CPD Training (UK), Fiona has taught arbitration advocacy for CMS in London and Vienna and for Bär & Karrer and Gabriel Arbitration in Zurich. She regularly teaches and assesses interim advocacy on the Basic Litigation Skills Course for patent attorneys. Fiona has also taught bespoke advocacy skills courses to a number of patent firms, as well as for the European Central Bank in Frankfurt.

She is a faculty member of the National Institute for Trial Advocacy in the United States, and has taught many times in Boston, New York, San Francisco, London, Paris and San Diego. She is the only non-US team leader on the annual San Francisco programme.

Fiona was jointly responsible for the creation of the Law Society of Northern Ireland Advanced Advocacy Course, which has gained statutory recognition as the proposed basis of qualification for Solicitor Advocates in Northern Ireland. She also trained of the faculty (judges and senior practitioners) and quality on this course.

In 2023 Fiona developed the first Vulnerable Person Practitioner Course for the Law Society of Northern Ireland, enhancing advocacy skills for the examination of vulnerable witnesses.

She is a regular advocacy trainer for the Law Society of Ireland and teaches advocacy for the Public Prosecution Service in Dublin.

Fiona is a member of faculty for the Diploma in Professional Legal Practice at the University of Strathclyde. She is also a member of the International Society of Barristers, for which membership is by invitation only following inquiry into a nominee's skill and professionalism.

Fiona has been retained by various Health bodies to provide joint court skill courses with lawyers and medical professionals.

In 2007, Fiona was appointed by the Lord Chancellor to be a Commissioner on the Legal Services Commission for Northern Ireland, which is responsible for the oversight of the administration of publicly-funded legal services in Northern Ireland.

Fiona is a Facilitator for Vulnerable Witness Advocacy Training by the Law Society of England & Wales and has developed and taught Advocacy courses for them since 2016.  She has also trained public bodies including the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland and is the course director for evidence courses for the Offices of the Public Services Ombudsman in both Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Fiona received the UK Legal Academic of the Year award at the Inspirational Women in Law Awards 2025.