Reid Professor of Criminal Law, Criminology and Penology at Trinity College Dublin, she is a qualified Barrister, and a Senior Lecturer and Fellow of Trinity College Dublin. She is a Senator for Dublin University (elected 2007, re-elected 2011 and again 2016). Her research interests include criminal law; criminology; feminist theory of law and equality law. She co-authored a major study on gender in the legal professions (Bacik, Costello and Drew, Gender InJustice, 2003), and her other publications include Legal Cases that Changed Ireland (co-edited with Mary Rogan, Clarus Press, 2016).