Dame Eleanor Sharpston Reflects on New Year Honours Distinction, Legal Career

Eleanor Sharpston, former Advocate General at the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), recently became a Dame Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George.

She received this distinction as part of the 2025 New Year Honours List in the United Kingdom, for services to justice and the education of law in the UK and Europe.
Chronicle.lu reached out to Dame Eleanor Sharpston to learn more about the award and what led to this milestone.

Chronicle.lu: Please tell us a bit about your background, what brought you to Luxembourg and how long you lived/worked here - we understand you served as Advocate General at the CJEU from 2006 to 2020?

Eleanor Sharpston: The most British things about me are probably my passport and my accent when speaking English. My father’s family came to the UK from Lithuania / Eastern Poland; my mother’s family from Ireland. Large portions of my childhood were spent outside the UK: in Brazil, Switzerland, France and Austria. I went to university in the UK (Cambridge as an undergraduate, then Oxford for research) and I qualified as a barrister in London. Then I worked in private practice in Brussels. I did spend fifteen years in the UK from 1990 to 2005, before returning to Luxembourg in 2006. Indeed, I have spent more of my adult life in Luxembourg than anywhere else. And I am proud and happy to be a dual national: a Luxembourger as well as British.

Chronicle.lu: We understand you had been working in Luxembourg previously too - please tell us when this was, what you did and if this experience impacted on your decision to come back to the CJEU in 2006.

Eleanor Sharpston: I spent a short time at the CJEU on a scholarship, as a stagiaire (intern) working with the then British Advocate General, Sir Gordon Slynn, in 1991. I came back in 1987 to spend three more years, again working for Sir Gordon, as a référendaire (a judicial assistant). I loved my time at the CJEU, and I loved living in Luxembourg. I felt completely at home here. So, when the opportunity arose to apply for the job of advocate general back at the CJEU I leapt at the chance – and I was lucky enough to be selected.

Chronicle.lu: Please tell us about some of the most interesting cases on which you have worked as Advocate General.

Eleanor Sharpston: As an advocate general you handle cases ranging across every area of EU Law. I have particularly enjoyed writing opinions on citizenship of the Union; on refugees; and on the rule of law and fundamental rights.

Chronicle.lu: We also understand that you have combined practising law with an academic career: do you still lecture, etc., on law? Please let us know some of the most interesting audiences / locations this has brought you.

Eleanor Sharpston: For fifteen years before starting my service at the CJEU, I combined practice at the Bar with academic posts, initially at University College London, and later at Cambridge. Whilst I was an advocate general, I also spoke at conferences and wrote extra-judicially. Since leaving the CJEU I have resumed my dual existence. Over the last year I’ve been teaching and speaking in Cambridge and Oxford, but also in Budapest, Vilnius, Aix-en-Provence, Madrid, and most recently in Natolin (Poland), as well as judging the Central and Eastern European Moot Court in Prague.

Chronicle.lu: Please tell us about any hobbies/pastimes that you have outside work.

Eleanor Sharpston: I’ve never believed in doing law from dawn to bedtime! There’s a lot of other stuff that’s important to me. I play in a couple of amateur orchestras: the Luxembourg Philharmonia and the Orchestre de la Place de l’Europe. I’m still training and teaching karate - well, you’d expect that of a black belt, wouldn’t you? I do some amateur theatre, I go to plays and concerts… Oh yes, and I’ve recently started learning the bass viola di gamba with an excellent teacher, Stéphanie Houillon, at the Conservatoire du Nord in Ettelbruck.

Chronicle.lu: Last but not least, what does it mean to you to have been made a Dame Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in this year's New Year Honours Overseas and International List?

Eleanor Sharpston: Actually, my adopted country, Luxembourg, very generously honoured me first! In 2021, the Grand Duke made me a grand officier of the Ordre de Mérite in recognition of my work at the CJEU. Obviously, I am very delighted now also to have been honoured by my country of birth. That means a lot to me.