Mr Keane is an academic and practising solicitor, who specialises in the law of criminal evidence and procedure. In recent years both his academic pursuits and legal practice has related mainly to sexual offences. He holds a lectureship in evidence and criminal procedure at the University of Glasgow, having been appointed in 2022, having previously worked at the University of Edinburgh from 2020 - 2022.

In terms of his research, his co-authored work on the case for independent legal representation for complainers in sexual offences cases at s.275 hearings was endorsed by the Lady Dorrian review of the Management of Sexual Offences in Scotland, and has been widely cited by the English and Welsh Law Commission and further afield in other adversarial jurisdictions considering reform, including Australia. He was also part of a research team that published the most recent empirical review of legal practice surrounding the Scottish 'Rape Shield' legislation in 2023. His work has been funded by several funders including the Scottish Government and the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and he has experience of acting as Principal Investigator on research projects. Prior to working on sexual offences, Mr Keane's research considered the position of the Vulnerable Accused, and he chaired a Law Society of Scotland working group on the topic. He has published several works on the Scots law of evidence, criminal procedure and criminal justice including Raitt on Evidence, a widely known and respected text book. He has given evidence to the Scottish Parliament and his work has featured heavily in evidential reform projects elsewhere including England and Wales, and Australia. 

He has held several administrative posts at the University including being the School of Law's Employability Officer from 2020-2024 and he currently sits on the Senate Student Conduct Academic Committee as a representative of the College of Social Sciences.  

In 2023, he co-founded the Emma Ritch Law Clinic at the University, the first and only law clinic in Scotland, supported by a specially established legal practice unit (Glasgow Open Justice) of which he is Principal Solicitor and Managing Partner. The Emma Ritch Law Clinic provides free independent legal advice and representation to complainers in sexual offences cases in Scotland via a referral agreement with Rape Crisis Scotland's National Advocacy Project. As a solicitor, Mr Keane has been instructed to act for Violence Against Women and Girls Charities in third party interventions in both the Scottish Sheriff Appeal Court and the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. He has ten years PQE as a solicitor and has acted in a range of cases, including several high profile matters. He has also been instructed as an expert witness on the Scots law of evidence by lawyers in other jurisidictions. 

He was elected as a member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh's Young Academy of Scotland in 2020, and was appointed as a member of the Law Society of Scotland's Criminal Law Committee in 2017. He has also served as a trustee of the Scottish Legal Action Group and as a member of the Scotland Committee of the Access to Justice Foundation.  

He graduated from the University of Dundee in 2012 with Scots Law LLB (Hons)(First Class) and was awarded the Dean's Medal from the School of Law in the same year in recognition of outstanding academic achievement. He was awarded an LLM in Criminal Law and Justice (with Distinction) from the University of Edinburgh in 2020. In 2024 he was awarded the Rising Star of the College of Social Sciences Award for achievements in Knowledge Exchange and Innovation. 

He is one of a number of researchers in the School of Law working on criminal law, evidence and criminal justice, and more information about their work can be found here.

Mr Keane's research interests lie primarily in evidence and procedure, namely the theoretical development and practical application of the Scots law of criminal evidence. His work has a clear empirical focus and he has been involved in large scale externally funded projects examining the law in practice, including court observation work and stakeholder interviews. 

His ongoing work includes: 

• Independent Legal Representation and the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill: A Review of Potential Models of Delivery (Principal Investigator)(with Professors Chalmers, Kinghan & Leverick)(Funded by the Scottish Government);&

• The Practice Surrounding Defence Applications for Disclosure of Sensitive Records in Scotland (Principal Investigator) (Funded by Rape Crisis Scotland). 

Some recent projects include: 

• The Use of Sexual History Evidence and Sensitive Private Data in Scottish Rape and Attempted Rape Trials (with Professors Cowan & Munro)(Funded by JAS; Scottish Government);
• Reforming Rape Prosecutions: International Comparisons and Lessons (Principal Investigator)(with Professors Chalmers, Kinghan & Leverick)(Funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh); 

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Mr Keane has held research funding from a number of funders including the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Clark Foundation for Legal Education and the Scottish Government. 

Along with colleagues, Mr Keane was awarded a combined total of over £150,000 in 2023 to establish the Emma Ritch Law Clinic at the university, which aims to promote access to justice for complainers in sexual offences cases through the provision of independent legal advice and representation. 

Mr Keane welcomes enquiries to supervise research students with interests in 1) criminal evidence, procedure and sexual offences, 2) appellate jurisdiction and miscarriages of justice. He particularly welcomes expressions of interest of supervision from practising lawyers or others working in criminal justice looking to undertake empirical work as part of post graduate research degrees

Mr Keane is currently supervising the following PhD and PGR students:

• Brindley, Sandy
  Exploring effective participation for complainers of sexual crime in Scotland
• Reilly, Phoebe
  .An examination and evaluation of Scottish university responses to a complaint of student to-student gender-based violence (GBV)
• Zhou, Yu
  Abuse of Unequal Status and Power? A Model of Coercion in Authority Relations

Due to professional committments and funding Mr Keane currently only teaches on

LAW4203: The Emma Ritch Law Clinic 

He has taught across the subject area previously in Glasgow including the following courses

LAW2052: Foundations of Evidence Law

LAW4135: Wrongful Conviction

LAW1003: Criminal Law and Evidence

Prizes, awards & distinctions

• 2012: Dean's Medal (School of Law, The University of Dundee)

Professional & learned societies

• 2020 - Ongoing: Member, The Royal Society of Edinburgh, Young Academy of Scotland
• 2017 - Ongoing: Member, The Law Society of Scotland, Criminal Law Committee

In 2023 Mr Keane was appointed to the University's Student Skills and Professional Development work stream, which is leading on the implementation of this pillar of the Learning and Teaching Strategy. He served on the Work stream for over a year.