Chairman of the Danske Bank Irish Law Awards Judging Panel:
Dr Eamonn G Hall, solicitor and notary public, is principal of E G Hall & Co and a former Chief Solicitor with Eircom. A graduate of several universities, he is a fellow of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies at the University of London. A former chairman of the Law Reporting Council for Ireland, the Medico-Legal Society of Ireland, the Irish Society for European Law, the Editorial Board of the Gazette of the Law Society, a former member of the first Information Society Commission, he is a board member of the Irish Centre for European Law (TCD), an examiner in constitutional law for the Law Society, a member of the Governing Council of the Faculty of Notaries Public in Ireland and the Director of Education for the faculty. He is also the author of several books and articles.
Judging Panel for the Danske Bank Irish Law Awards:
John Costello is a consultant in Beauchamps and has extensive experience in wills, administration of estates, trusts, tax planning, wards of court, powers of attorney and other legal issues affecting the older person. He also practices in family law. He served as President of the Law Society for the year 2010/2011. He has authored Law and Finance in Retirement and has lectured to members of STEP and to practitioners on wills and probate matters. He also chaired a Law Society Law Reform Group which produced a major work on charity law in July 2002. This report recommended a radical overhaul of charity legislation. Many of its recommendations were incorporated in the Charities Act 2009. He was appointed Chairman of the Parole Board last July,for three years.
Rachel Curran- Ulster Bank
Rachel Curran is a qualified lawyer and has worked as in house Legal Counsel in a number of different financial institutons over the last 20 years. She holds a qualification EU Law and a Masters in Commercial Law. Rachel was also a founding member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners .In the recent past Rachel has also held the role of Company Secretary for a number of different reglated entities. Rachel is currently General Counsel for Ulster Bank Group.
Helen Dooley- AIB
Helen Dooley was appointed AIB Group General Counsel at the start of 2013 and is a member of the executive management team. Before that, Helen was with EBS Building Society for seven years, during which time she held a number of roles, including head of legal, head of regulatory compliance and group company secretary. Prior to joining EBS, Helen worked principally as a banking and restructuring lawyer in private practice in London, Hong Kong and Dublin.
Dr. Elaine Fahey- Elaine is a postdoctoral research fellow, Amsterdam Centre for European Law and Governance (University of Amsterdam) and Lecturer in Law (Dublin Institute of Technology on leave). She is the author of EU Law in Ireland (Clarus Press, 2010) and is a former Chairperson of the Irish Society for European Law.
Niall Farrell-
Niall Farrell is a Solicitor and Notary who practices in Newbridge, Co. Kildare. He was a member of the Council of the Law Society for many years and chaired some of its committees. He is the representative of the Law Society on a number of committees. He chairs Mental Health Tribunals and is a PRTB adjudicator. He currently is a member of the Disciplinary Committee of the Law Society. He is the managing partner of a general practice with a special interest in Probate matters.
Maurice Gaffney, senior counsel, is a native of Dublin and a graduate of the National University of Ireland with a B.A. He was called to the Bar in Hilary Term 1954 and became a senior counsel and member of the Inner Bar in Trinity Term 1970. He practises on the Easter and Dublin Circuits, has served on numerous committees and is a Bencher of King’s Inns.
Stuart Gilhooly is a partner with H J Ward & Co, specialising in litigation. He is the Past President of the Dublin Solicitors Bar Association (DSBA) and a current member and the Junior Vice President of the Law Society. He is Chairman of the Law Society’s Professional Indemnity Insurance Committee. A former editor of the DSBA’s Parchment magazine, Stuart is the now main feature writer and was recently named Journalist of the Year 2011 at the Irish Magazine Awards.
Richard Hammond-
Richard is a partner, with his spouse Joyce, at Hammond Good Solicitors in Mallow in north County Cork. He holds B.C.L., LL.B. and LL.M. degrees from University College Cork, a Diploma in Arbitration from University College Dublin and a Diploma in Family Law from the Law Society of Ireland. He is a Fellow of both the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce and is a member of the Society of Estate & Trust Practitioners. He is also a European Trademark & Design Attorney and an Accredited Mediator (Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution). He works in general practice and specialises in succession law, insolvency and intellectual property; with a strong interest in arbitration and mediation. He teaches regularly in these areas at the Law School of the Law Society of Ireland. He is a member of the Council of the Law Society of Ireland, the Council of the Southern Law Association and the Executive Committee of Solicitors for the Elderly ~ Ireland. He is involved in a number of committees of the Law Society of Ireland including the Probate, Administration & Trusts Committee, the Gazette Editorial Board and the Complaints & Client Relations Committee of which he is currently a Vice-Chairperson (Divisional Chairperson). Richard was previously President of the Union of Students in Ireland.
Eamonn Kennedy- RTE
Eamonn Kennedy qualified as a solicitor in 1991 having trained with Matheson. Following a short period with the European Commission in Brussels he practised in the area of general commercial law with A & L Goodbody until 1995. He became RTÉ’s legal advisor in 1995. As Director of Legal Affairs he manages the RTÉ Solicitors’ Office which provides advice and assistance to RTÉ across a range of areas, including litigation and commercial.
Rosemarie Loftus-
Rosemarie Loftus is a practising Solicitor, having enrolled with the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland in 1991. She currently practices in the North Westas a joint Managing Partner with the legal firm Bourke, Carrigg & Loftus, Teeling Street, Ballina, CountyMayo, which is a busy general practice with six Solicitors and fourteen associated staff. Rosemarie has practised and continues to practise in many areas of law but has particular interests in the areas of Commercial Law and Commercial Litigation, Personal Injuries Litigation, Probate, Family Law, Landlord & Tenant Law and Property and Conveyancing Law. Rosemarie is an Accredited Mediator and is a Member of Mediation Solutions North West. Her Qualifications and Membership are:- Bachelor of Civil Law B.C.L(University College Dublin) 1987. Qualified as a Solicitor 1991 – Incorporated Law Society ofIreland,Dublin. Council Member of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland – 2003 to present date. Service on several Committees of the Law Society of Ireland including Conveyancing, Litigation, Professional Indemnity Insurance, Regulatory Committees and several Task Forces. Former President Mayo Solicitors’ Bar Association. Member of Chamber of Commerce. Accredited Mediator.
Brigid Lowe – Shell
Brigid Lowe was appointed Head of Legal, Shell Exploration & Production Ireland Limited on 1 January. Brigid joined Shell Legal in 2000 and was lead lawyer on Shell acquisitions, disposals and jvs including divestments of Shell’s downstream businesses in Ireland and Iran. From 2007, Brigid was Managing Counsel for Shell Supply & Distribution. Prior to joining Shell, Brigid was a corporate lawyer at Simmons & Simmons and S J Berwin in the City of London.
Elma Lynch is a senior partner in Daly, Lynch, Crowe & Morris, a law graduate of UCD and was admitted to the roll of solicitors in 1970. She practises mainly in conveyancing, family law, licensing law, commercial law, landlord and tenant law, wills, probate and administration of estates. Elma served as President of the Law Society in 2001/02. Elma has served on the Conveyancing, Law Reform and Litigation Committees.
Michele O’Boyle-
Michele O’ Boyle is a Partner in O’Boyle Solicitors, Sligo. Her main areas of practice include litigation, Family Law, Employment Law, Licensing Law and Compulsory Purchase Order Law. She is a former President and current member of Sligo Solicitors Association and is also a member of the Dublin Solicitors Bar Association (DSBA). Michele has been an elected member of the law Society Council since 2004 and has served on a range of committees and is currently serving on the PII committee.
E. Rory O’Connor - solicitor (1953), Overend Scholar of the Law Society of Ireland (1953), Fellow of the Institute of Bankers (1969), author of The Irish Notary Cheques and Analagous Instruments (Institute of Bankers, 1993), former general counsel (1960-1990) to a number of international banking institutions, Member of Council and former Dean of the Faculty of Notaries Public in Ireland (2005-2011).
Kevin O’Higgins has been in practice for over 26 years. He spent his early years in Arthur Cox and thereafter in a smaller commercial firm before opening up his own practice as a sole practitioner in the suburbs some 19 years ago.
A past president of the DSBA he has also, since 1998, been an elected member of the Council of the Law Society of Ireland, has chaired the Guidance and Ethics Committee, and been a member of several other committees . He is also the society’s representative on several task forces including the Legal Services Bill Task Force and a separate task force on the future of the profession. He served as Junior Vice President for the year 2010/2011 and has just recently been re-elected for a further term on the Law Society Council.
He has lectured to colleagues extensively, edited the award-winning Parchment magazine and continues to edit a monthly article in the Law Society’s Gazette.
Terence O’Keeffe- Dublin City Council
Terence is a solicitor and has worked as a Law Agent with Dublin City Council since 1998. Terence has vast experience of all forms of Alternative Dispute Resolution and he has been involved in many disputes of varying kinds both as legal advisor to his clients and also in his capacity as Arbitrator and Mediator.
Michael V O’Mahony, solicitor and notary public, is a former partner in McCann Fitzgerald, Solicitors, and a former President of the Law Society. He was educated at Belvedere College, Dublin, University College Dublin (with a BCL and LL.B) and the University of California, Berkeley, with an LL.M. at the Law School of the Law Society: he was awarded both the Overend and Findlater scholarships. First elected to the Council of the Law Society in the mid 1970s, he served on Public Relations, Parliamentary, EC and International Affairs, and Publications Committees of the society and as a long standing member of the Editorial Board of the Law Society’s Gazette. He has served on several bodies including the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for Ireland and has acted as a legal adviser in Dáil elections and national referenda.
Aideen O’Reilly is a solicitor and a graduate of University College Dublin and Queen’s University Belfast. She has been Head of Legal at the National Asset Management Agency since inception, where the legal team is primarily involved in financing, restructuring, enforcement and litigation. She was previously senior legal adviser to the National Treasury Management Agency, working primarily in the areas of debt capital markets and investment funds. She was involved in event organisation for the Corporate and Public Lawyers Association for several years and is the association’s Vice President.
Justin McKenna is one of the original partners of Partners at Law solicitors, formed in 1992 and operating out of Dún Laoghaire. He qualified in 1979 and acquired the long established practice of Sheridan & Kenny in 1981. After moving it to Dún Laoghaire he set about forming a local bar association in the borough when he was persuaded to put his name forward for election to the DSBA. He became its president in 1995. Prior to that he had been a council member of the Law Society for seven years. During that time he served on a proliferation of committees and chaired many of them, including education and practice management. He still serves on various committees for both the Law Society and the DSBA. He created the Parchment in 1995 and remains on its editorial board. His present interests centre on elder law and oenology.
Justin’s crowning moment was his election as an honorary lifetime member of the Dublin Solicitors Bar Assocation in recognition of services to his colleagues.
Ed Riley- Avolon
Ed Riley is General Counsel at Avolon, an aircraft operating leasing company based in Dublin. Avolon currently owns 92 commercial aircraft on lease to airlines worldwide and has commitments for a further 73 aircraft. Ed began his career at Clifford Chance in London, where he qualified as a solicitor in 1999. Specialising in aircraft finance, he advised airlines, banks and lessors and also completed a secondment at GE Capital Aviation Services in Shannon. He then spent six years from 2001 as Senior Legal Counsel with Airbus in Toulouse before joining RBS Aviation Capital in Dublin as Senior Vice President, Commercial Negotiation with responsibility for leading the negotiation of transaction documentation with airlines, financiers, operating lessors and export credit agencies. Ed has a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Modern Languages from The University of Durham and a Diploma in Law and a Diploma in Legal Practice from The College of Law, York. He was admitted as a Solicitor in England and Wales in 1999.
Joanne Ross- Bord Gáis
Joanne Ross is Head of Legal for Bord Gáis Energy, where her legal team is involved in advising on a broad spectrum of legal matters across all business functions, including wind farm developments, financing and trading arrangements, litigation, procurement, outsourcing arrangements and regulatory issues. Prior to joining Bord Gáis in 2011, Joanne held a variety of roles both in practice and in commercial in-house roles. She started out in McCann FitzGerald solicitors, where she worked primarily on M&A and corporate finance, before moving in-house where she has held head of legal roles in the IT and FMCG sectors. Prior to her current position Joanne was Head of Legal and Company Secretary for Coca-Cola Hellenic in Ireland.
Michael Smith BCL, BL, Dip Eur Law was chairman of An Taisce (1999-2003) and is currently editor of Village magazine. He also owns a business in France and the Ormond Wine Bar on Dublin’s quays.
Rory Sullivan- Pfizer
Rory has been the Legal Director for Pfizer Ireland since 2006. Pfizer is the world’s largest biopharmaceutical company and has significant operations in Ireland across manufacturing, finance, sales and marketing. Prior to joining Pfizer, Rory held a number of senior counsel positions in the IT industry and was an intellectual property barrister for eight years at specialist chambers in London representing a broad range of industry and entertainment clients. Rory was called to the English Bar in 1992 and obtained his BA and MA in law from St. John’s College, Oxford.