31 May 2024

McCann FitzGerald LLP Announces 11 New Partners

Back row from left: Paula Fearon (Legal Technology); Simon Walsh (Restructuring and Insolvency); Gerard Sadlier (Dispute Resolution); Anna Moran (Investment Funds); Mark White (Chair); Stephen Holst (Managing Partner); Aidan Gleeson (Corporate Lending); Clare Gillett (Financial Regulatory).
Front row from left: James Quirke (Tax); Deirdre Barnicle (Tax); Conor Cunningham (Dispute Resolution); Sinead Martyn (Environmental and Planning); Ciara O’Herlihy (Corporate).

Building on strong growth over the past number of years, McCann FitzGerald LLP now numbers almost 650 people with more than 450 lawyers and professional staff.  These promotions speak both to the exceptional talent and experience of each of these lawyers, and to the firm’s determination and ambition to offer the very highest standards of legal advice, innovation and service to clients.

The new partners are Sinéad Martyn in the firm’s Environmental and Planning Group; Paula Fearon in the Legal Technology Group; Gerard Sadlier, Conor Cunningham and Simon Walsh in the Litigation Group; Anna Moran, Aidan Gleeson and Clare Gillett in the Finance Group; Ciara O’Herlihy in the Corporate Group and Deirdre Barnicle and James Quirke in the Tax Group.

Commenting on the new partner appointments, Managing Partner of McCann FitzGerald LLP, Stephen Holst, said: “The demand for specialist legal expertise continues to grow and we are delighted to strengthen our partnership with the appointment of eleven outstanding individuals to support our future growth ambitions. Each of our new partners has demonstrated exceptional dedication, expertise, and leadership within our firm and unparalleled commitment to client work. On behalf of all my colleagues at McCann FitzGerald, I am delighted to welcome Sinéad, Paula, Gerard, Conor, Simon, Anna, Aidan, Clare, Ciara, Deirdre and James as partners and congratulate them on their well-deserved achievement. We look forward to working closely together as a stronger leadership team for the continued benefit of our firm, our clients and our people.”

New Partners at McCann FitzGerald LLP

Sinéad Martyn, Partner, Environmental and Planning Group

Sinéad advises clients on a wide spectrum of environmental and planning law issues. She has particular experience advising clients on complex infrastructure projects from project inception; providing support at navigating an evolving consenting framework, right through to advising on post-consent judicial review challenges.  Sinéad is also Chairperson of the Irish Environmental Law Association and lectures on environmental and planning issues.

Paula Fearon, Partner, Legal Technology and Head of Project Services

Paula leads McCann FitzGerald’s Project Services Group, a team of lawyers and technologists who specialise in large scale document review projects. Paula is leader in the field of legal technology deployment and innovation. Harnessing the power of lawtech and AI, Paula advises on the implementation of innovative, efficient solutions for clients across all practice areas, including investigations, ediscovery, due diligence, M&A, loan sales and verification.

Gerard Sadlier, Partner, Dispute Resolution and Litigation Group

Gerard advises clients across a range of contentious matters, including cross-border commercial disputes, regulatory matters and professional indemnity matters. Gerard has significant experience in high-end commercial disputes and in public law matters.

Conor Cunningham, Partner, Dispute Resolution and Litigation Group

Conor specialises in product liability and personal injury litigation. He has particular expertise in defending complex large scale product liability claims in the medical devices, pharma and broader life sciences sectors. He also advises clients in relation to serious incidents, air accident and health and safety investigations and acts for state and private sector clients in relation to employer's liability, occupier's liability and insurance matters. 

Simon Walsh, Partner, Restructuring and Insolvency Group

Simon specialises in corporate restructuring and insolvency matters, advising all stakeholders on high-profile contentious and non-contentious matters, including restructuring processes, liquidations, enforcements and related commercial litigation.

Anna Moran, Partner, Investment Management Group

Anna’s practice involves advising fund promoters and asset managers on financial services law and regulation related to investment funds. She has significant experience in the structuring and establishment of a wide range of investment funds, including UCITS, money market, real estate, credit, private equity and infrastructure funds. Anna also advises fund service providers including management companies, administrators and depositories regarding ongoing regulatory and governance compliance requirements.

Aidan Gleeson, Partner, Corporate Lending Group

Aidan advises on a wide range of financing transactions, including secured and unsecured lending, syndicate finance, acquisition finance, real estate finance, development finance, ESG finance, working capital finance and debt restructuring. Aidan's clients span financial institutions, alternative lenders, sponsors, corporate borrowers, institutional investors and semi-state entities, and he has worked on numerous high-profile financings in the Irish market.

Clare Gillett, Partner, Financial Services Regulatory Group

Clare is a specialist in financial services regulatory law with over 14 years’ experience. She has particular knowledge of the regimes applicable to investment firms, fund management companies, (re)insurance companies and credit institutions.  Clare has acted in a number of transactions involving regulated entities and has conducted large scale due diligence exercises. She has also advised on many successful applications for authorisation to the Central Bank.

Ciara O’Herlihy, Partner, Corporate Group

Ciara advises clients on a wide range of Irish corporate law matters, including mergers and acquisitions, private equity transactions, joint ventures, corporate governance, corporate reorganisations, carve-outs and other significant corporate transactions. Her experience spans a broad range of sectors, with a particular focus on the aviation, pharma, technology, communications and infrastructure sectors.     

Deirdre Barnicle, Partner, Tax Group

Deirdre specialises in Irish financial services taxation law and practice and advises clients on complex tax matters and key transactions from an Irish tax perspective in the financial services tax area, particularly in the debt capital markets/securitisation, investment funds and corporate banking sectors. She advises clients on pertinent Irish tax issues across all tax heads and has particular expertise in the Automatic Exchange of Information area.

James Quirke, Partner, Tax Group

James advises multinational groups on all aspects of corporate taxation, including the structuring of domestic and international reorganisations, mergers and acquisitions and the tax consequences of doing business in and from Ireland.  James is a dual qualified solicitor, chartered tax advisor and chartered accountant and is a member of the Law Society of Ireland, the Irish Taxation Institute and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland.