Banking & asset finance
Libby Garvey
Taylor Wessing
Garvey joined new market entrant Taylor Wessing in 2023 after years as a partner in Addleshaw Goddard (formerly Eugene F Collins) and Matheson. She is well-regarded in the banking world for her astute advice and is well-known even in legal circles outside her speciality for her work in providing advice to corporates along with banks and other financial institutions.
She currently advises financial institutions on Irish banking and payments regulatory matters and on setting up operations in Ireland. She has spoken out about hot topics in the legal profession, such as how automation can drastically change the work of banking lawyers, freeing them up to do more deals and reducing costs for clients.
Orla O’Connor
Arthur Cox
O’Connor is chair of Arthur Cox — the first woman to hold the role — and a senior partner in its finance division. She has advised on bank reorganisations and on a wide range of regulatory issues relating to payments, electronic money, anti-money laundering, mortgage arrears and consumer credit.
Big-name clients over the years have included Permanent TSB plc (PTSB), Apollo Capital Management, Bain Capital, Lloyds Banking Group and Goldman Sachs. Described as someone who leads an “enthusiastic and very competent team” to IFLR1000, O’Connor is regarded as a leading lawyer in the banking world and an example to women lawyers looking to excel in a traditionally male-dominated sector.
Marie O’Brien
A&L Goodbody
O’Brien heads up A&L’s finance department, as well as its aviation and transport finance team. She has extensive experience in advising banks, private equity and investors on founding aircraft leasing platforms in Ireland and helping those ventures take flight.
She has led significant aircraft M&A deals such as InterGlobe’s acquisition of Airborne Capital, ASL Aviation’s takeover of Farnair, and CarVal’s purchase of Aergo Capital Limited. A lecturer in aviation leasing and finance with the Irish Law Society, and in banking and finance with the Law Society of Ireland, O’Brien also sits on the board of the Ireland China Institute.
Hilary Marren
McCann FitzGerald
Referred to as being at the “top of the game” by numerous executives in aviation firms, Marren joined McCann’s in 1990, making partner in 1997, and specialises in asset finance and leasing transactions — including portfolio acquisitions and disposals, secured and unsecured lending, and aviation-related joint ventures.
Her practice offers full transaction work, meaning many clients go to Marren instead of New York or London lawyers for all aspects of sale agreements, lease agreements, and other transaction documentation. She has advised AerCap, BOC Aviation, and many other lessors, as well as Exim Bank, the US federal government’s credit agency.
Marren was recognised in Finance Dublin’s 2022 deals of the year for her leading role in AerCap’s €2 billion acquisition of Shannon-based Gecas (GE Capital Aviation Services), which she described as a “truly landmark deal”. Rosaleen Byrne, Marren’s McCann FitzGerald colleague, also deserves a mention for being the go-to lawyer for the Central Bank on enforcement actions and investigations.
Rory McPhillips
Matheson
McPhillips’ nine years in McCann FitzGerald — including a year in Amsterdam, on secondment with Irish aviation leasing giant AerCap — set him up nicely for his 2014 move to Matheson, where he is a partner in the firm’s asset finance group.
Named in the Airline Economics 40-under-40 guide in 2020, McPhillips advised an Irish aircraft lessor on its financing of a $1.875 billion portfolio of 46 aircraft, an airline on the sale and leasing of 25 new Boeing 737 jets, and another Irish leasing company on its $750 million warehouse debt financing facility.
He is believed to be one of the partners in Matheson to have helped the firm secure the ongoing and extremely lucrative work in the aircraft leasing litigation, where the firm is on record for four of the six lessors suing insurers over missing planes in Russia.
Will Carmody
Mason Hayes & Curran
As Mason Hayes & Curran’s managing partner, Carmody is a leader in the firm as well as in his corporate speciality. He joined MHC in 2002, and has been the head of the financial services department since 2018. Originally from Portlaoise, Carmody is a graduate of University College Dublin and has been a big player in the Dublin legal market for over two decades.
His experience includes advising the government on the roll-out of the National Broadband Plan and advising a syndicate of banks (Allied Irish Banks, Santander, Royal Bank of Canada, BNP Paribas and Commerzbank) on the provision of a €250 million revolving credit facility to Greencoat plc, the publicly listed renewable energy infrastructure investment fund.
He has also advised Bank of Ireland on the financing of the acquisition and development of a portfolio of four primary healthcare centres in Ireland by MedicX, a listed healthcare fund with a value of €440 million.
Elizabeth Bradley
Maples / DLA Piper
After almost 13 years with Maples, Bradley is set to take up a new post as partner in DLA Piper’s finance practice in the new year, as the firm nears five years of operation in Dublin. She spent a decade as a banking and finance partner with Maples, advising leading Irish and multinational financial institutions, lenders, private equity funds and others in domestic and cross-border transactions — including real estate, acquisition and fund finance deals. Bradley, a former associate in A&L and ByrneWallace, is well known in the banking legal world and comes highly recommended. Bradley also acts on behalf of purchasers, vendors and services in loan portfolio sales.
Rachel Stanton
Simmons + Simmons
Stanton is head of Simmons + Simmons’ Dublin office, joining the firm in early 2020 after a dozen years as a partner in William Fry, including three as the firm’s head of banking. She has worked on numerous significant financial transactions over the years, and her expertise was strengthened by a period as in-house counsel for Bank of Ireland. She has advised numerous leading Irish and international banks, including AIB, as well as leading private equity firms. Under her leadership, the firm has made numerous key hires, including her former William Fry colleague Martin Phelan as head of tax, and Andrea Brennan, who joined from A&L Goodbody and has become a well-known legal advisor in the insolvency sector.
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