Real estate
Deirdre Barrett
Arthur Cox
A flag-bearer for UCC’s law programme, having completed both her BCL and LLM on College Road, Barrett has been a commercial property partner at Arthur Cox for the past 17 years. During this time, she has spearheaded some of the most significant commercial property deals in the country.
Her client list has stretched to include Kennedy Wilson, BlackRock and Green Property Limited, while also advising Center Parcs on the establishment of its Irish business. She also advised Oaktree on the sale of 5 Hanover Quay and acquisition of the Square Shopping Centre as well as Green Property Limited on the sale of Blanchardstown Centre. She has been described as “phenomenally bright” by a client in Chambers Europe who said she “makes sure to maintain the good will in transactions”.
Michael Doran
Mason Hayes & Curran
Following 15 years with Whitney Moore, Doran made the jump to Mason Hayes & Curran in 2014, where he now co-heads the firm’s real estate affairs alongside Vanessa Byrne, another highly respected lawyer in the field.
He has acted for Hammerson and Irish Life, owners of Swords Pavilions and Ilac Centre, in all asset management and lettings, including to River Island, H&M and Footlocker.
He has also acted for the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) in the sale of 90 acres at Newlands Cross, Dublin to Hibernia REIT and related acquisition of its HQ offices in Lansdowne Road, Dublin 4.
Focusing on clients in the upper end of the real estate market, Doran has an intimate knowledge of asset management, regularly advising commercial landlords and multinational clients on land development projects.
A graduate of Trinity College Dublin, Doran has been a partner with MHC for over a decade, joining from WhitneyMoore where he was head of its property department.
Mairead Sherlock
A&L Goodbody
A partner in the real estate division, Sherlock has some of Ireland’s biggest deals notched on her belt.
Involved in advising RTÉ on the sale of lands on the Montrose campus to Cairn Homes, also Blackstone with its purchase of the Blanchardstown Shopping Centre, and the disposal of the Ulster Bank/RBS development land portfolio, Sherlock has proven to be a valuable ally to developers, private equity firms and sovereign wealth/pension funds.
Notable clients are said to include IPUT Real Estate Dublin, a leading property investment company. Sources described Sherlock as tough, but beloved by clients and regarded as a valuable asset to A&L throughout her nearly two decade tenure with the firm.
Prior to A&L, she was with Arthur Cox and worked in London before that.
Sally Anne Stone
Matheson
As every major global IT firm chose Dublin in which to base their European headquarters, they seemingly also chose Stone to find and obtain their office space.
Recognised by the Legal 500 as “an absolute star, the most engaging, bright and impressive lawyer in Dublin”, Stone has risen to become Matheson’s head of commercial real estate, advising both landlords and occupiers on letting, management and regulatory issues. She previously worked under the legendary Cara O’Hagan before her death in 2018, and Stone has steered the practice through a changing and tumultuous market.
Her most notable client is Google, who has used the firm for commercial real estate for a decade. Other clients include eBay, AutoDesk, Verizon, and Zendesk, on the letting of its new EMEA headquarters at 55 Charlemont.
Marie O’Riordan
Eversheds Sutherland
O’Riordan has been at Eversheds Sutherland for nearly a decade and has been a partner there for seven of those years. She is a go-to solicitor for many of the country’s best known developers, including Johnny Ronan’s Ronan Group Real Estate (RGRE) which used O’Riordan for agreements relating to Spencer Place and the former Glass Bottle site in Ringsend. She has also acted for data centre developers and investors on acquisition and development finance deals, and is the firm’s real estate lead in the data centre practice group. O’Riordan has also spoken out about the lack of gender balance at the top of the real estate and legal world, sharing how in 2018 she was promoted to partner while on maternity leave to show how hard work should be rewarded to retain talent.
Orlaith Molloy
Taylor Wessing
A leading commercial real estate lawyer, Molloy told this paper last year that property is “part of the Irish person’s DNA”.
Despite it weighing heavily on the national psyche, her specialisation in the field came as a surprise to Molloy, with her interest first piqued during her traineeship with Matheson — a more engaging experience than the study of property law in college.
Prior to joining the new firm on the Irish block last year, the Galway native served as DWF’s head of real estate, after nearly nine years as a partner in Arthur Cox.
Since joining Taylor Wessing, Molloy has advised on major deals despite the ongoing market slump, including Corum Eurion, a French real estate investment company on its acquisition of George’s Quay House, a deal worth more than €80 million.
Planning>