Full coverage: Law

Jeanne Kelly's specialism in technology, IP and data law once placed her in a small niche – until multinationals made Dublin a global tech centre. Now a founding partner of Browne Jacobson in Ireland, she discusses competition among law firms, GDPR and challenging the legal white boys' club.

Over two decades as a finance lawyer, Nollaig Murphy got closer and closer to the aviation industry. The opportunity between investors and owners of aircraft seeking buyers triggered his transformation into an entrepreneur.

With the pandemic receding, Declan Black, managing partner of Mason Hayes & Curran, believes the biggest threat is now the societal risk posed by inflation. He also discusses how Covid impacted the 540-person firm and changed its future.

For eight years, Deloitte incentivised older partners to leave the firm and make way for younger talent. Revenue has gone all the way to the High Court to challenge tax deductions on the retirement scheme.

A lawyer at a blue-chip firm reached a settlement after claiming he was “victimised and defamed” when he raised internal concerns. In a dispute that has implications for hundreds of other partnerships, a separate battle emerged over its tax treatment.

After 26 years, Ken Murphy is stepping down as head of the Law Society. In this extensive interview with legal editor Francesca Comyn, the face of the solicitors' profession looks back at his long, successful career and talks politics, lobbying, Marian Finucane, and why the fun has gone out of the job.

Dr Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin’s experience should raise a red flag that despite the focus and significant resources allocated by third-level institutions to the issue of gender equality, they – and other Irish employers – still face an uphill battle to stamp out sexual harassment.

Three decades ago this week, the Oireachtas rushed through emergency legislation to save Larry Goodman’s beef processing empire, triggering Ireland’s first-ever examinership. A lawyer who was in the room looks back on the process that kept the Goodman Group afloat – and many businesses since.

Pay cuts and slashed bonuses are the order of the day at Ireland's blue-chip law firms. But so is resilience. They survived the last recession. Now they are preparing to weather the uncertain times ahead.

Like the sectors they serve, Ireland's corporate law firms are suffering the financial pain of the coronavirus pandemic. Drastic times call for a serious response.