Firm Profile
Mason Hayes & Curran is an award-winning business law firm, providing innovative and commercial solutions to help businesses succeed. We are the fastest growing full service law firm in Ireland with 80 partners and offices in Dublin, New York and London to serve our significant international client base. We provide strategic and commercial legal advice in sectors such as technology, energy, financial services, healthcare, insurance, food and public sector. Although we have deep skill sets in target industries, the diversity of our practice means that we bring a fresh and dynamic approach to every organisation that we advise. We provide solution-driven approaches to business challenges, constantly exceeding our clients’ expectations. Client service is a high priority for Mason Hayes & Curran. We are delighted to have been awarded the “Ireland Client Service Law Firm of the Year” by Chambers Europe Awards for Excellence 2016.

News
November 2018:Ireland member firm Mason Hayes & Curran last month took home the top award for “innovation in legal expertise” at the prestigious FT Innovative Lawyers Awards 2018 in London. For over a decade, these awards have recognized standout legal innovation in over 50 countries worldwide. The firm was recognized for its “new homes” team’s approach to Ireland’s conveyancing process and the assistance its members have provided in over 5,000 property transactions. Commenting on the award, firm managing partner Declan Black said, “We are pleased to win this award particularly because our innovation is about more than just the application of technology. It’s about applying fresh thinking to legal issues so that transactions happen more easily. That’s where clients get the real benefits.”

July 2018: Brian McElligott of Ireland member firm Mason Hayes & Curran has been named a partner on the firm’s intellectual property team. Mr. McElligott advises clients from a range of sectors on the formulation and implementation of effective intellectual property development and protection strategies. He guides international brand owners through complex intellectual property protection and commercialization issues and advises major technology companies on intellectual property licensing and due diligence surrounding mergers, acquisitions, IPOs and other transactions. Mr. McElligott is a registered Irish and European Union trademark and design agent and formerly chaired the Licensing Executives Society of Ireland and the Irish branch of the Anti-Counterfeiting Group

June 2018: Ireland member firm Mason Hayes & Curran has appointed seven new partners, adding to the firm’s expertise on its dispute resolution, tax, competition, banking, planning and insurance teams. The new partners include Karol Fox, who works with international and domestic clients on a range of banking transactions including leveraged finance, acquisition finance, trade finance, commercial real estate development finance and corporate restructuring; Lisa Joyce, who advises public and regulatory bodies, professional disciplinary bodies and private clients on dispute avoidance and management in the regulatory sphere; Niamh Keogh, who advises domestic and international clients on inward investment into Ireland, real estate and debt acquisition structures, corporate restructurings, mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity listings and international tax structuring; Michael Madden, who advises clients on state aid, antitrust and merger control, with particular expertise in the areas of telecommunications and broadcasting regulation; Deirdre Munnelly, who acts for Irish insurers, U.K. underwriters and self-insured companies in defense of public liability, employer liability and other insured claims; Deirdre Nagle, who practices in both contentious and non-contentious planning and environmental law; and John O’Leary, who specializes in domestic and multijurisdictional contractual, tortious and shareholder disputes. With the addition of the aforementioned, the firm now has 87 partners and over 450 staff in its offices in Dublin, London, New York and San Francisco.

April 2018: Ireland member firm Mason Hayes & Curran has announced the appointment of Robert Dickson as a partner on the firm’s corporate team. Mr. Dickson works with a broad range of Irish and international clients in the financial services, energy, healthcare, telecommunications, food and beverage, professional services, aviation, entertainment and life sciences sectors. His extensive international expertise includes advising on mergers and acquisitions, private equity, corporate investments, joint ventures and shareholders’ agreements, reorganizations, partnerships and venture capital. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Dickson trained, qualified and practiced at a large international law firm in London and joined Mason Hayes & Curran from the corporate team of another major Irish law firm. 

March 2018:  Vanessa Byrne and Michael Doran have been named co-heads of the real estate team at Ireland member firm Mason Hayes & Curran. The firm’s real estate team is one of the largest in Ireland and has advised on some of the most significant real estate transactions in the country. Ms. Byrne’s practice is focused on all aspects of commercial property, landlord and tenant and liquor licensing law. She has an extensive practice in the hotel and leisure sector, nursing homes, primary care centers and student accommodations, as well as the property and planning aspects of renewable energy and infrastructure projects including wind farms, solar parks and data centers. Mr. Doran concentrates on commercial and institutional residential property and the real estate aspects of land development. He advises commercial landlords and tenants on the acquisition and disposal of property interests and provides asset management advice to landlords, tenants and asset managers.

February 2018: William Carmody has been named head of the financial services team at Ireland member firm Mason Hayes & Curran. The team works with financial institutions and companies on secured corporate lending, complex debt restructuring, project finance, leveraged and acquisition finance, commercial real estate finance, structured finance and Irish law issues in multijurisdictional finance transactions. Mr. Carmody takes over from Christine O’Donovan, who will continue in her role as head of the firm’s international asset finance team. Mr. Carmody specializes in advising on and implementing a broad range of debt-based transactions and provides strategic advice to lenders, borrowers and investors.

November 2017: Liz Quinn has been named partner on Ireland member firm Mason Hayes & Curran’s debt recovery team. Ms. Quinn has extensive experience in advising on complex commercial disputes, ranging from credit insurance, fraud, product liability and professional negligence. In addition to recovering debts for large public sector clients, she also specializes in complex enforcement procedures and remedies, such as bankruptcy, fraudulent transfers, severance of joint tenancies, appointment of receivers by way of equitable execution, discovery in aid of execution, chargeable shares and other tools to assist creditors convert judgments to cash. She completed her legal education at the National University of Ireland Galway.

October 2017: Frank Flanagan has joined Ireland member firm Mason Hayes & Curran as a partner on the firm’s dispute resolution team. He advises clients in relation to commercial disputes, insolvency and restructuring, and communications regulation. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Flanagan had a 20-year career in the communications and computer hardware industries including time as the chief technical officer of a technology start-up, where he was deeply involved in raising significant venture capital funding and in technology licensing for a Fortune 100 company. 

September 2017: Oisin Tobin of Ireland member firm Mason Hayes & Curran has been appointed partner in the firm’s technology, media and communications and commercial contract practices and head of its recently opened San Francisco office. Mr. Tobin’s practice focuses primarily on formulating and implementing global privacy and data transfer strategies, advising on the development and rollout of innovative technologies and representing businesses under investigation by European data protection authorities or engaged in privacy-related litigation. Working between Dublin and San Francisco, he also counsels West Coast companies on their international expansion plans. Mr. Tobin received his LL.B. from Trinity College Dublin.

February 2017: For the third year in a row, U.K. legal publication The Lawyer has nominated Germany member firm GvW Graf von Westphalen for one of its 2017 “European Awards.” Now in their eighth year, the awards were the first initiative of their kind to reward and celebrate excellence across the European legal market. This year the awards will focus on and recognize the growing importance of cross-border instructions to firms across the continent. Besides GvW Graf von Westphalen, other SCG Legal member firms nominated for one of the 2017 “European Awards” are Ireland member firm Mason Hayes & Curran, Poland member firm Domański Zakrzewski Palinka, and Turkey member firm Moroğlu Arseven. This year’s awards ceremony will take place at Grange St. Paul’s in London on March 16, 2017. For more information about the event, go here.