Maura Connolly

Dispute Resolution & Employment

Maura is Partner and Head of the Dispute Resolution Group. She also leads the Employment Law Group in Ireland. Maura’s disputes practice has involved the management of large scale litigation. This has recently included Commercial Court proceedings relating to professional negligence in the financial sector, management of a large e-discovery process, acting in a landmark case relating to the “Gig Economy” and the status of workers. In addition to representing clients in the Courts, particularly the High Court and Commercial Court, Maura has advised extensively on alternative dispute resolution procedures including mediation. Maura’s practice includes advice on regulatory matters, including professional conduct investigations and decision making, administrative law and legal proceedings. She has advised on statutory investigations, tribunals of inquiry and directors’ liability for statutory offences.

Having practised for many years in the area of employment law Maura’s practice includes advising employers and employees on all aspects of employment law including contentious and non-contentious matters. She has been involved in many commercial transactions and has considerable experience of employment law issues arising in the context of mergers and acquisitions, including transfer of undertakings issues. She also advises on a contractual matters, development of policies and procedures, management of disciplinary, performance, absence and other processes. This includes regularly appearing in the Workplace Relations Commission, the Labour Court and the Civil Courts. Data privacy and dealing with data access requests under GDPR is a feature of many cases in which we are involved. Most recently she has advised extensively on Covid-19 related issues, restructurings, redundancies and legislative changes.