About

Head of legal at New Ireland Assurance Company, Valerie Barlow is recognised for her commercial focus and solution driven and practical approach to legal issues. She began her career in the legal department of AIB Bank and spent many years after working in the financial services industry with her early experience adding value to a variety of roles. Barlow took up her current role of head of legal in April 2016 having worked as a senior lawyer in the legal team in New Ireland Assurance since 2010. Prior to that she worked in private practice at Irish business law firm Mason Hayes & Curran for three years. Barlow prides herself on developing the lawyers in the legal team and cites has been one of the highlights of her career is, ‘witnessing the development of other lawyers on the legal team whom I mentor and coach on a daily basis and impressing upon them the importance of being commercially focussed as an in-house lawyer’. Since joining New Ireland Assurance she has focused on achieving the early resolution of disputes in all cases whilst ensuring a full and thorough investigation for the company from the outset. Barlow has encouraged the legal team to be ‘open and frank’ when providing reports and recommendations on issues identified in the business, accounting for her success as a team manager.