About

Tom O’Brien joined multinational life sciences investment business Brandon Point Industries in September 2015. As GC and executive director, he plays a central role in the senior management team and business planning around strategic investments in the likes of Malin Plc. In his previous role as Providence Resources’ GC and commercial manager, O’Brien carved out a reputation for himself both as a lawyer and a business advisor. ‘There are only 14 people in the company, but we have to be able to hold our own and do business with some of the largest companies in the world like Exxonmobil Transocean or Petrobras’, O’Brien explained, speaking in March 2015. ‘That’s what makes the job interesting’. Ireland’s pioneering offshore drilling business, Providence Resources won a contractual dispute with Transocean in 2014, which set significant precedents in the industry. ‘This was the first time these two key legal arguments had been tested in court under the form of contract widely used in the industry’, O’Brien added. ‘It’s very gratifying for our team now that many legal commentators and oil and gas professionals are referring to it as a landmark decision for the industry’. Despite current challenges in the oil and gas industry, Providence progressed hugely as a business during O’Brien’s five-year tenure; its multi-basin drilling program launched in 2011, and the company subsequently invested over $300m in the program. Ireland’s oil and gas industry is still at an early stage of development, with limited expertise in the local market, O’Brien says. As a result, Providence has played a significant role in driving things forward. ‘Providence is championing the Irish offshore and hopefully, helping to create a viable and dynamic oil and gas industry for the country’, he says. ‘It’s certainly challenging, but again, it’s part of the reason I enjoy what I do’. In his dual-role, O’Brien took an unusually close involvement in business operations. ‘I think if you come from a legal background you certainly look at situations differently to your finance and technical colleagues. You definitely bring a different perspective; I think if you are able to bring some commercial nous to the table’. He appreciates his position at Providence was perhaps unusual within Ireland’s in-house legal market, though he feels the situation is beginning to change. ‘I get a sense that in some larger organisations, there’s a risk that a GC can be pigeon-holed into a more regulatory or compliance role; someone who isn’t involved in the day-to-day business decisions for example. I do think that is changing in Ireland, largely because of the influence some of the US multinationals are having here’.