About

Emmet O’Grady has had an exciting in-house career to date, which included a long and successful tenure with Paddy Power. Here, he was significantly involved with laying the legal groundwork for the infamous stunt that saw Danish footballer Nicklas Bendtner reveal the Paddy Power logo on his shorts after scoring a goal at the Euro 2012 competition (indeed, O’Grady lists this high-profile endeavour as one of his career highlights). Now, he is engaged as General Counsel and Head of Compliance for Storyful, the global leader in social insights, news and user-generated content for media partners.. O’Grady established the legal function at Storyful in 2015 and now feels it is a mature and high-performing part of the business. ‘Prior to my joining’, he recalls, ‘and as with many SMEs, legal issues were managed by the CFO. As revenues and complexities grew a specialist was needed. Compliance is a big deal here, especially as we are now part of the News Corp group, and we have been able to inherit a lot of expertise from other News Corp companies’. Now well established as one of the most innovative GCs in Ireland, O’Grady goes into what he thinks has contributed to his success over his career. ‘I think the most important thing for any lawyer going in-house is to really understand the business. Get your hands dirty and look to get to know the business as much as possible. Your colleagues will really appreciate this, which pays dividends down the line when negotiating contracts or advising on new products, for example’, he advises.