About

Michael O’Hara, group general counsel of Glanbia, leads a team of four solicitors in Ireland and a separate legal and regulatory team in the US comprising five lawyers and ten regulatory and support staff. In the last year, O’Hara has overseen the implementation of an operating system and single filing data management platform within the Irish team, ensuring that all files are maintained in an identical electronic format and can be shared and viewed by the whole team. The team have recently worked on the merger of the consumer and agribusiness units into Glanbia Ireland creating a €1bn-plus business. The company has also expanded with the purchase of Body & Fit in the Netherlands, and the expansion of Glanbia Cheese’s mozzarella business from the UK to Ireland. Among the many challenges of operating a multi-national company from a legal perspective O’Hara identifies that Brexit is playing an increasing role in long term contract negotiations, and says that ‘the on-going obligations to ensure compliance with GDPR should not be underestimated. There has been a significant change in the understanding of data protection issues both inside the company and with individuals whose data is being processed’.