Arthur Cox's Dublin office works closely with the Belfast, London, New York, and San Francisco offices in order to advise international airlines, lessors, investment banks and private equity investors on a wide range of asset finance matters. Ruth Lillis is a well regarded name in the practice, and is very experienced in handling work connected to the recovery of the aviation sector after the Covid-19 pandemic. Other key practitioners include tax expert Elaine Mooney, the 'very dependable' Bethan Leonard and Fintan Kerins, who has 'great potential'. In 2023 Caroline Devlin retired from the practice, and Laura Cunningham left the firm.
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘Strong subject matter skills combined with commercial focus and understanding of the client's needs. Always responsive to urgent requirements.’
‘Ruth Lillis - a very experienced, skilled and innovative lawyer.’
‘Ruth Lillis and Orla O’Connor are a delight to work with. There’s a wealth of aviation legal talent in Dublin but one of the best in terms of transaction support and value for money.’
- 'Their team has outstanding expert knowledge across many disciplines while still having the streamline capacity to deliver advice in a prompt fashion and always keeping quality standards to the highest professional level. I would have no hesitation in recommending Arthur Cox as Irish legal counsel and look forward to a continued fruitful and fulsome relationship between our organizations well into the future.’
‘Ruth Lillis has done an outstanding job managing the engagement and is a pleasure to work with. Elaine Mooney - an expert in taxation. Her hands on approach and accessibility reading mark her out from the pack. Bethan Leonard is very dependable and her ongoing highly valued contribution ensures a smooth process.’
‘They are a highly skilled, experienced and knowledgeable practice; this coupled with the diverse areas and practice areas of the law make them an invaluable resource.’
‘We find the Arthur Cox product offering very strong across all touchpoints within our business. The team are proactive, very well connected, always provide good insight and have always been able to deliver, regardless how demanding or obscure our request is.’
‘Ruth Lillis is our go-to person in the Dublin legal community. Along with being incredibly professional, she very bright and always provides exceptional insight. Fintan Kerins is a young associate with great potential. ’
Key clients
- Abbey International
- Abelo Aviation
- Acia Aero Capital
- Aer Lingus
- AFIC (Aircraft Finance Insurance Consortium)
- Air Europa
- Amergin Asset Management
- Apollo Management
- Arena Aviation Capital
- Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings
- Aviator Capital
- AVIC (Aviation Industry Corporation of China)
- AviLease
- Bank of Communications Financial Leasing Company
- Barclays
- BBAM
- BNP Paribas
- Braathens Regional Airways AB
- Bramora
- British Airways
- China Construction Bank
- China Merchant Bank
- Credit Agricole CIB
- Citibank
- Compass Cargo Airlines
- Credebt Exchange
- Credit Suisse
- Deka Bank
- Deutsche Bank
- Deutsche Lufthansa
- Export-Import Bank of China (CEXIM)
- Flexam Invest
- GA Telesis
- Grupo Lomex
- HSBC
- ICBC (Industrial and Commercial Bank of China)
- iAero Thurst
- Industrial and Commercial Bank of China
- JP Lease
- KLA Aviation Finance
- Lobo Leasing
- MHR
- Mizuho Bank
- MUFG Bank
- Muzinich & Co.
- NTMA (National Treasury Management Agency)
- Nona Trade Corporation
- Nord LB
- Orix Aviation
- Ping An
- PK Airfinance
- Rabobank
- Rotor XM Leasing
- Ryanair
- SDH Wings
- Société Générale
- SMFL (Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing)
- Titan Aircraft Investments
- Turkish Airlines
- UBS Switzerland AG
- Vallair
- Vance Street Capital LLC
- Westpac
- Wings Capital Partners
- Wells Fargo Bank N.A
- Worldstar
Work highlights
- Advised Apollo Global Management on the provision of a $700m debtor-in-possession facility to SAS – Scandinavian Airlines as part of the airline’s Chapter 11 restructuring.
- Advised Ryanair on its €750m unsecured revolving credit facility with a syndicate of 13 banks.
- Advised on the establishment of the Irish AviLease platform and the platform’s first transaction, a purchase and leaseback deal for 12 Airbus A320neos with Flynas.
