The employment practice at Matheson LLP acts for numerous major domestic and international clients across the technology, pharmaceutical and financial services sectors. Among the team’s specialisms are employment and benefits matters, with the practice having recently expanded its involvement in employment-related immigration and pension issues. The group is headed by Bryan Dunne, who specialises in cross-border employment investigations and litigation before the Irish civil courts and WRC. Geraldine Carr assists clients with workplace investigations and restructuring, while Russell Rochford focuses on issues arising at the intersection between employment and financial service regulatory laws. Crisis management expert Ailbhe Dennehy is known for her expertise in whistleblowing and termination of employment matters. Alice Duffy and Jennifer Bassett were new arrivals in September 2024.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- ‘The employment law team at Matheson is outstanding. From trainee to partner, everyone I have dealt with is not only experienced in their practice area but incredibly personable and professional - a great mix for a lawyer. The quality of their documents is excellent, and their turnaround times are impressive. The employment team have got their client strategy perfected - expertise coupled with incredible customer service skills.’
- ‘I don't know what we would do without the Matheson team to support us in our issue. The team is always responsive, timely, effective and knowledgeable. If an emergency comes up, you can also rely someone on who will be available to help and answer us promptly.’
- ‘I want to shout out to Geraldine Carr. Geraldine has amazing business acumen, and she is extremely knowledgeable. She always helps us to find the right balance for any business decision. Plus, she is a joy to work with.’
- ‘One is the size and depth of their group - it's a great strength. The other point is their breadth of experience and understanding of advising large employers in the financial services sector and the added dynamic of dealing with regulatory fitness and probity issues. This is a unique advantage that Matheson delivers to us in a trusted, knowledgeable way.’
- ‘Bryan Dunne - partner and Tina O'Sullivan - senior associate - Unwavering 5-star service from both. Their responsiveness, adaptability, tailored client-focused service, commerciality and consistent availability make them stand out from competitors. Both Bryan and Russell Rochford can interpret and relate advice and guidance to previous cases we had - knowing the client's background is critical, and adapting to our style/commercial needs is key.’
- ‘Matheson is always extremely helpful. Tina O'Sullivan, in particular, is a pleasure to work with. She was willing to dive into any situation with our team and at times feel like an extension to our HR team.’
- ‘Russell Rochford and the entire employment team are key advisors to our business.’
‘Knowledge of many different areas - employment law, benefits, pension, tax etc. They understand their client and respond with a tailored approach that really responds to the business needs and goals.’
Key clients
- Abbvie
- Accenture
- Adobe Inc
- An Post
- Analog Devices
- Aramark
- Aviva
- Bain Capital Private Equity Europe LLP
- Bank of Ireland
- Bank of Montreal
- BCP Asset Management
- Bon Secours Mercy Health, Inc
- CarGurus, Inc.
- Chartered Accountants Ireland
- Danske Bank
- Deloitte Ireland LLP
- Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (formerly AWAS)
- Dublin Airport Authority plc
- Dyson
- Ebay
- Equinix Group
- Everest Re
- EY
- Meta
- FINCAD
- Fireye
- Fiserv
- General Motors
- Goldman Sachs
- Hewlett Packard Enterprise
- HP Enterprise
- HP Inc
- Water Wipes
- JAS Worldwide Management Inc.
- KPMG
- Lloyds
- L’Oreal
- Macquarie Capital
- McAfee
- MetLife
- Michael Kors
- Nestle
- Norwegian Air
- OpenTable
- Paypal
- PepsiCo
- Radisson Hotels International Inc. t/a Carlson Hospitality Worldwide
- Reddit, Inc
- SAP
- Shire
- SonicWall
- Stripe
- Tokyo Electron
- Uber
- UnitedHealth Group
- Universal Studios
- UniCredit
- Vertex Inc.
- Wells Fargo
- WeWork
- Wordplay
- Xerox
- Zendesk
- ZeroChaos (Europe) Limited
- Zoom Video Communications, Inc.
- 3M
Work highlights
- Represented a large multinational medical devices company in successfully defending three penalisation claims brought by a former employee.
- Advised a global tech organisation on a complex, sensitive and contentious collective redundancy process.
- Represented a global tech company in a dismissal matter challenged by a senior executive who sought to restrain dismissal on the grounds of redundancy by threatening a whistleblowing injunction before the Circuit Court.
Lawyers
Leading associates
Rising stars with regular involvement in their team's key work, and recognition from peers or clients as being ones to watch.
Leading partners
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.
Matheson LLP
Bryan Dunne is a partner and head of the Employment Practice at Matheson. He advises on a variety of aspects of employment law, both contentious and non-contentious. This work includes preparation of senior executive service agreements and severance arrangements for international employers, defence work in contentious employment litigation matters and advising on all employment aspects of commercial transactions. He also regularly advises employers on internal grievance and disciplinary processes, with particular focus on senior executive level employees.
Bryan is a member of the Employment Lawyers Association of Ireland, and the European Employment Lawyers Association. He is also a member of American Bar Association’s International Labour and Employment Law section and a co-author of the Irish Chapter for the ABA's annual publication on International Labour and Employment Law. He has also presented at numerous ABA and other events in the US and Europe and has been the European Chair of the ABA CLE teleconference training programme since 2006. Bryan has also written articles for Irish and European trade and legal publications on employment issues, and is a tutor and examiner on employment law on the Law Society's solicitor training course. He has published a chapter on International Employment and Secondment in a leading Irish employment law text, and is a regular speaker on cross border employment issues to US audiences. He is also a fluent Spanish speaker and a member of the Irish Spanish Economic Association, and advises many leading Spanish companies on employment law issues in their Irish operations.
Next Generation Partners
Junior partners with significant recognition from clients and peers in the market and key roles on multiple matters.
Matheson LLP
Geraldine is a partner in the Employment, Pensions and Benefits Group. She provides strategic, practical and commercially focussed advice to international and domestic clients on all aspects of employment law. Her practice spans a variety of sectors, including technology, financial services and pharmaceuticals.
Geraldine has extensive experience advising in relation to the management of employees on a day to day basis, including the drafting and implementation of contractual documentation and employment policies and procedures, as well as guiding employers through crisis management issues in the context of workplace investigations, misconduct allegations, grievances, bullying, harassment, and performance management procedures.
Geraldine has particular expertise in advising clients on senior executive appointments and terminations, particularly in regulated industries, as well as case managing employment injunctions and defending claims before the Workplace Relations Commission, the Circuit Court and the High Court.
She provides pragmatic advice on the employment law aspects of corporate restructurings, outsourcings, and individual and collective redundancy situations.
Geraldine worked with Matheson’s US client base from the firm’s San Francisco and Palo Alto offices for six months in 2017 / 18. As a result, Geraldine has a deep understanding of the key distinctions between employment law in Ireland as compared with other jurisdictions.
She frequently provides bespoke employment law workshops to clients. She is a regular speaker at conferences and a tutor at the Law Society’s professional practice course for trainee solicitors. She also regularly publishes articles on employment law matters. Topics on which she has recently written and spoken on include: “Fair Procedures and the Right to Cross Examination during Workplace Investigations”, “US Employers in Ireland: Key Distinctions Between the Employment Law Landscape in the US and Ireland”, “Recent Developments in Employment Injunctions”, “Common Pitfalls and Developing Trends in Employment Law in Ireland’, “Important Ruling Extends the WRC’s Powers to Disregard National Law that is Contrary to EU Law”, and various articles on Ireland’s workplace relations system.
Geraldine is an active committee member of the Employment Law Association of Ireland (ELAI) and the Law Society of Ireland’s Employment and Equality Law Committee. She is also an active member of the American Bar Association’s International Labor and Employment Law section and the European Employment Law Association of Ireland. Geraldine originally qualified as a Chartered Tax Adviser.
Matheson LLP
Russell is a partner in the Employment, Pensions and Benefits Group with over 13 years’ experience advising a wide range of public sector, third sector, corporate and institutional clients in the UK and Ireland across the spectrum of contentious and non-contentious employment, industrial relations, equality and immigration law.
Russell has a particular expertise in advising clients on the complex workforce challenges that arise from their commercial activities, having been the employment lead on some of the largest reorganisations, outsourcings and commercial transactions across the private and public sector in the UK and Ireland in recent years. This has included major National Health Service reorganisations in the UK and large M&A transactions in Ireland covering, amongst other things, staff transfers (TUPE in particular), due diligence, individual and collective redundancies and the consequent litigation that can arise in such projects.
Russell also has extensive experience in managing sensitive and complex employment disputes and litigation, including High Court injunction proceedings, and is regularly lauded by both clients and peers alike for his personable and commercially practicable approach in dealing with such matters.
Russell‘s breadth of experience and expertise in UK employment matters means that he frequently works with clients and potential clients operating in and from the UK to advise them on the differences and nuances between UK and Irish employment laws, amongst other things. This also means that he has unrivalled experience in advising clients on matters such as whistleblowing and has played a vital role in the Group becoming the “go to” Irish employment group for Brexit-related matters.
Russell is an active member of the UK Employment Lawyers Association, the European Employment Lawyers Association, the Employment Lawyers Association of Ireland and the American Bar Association. As well as delivering regular presentations and training to colleagues and clients, Russell has delivered bespoke training to members of the American Chamber of Commerce and the Institute of Directors in Ireland on managing employment law risk and defending employment claims. He also regularly presents at employment conferences organised by the American Bar Association in the US and the White Company here in Ireland.
Russell co-authored the Ireland Chapter of the 2016 / Fifth Edition and the 2018 / 6th Edition of The Littler Mendelson Guide to International Employment and Labor Law, which covers employment law in over 60 countries.
Matheson LLP
Ailbhe advises domestic and international clients on a variety of employment law and industrial relations issues. She specialises in guiding employers through crisis and change management situations, from conduct of disciplinary and grievance processes and investigations of bullying / harassment or whistleblowing allegations, to complex terminations of employment.
Ailbhe joins Matheson with extensive experience in providing strategic and practical advice on corporate transactions and restructurings, regularly acting for clients before the WRC, the Labour Court and the civil courts.
A frequent lecturer on current employment law issues and contributor to employment law publications, she is a member of the Employment Law Association of Ireland (ELAI), the Employment Committee of the Dublin Solicitor Bar Association (DSBA), the European Employment Lawyer’s Association (EELA) and the UK Employment Lawyers Association (ELA).
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Bryan Dunne