Under the leadership of Eleanor Cunningham, the pensions and incentives team at McCann FitzGerald LLP maintains a broad practice known for handling a wide range of pensions and incentive matters for a diverse client base of financial institutions, state sponsored bodies and trustees. The group handles the full spectrum of restructuring and winding up of pension benefits schemes and disputes, often appearing before the pensions ombudsman and Labour courts. Key members of the team include Catherine Austin and Clementine Farrell.
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Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- ‘Smart, capable and collegiate.’
- ‘Eleanor Cunningham is pragmatic, professional and pleasant to work with.’
- ‘A very strong pensions team. We particularly enjoy working with Catherine Austin. She is very knowledgeable, focused and provides excellent pragmatic advice on the law.’
- ‘ We particularly enjoy working with Catherine Austin. She is very knowledgeable, focused and provides excellent pragmatic advice on the law.’
- ‘The pensions team in McCann FitzGerald provides an excellent service.’
- ‘Catherine Austin’s in-depth knowledge of pensions enables her to continue to provide practical solutions to complex issues.’
- ‘First-rate pensions lawyers.’
- ‘Eleanor Cunningham - first-rate pension lawyer, providing excellent client service.’
Key clients
- Aer Lingus
- ESB Committee
- Allied Irish Banks, p.l.c.
- Trustees of a major semi-state statutory pension scheme
- Trustees of the AerCap defined benefit pension scheme and AerCap
Work highlights
- Advised Allied Irish Banks, p.l.c. on all pensions aspects arising from the acquisition by AIB from Ulster Bank/NatWest of Ulster Bank’s commercial banking division.
- Advised the ESB Defined Benefit Pension Scheme Committee and the in-house pension team in ESB that supports the Committee on a wide-range of issues on an on-going basis.
- Advised Aer Lingus on pensions and employment issues arising from their various multi—employer defined benefit schemes.
Lawyers
Next Generation Partners
Junior partners with significant recognition from clients and peers in the market and key roles on multiple matters.
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Eleanor Cunningham