Acting for an impressive array of Irish commercial and residential developers, as well as for investors, occupiers and lenders, McCann FitzGerald LLP‘s ’market-leading’ real estate practice is well equipped to handle high-profile deals in the office, retail, social housing and student accommodation sectors (and enjoys a particularly strong reputation for real estate finance). Donal O’Raghallaigh leads the group, while Shane Fahy, ‘excellent communicator’ Shane Sweeney, Jennifer Halpin (a specialist in the sale of real estate loan portfolios) and Richard Leonard are other key names at senior level. Emily Mac Nicholas and Ruairí Stewart, who was promoted to partner in May 2023, are also noted.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘A trustworthy, hardworking and knowledgeable team with excellent communication skills and clarity of thinking. There is a great depth to their team.'
‘Donal O'Raghallaigh demonstrates professionalism, expertise, and a genuine commitment to helping clients navigate complex deals.'
‘Emily Mac Nicholas' significant experience in all things real estate law, tied in with her sound commercial acumen, make her a great partner to have on both complicated transactions which require significant input from both parties and less complicated leasing transactions where she uses prior experience to make the process smooth and simplistic without compromising on quality of outcome.'
‘Shane Sweeney is an excellent communicator and strategic legal advisor on the real estate side.'
‘The knowledge and expertise of McCann FitzGerald is market leading. They all have a can-do attitude no matter what hurdles are faced. There is nothing that phases them and they do it all with a positive attitude and stellar legal knowledge.’
‘Richard Leonard goes above and beyond for every transaction to ensure the best possible result for the client. He always makes himself available no matter what the issue.’
‘A superb team, joined up across disciplines.’
‘Ruairí Stewart is solution oriented, extremely capable and a joy to work with.’
Key clients
- Lone Star/Quintain Ireland/Hudson Advisors
- National Transport Authority (NTA)
- Hammerson plc
- MEAG MUNICH ERGO Asset Management GmbH
- Primary Health Properties, plc
- Lioncor Developments
- Ardstone Partners ICAV
- Hines
- Sofidy (part of Tikehau Capital Group)
- D|Res Developments
- Chancerygate
- M & G
- Ruby Hotels GmbH
- IPUT plc
- MSD
- Orpea S.A.
- Apollo Global Management, Inc
- Vodafone Ireland
- Leopardstown Park Hospital Trust
- Deutsche Bank
- An Post
- Housing Finance Agency
- National Asset Management Agency
- Transport Infrastructure Ireland
- ESB
- Crosbie Receivership
- Central Bank of Ireland
- Sherry FitzGerald
- Marlet Property Group Limited
- Bartra Capital Property Group
- Rohan Group Ltd
- Ronan Group Ltd
- Irish Life Assurance Plc
- AXA Real Estate Investment Managers
- Urbeo Residential Fund ICAV
- Davy
- Global Student Accommodation Group UK
- Salesforce
- Coillte
- Bank of Ireland
- Allied Irish Bank
- Activate Capital
- Pfizer
- Boston Scientific
- Hollister
- IMMAC Holding
- Grangegorman Development Agency
- HP Inc
- Summix Capital
- CitiBank
- Start Mortgages
- Pimco
- Galway County Council
- Lakeland Dairies
- Godolphin Ireland Stud Farms
- Avaio
- Union Investment (UniInstitutional Infrastruktur SICAV-SIF)
- Storebox Self-Storage
- HCC International Insurance Company Plc
- Pure Data Centres Group
- Bain Capital Limited
Work highlights
- Advising Hudson Advisors on its large residential and commercial development land-banks at Cherrywood, Adamstown and Portmarnock in Dublin.
- Advised Marlet Property Group on its €384 million financing facility with AIG and Activate Capital to fund the development of over 1,100 apartments across locations in Dublin.
- Advised IPUT plc on a major redevelopment of an existing office block within Dublin’s CBD.
Lawyers
Hall of Fame
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Leading partners
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McCann FitzGerald LLP
Shane is a partner in McCann FitzGerald’s Real Estate team and is recommended in Chambers & Partners, Legal 500 and Who’s Who Legal as one of the leading real estate lawyers in Ireland. He advises on all aspects of real estate, from acquisition, development and finance to leasing, re-structuring and disposal. He is experienced across the office, hospitality, logistics, retail and housing sectors. He is also expert in advising on energy deals, student accommodation, data centres, loan sales, primary care centres, social housing and urban regeneration. Before joining McCann FitzGerald, Shane trained and qualified with a leading international firm in London. He has worked extensively with lawyers in other jurisdictions on the real estate elements arising in international M&A deals and on international property syndication transactions. He often leads on complex mandates involving elements from the construction, funds, tax, insolvency and finance teams.
Shane headed up the Real Estate practice from 2015 to 2022 and has authored chapters on Irish real estate law for international comparative texts, lectured extensively on real estate topics and written for various national newspapers and legal journals.
McCann FitzGerald LLP
Shane deals with all facets of commercial property work in Ireland. He has considerable experience in the acquisition and disposal of real estate, including individual commercial properties, portfolios of commercial properties and residential developments. Shane is also at the forefront of the new Irish property development wave, as he is integrally involved in significant new commercial and residential developments in Dublin.
He advises a broad range of clients, including private equity funds/investors, financial institutions, semi-state bodies, insolvency practitioners, multinational corporations and hospitals. He has considerable know-how in the renewable energy sector, particularly with respect to the property aspects of wind farm developments acting for developers and funders.
Shane has a broad commercial leasing practice having acted for many years as lead property counsel to the landlord in one of Dublin’s largest shopping centres, in addition to acting on the tenant side for numerous high-street retailers. He would also act extensively in office lettings for both landlords and tenants.
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.
Donal O’Raghallaigh