Matheson LLP
Matheson LLP‘s real estate practice is widely recognised for its strength in advising developers and occupiers on high-profile sales, acquisitions and leasing deals (including forward-funded transactions). In addition to its standout expertise in the data centre sector, the team has experience in matters across the office, retail, industrial and logistics, and residential spheres. Sally Anne Stone was promoted to head of the commercial real estate department in January 2023, overseeing a sizeable team which also includes Brian Doran and Leonie Dunne, who jointly lead the new homes and development land group, the ’excellent‘ Karen Sheil, Cillian O’Boyle, Hilda Wrixon, who was promoted to partner in January 2023, and Cork-based Laura James.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘Cillian O'Boyle in the real estate team has a commercial focus, understanding what is deliverable while ensuring clients' positions are always protected. His diligence post transaction means that focus is maintained on any post-closing items to be satisfied.’
‘A one-team collaborative approach.’
‘Karen Shiel is an excellent lawyer. She is really client centric and anticipates potential issues before they are raised as issues. She has also a very hands-on approach and has really good attention to detail. ’
‘Matheson has in-depth knowledge regarding real estate. Their expertise was critical in negotiating key terms and conditions. The individuals within the real estate practice were all professional and knowledgeable.’
‘The attitude, personable nature and industry knowledge at partner level and senior associate level is excellent. The team's strength is certainly their industry knowledge, willingness to understand exactly what the client needs and also their ability to set realistic deadlines to allow themselves to provide quality advice. The team also make themselves available as and when needed at short notice, which is greatly appreciated as urgent, time-sensitive matters arise.’
‘Brian Doran's guidance is exceptional - he is acutely aware of clients' business needs and provides invaluable advice. With his team he delivers in the highest-quality legal service in Dublin.'
‘Sally Anne Stone is an expert in exceeding clients' expectations and in problem solving. Laura James is very efficient in her dealings with clients and is particularly good with international clients who are not familiar with the market.’
- 'Sally Anne Stone is one of the best lawyers in Dublin.'
Key clients
- Tirlán Limited (previously known as Glanbia Ireland DAC)
- BoyleSports
- Surplus Property Soluctions
- Arxada
- PVR Invest
- Eirgrid
- Energia
- Aviva Life & Pensions Ireland DAC (Property Division)
- Workday
- An Post
- McGarrell Reilly Homes
- CA Ventures
- Grant Thornton
- Bank of Ireland
- Allied Irish Banks, p.l.c.
- Equinix
- Kennedy Wilson
- JCD Group
- Fiserv, Inc
- Chartered Land
- Goldman Sachs
- Trinity College Dublin
- EirGrid PLC
- JP Morgan
- Datadog
- Verizon
- Waystone
- Airbnb
- State Street
- Zendesk
- Oxley Holdings
- LVMH
- Tokyo Electron
- Henkel
- Three/Hutch Whampoa
- Stryker
- Steris
- SAP
- Irish Life
- Irish Distillers/Pernod Ricard
- Adobe
- Park Developments Group
- Värde Partners
- DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale
- Tudor Homes
- Bord na Móna
- EDF Energy Renewables
- Glenveagh Homes
Work highlights
- Advising Park Developments Group on the construction and forward sale of three blocks of residential apartments located at the Clay Farm development in Leopardstown, Dublin, to BlackRock and SW3 Capital.
- Advising Datadog on its lease of 44,000 square feet of office space from Hubspot to establish its new Irish HQ in the IFSC area.
- Advising a Kennedy Wilson vehicle on its acquisition of a number of industrial facilities from EPUT Property Trust.
Lawyers
Rising stars
Leading individuals
Matheson LLP
Brian is a partner and head of the Commercial Real Estate Department at Matheson. Brian also heads up the firm's Development Land Group. Brian advises on all areas of property development law and negotiates related sale and purchase contracts, with extensive experience in the set-up and design of privately managed residential, retail and mixed use schemes. He has particular expertise in the area of enforcement and insolvency-related multi-family sales in privately managed apartment schemes and mixed-use developments. Brian has advised institutional, private equity and opportunistic investors on investment in the key CRE assets classes of office, retail, development land, multi-family developments and non performing loan books secured on CRE assets. Brian has advised financial institutions in the disposal of trophy assets and high volume loan portfolios, with associated online data room design and management services. He has also advised financial institutions and private equity investors on the acquisition of high volume loan portfolios.
Matheson LLP
Karen is a partner in the Commercial Real Estate Group at Matheson. She specialises in all types of property development and investment transactions (both loan and asset based) including syndicate investments using corporate, funds and other structures. Karen has extensive experience in the site assembly, financing, structuring, letting and disposal of retail developments and mixed schemes on behalf of landlords and developers including multi-family, private rented sector 'PRS' development and the build-to-rent 'BTR' sector. She advises tenants taking space in all types of commercial property including retail, office and industrial. She has worked on some of the largest property transactions in the country including Project Jewel – Ireland’s largest real estate transaction – where she acted for the purchaser of a portfolio of prime retail assets including Dundrum Town Centre. Prior to joining Matheson, Karen was a partner at another Irish law firm for over a decade. She is a frequent speaker and writer on commercial property and tax related issues. She lectures in build-to-rent schemes at the Law Society of Ireland. She is consistently ranked as a leading lawyer by legal directories.
Matheson LLP
Sally Anne is Head of the Commercial Real Estate Department at Matheson and leads the international real estate practice as well as the occupier advisory and transaction practices. She is an accomplished and commercially focused lawyer with over 10 years’ experience in large scale acquisitions and disposals; site development; commercial landlord and tenant; real estate investment, commercial real estate aspects of corporate transactions, including the sale and purchase of both private and public companies; and advising owner/occupiers on the acquisition of office, industrial, manufacturing, and technical/data centre premises. Sally Anne advises both landlords and occupiers on the largest and most significant real estate transactions in the Irish market. She has a breadth of experience in running sophisticated transactions and her in-depth knowledge of the market has resulted in her being first choice as trusted advisor to some of Ireland’s largest occupiers (both tenants and owner/occupiers) on the development, letting and ongoing management of their office and technical space. Sally Anne has advised one of the largest international tech giants for over 10 years in respect of all its real estate requirements in Ireland. Sally Anne has been involved in many of the landmark transactions across Dublin. She is project lead on several of Dublin’s largest development projects advising on site acquisitions, estate set-up, development, letting and sale of commercial and residential/ PRS assets. She also advises several Irish and non- Irish institutional investors on the acquisition of large scale assets Sally Anne has advised on many of the market’s major commercial real estate deals and some of the largest real estate transactions in Ireland in the last five years.
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Sally Anne Stone