Arthur Cox has appointed eight new partners across a number of divisions.

The Irish law firm has appointed partners in competition and regulated markets; asset management and investment funds; litigation, dispute resolution and investigations; capital markets; tax; construction and engineering; and pensions and employment benefits.

The firm said the appointments reflect its commitment to nurturing the next generation of talent, fostering expertise, and ensuring its clients have access to the highest standard of legal advice in an ever-evolving marketplace.

Simon Breen has been appointed as partner in competition and regulated markets. His practice covers EU and Irish competition law, foreign investment screening and sectoral regulation.

He advises clients on a wide range of competition and regulatory matters, including merger control, foreign investment screening, investigations, state aid, the competition law aspects of agreements, compliance programmes, and competition litigation.

Prior to joining the firm in 2018, Simon worked in the London and Brussels offices of Slaughter and May.

Maeve Crockett has been appointed as partner in construction and engineering, and she advises on construction and infrastructure projects.

Crockett has significant experience advising clients on high value and complex projects, on both contentious and non-contentious issues, drafting contract documents including principal contracts and ancillary documentation, as well as advising clients on issues arising during project delivery, general contract management and financing of projects.

Stephanie Hanrahan has been made partner in asset management and investment funds.

Hanrahan advises fund promoters, investment managers, financial institutions, service providers and investors on the establishment and operation of all types of investment funds.

She has experience with a variety of fund structures and asset classes, including ICAVs, investment limited partnership, UCITS, QIAIFs, ETFs, private credit funds, direct lending funds, property and real estate funds and private equity funds. She also advises institutional investors on Irish domiciled funds and has particular expertise in private capital and ETFs.

Brendan Kennedy has been appointed partner in capital markets, and he specialises in structured finance, securitisation and private funds transactions, advising both domestic and international clients on bespoke structured lending deals, credit structures and other securitisation and private fund structures across multiple asset classes.

Kennedy also advises on corporate bond issuances, life settlements platforms and other asset-based financing structures and his clients include asset managers, investment banks, hedge funds, private equity firms and institutional investors.  

Elaine Mooney has been made a partner in the tax division, and she advises on the tax aspects of a wide variety of transactions.

Mooney has particular expertise in advising on establishing in Ireland, public and private mergers and acquisitions, domestic and international group restructurings, IP structuring, aviation and equipment leasing transactions, securitisations and structured finance transactions.

She works with a broad range of Irish and international clients on all aspects of corporate and financial services taxation.

Christopher O'Reilly has also been made partner in asset management and investment funds, and he advises on all aspects of Irish fund law, regulation, and governance across the formation and deployment cycle.

O'Reilly specialises in advising investment managers, service providers and investors on the authorisation and ongoing operation of their alternative investment funds, private capital structures and other regulated businesses and funds in Ireland.

Additionally, he advises limited partners on investments in limited partnerships and other alternative investment structures.

Conall O'Shaughnessy has been appointed partner in litigation, dispute resolution and investigations, and he advises clients on all aspects of the litigation, investigations and disputes process.

He has extensive experience in advising high-profile domestic and international clients on a wide range of areas including competition law disputes, regulatory and statutory investigations, technology disputes, injunctions, crisis management and multi-party litigation.

O'Shaughnessy also guides clients through alternative dispute resolution procedures such as mediation and arbitration.

Finally, Daniel Watters has been promoted to partner in pensions and employee benefits.

Watters specialises in pensions law, advising employers and pension scheme trustees on the establishment and running of occupational pension schemes (both funded and unfunded/pay as you go schemes), scheme restructurings, liability management exercises and scheme wind-ups.

He has experience in investment funds and regulation and advises on regulatory change for the pensions industry, including pension scheme compliance with the GDPR, the European IORP II Directive, the Digital Operational Resilience Act and the new Auto Enrolment regime.

Commenting on the appointments, Arthur Cox managing partner Geoff Moore said: “The diverse skills and deep industry knowledge of our new appointees align with our commitment to delivering exceptional legal advice, enhancing our ability to meet the evolving needs of our clients and reinforcing our position as a leading law firm in Ireland for both domestic and international businesses.” 

Photo: (Standing, l-r) Christopher O’Reilly, Stephanie Hanrahan, Maeve Crockett, Geoff Moore, Daniel Watters, Elaine Mooney, Brendan Kennedy. (Sitting, l-r) Simon Breen, Conall O’Shaughnessy. (Pic: Supplied)