Our People

Expertise

Isabel is a partner in the Litigation & Dispute Resolution Group and also heads up the Product Liability & Product Safety Group. Her principal areas of practice are commercial disputes and product liability. On the commercial side, she advises government entities, companies and financial institutions on general corporate disputes, regulatory compliance and investigations, the restructuring of the financial services sector, disputes concerning financial products and services, property disputes and competition disputes, resolving such disputes through mediation, Commercial Court proceedings and judicial review. On the product side she advises clients in a wide range of sectors on product liability/safety issues, including risk management, product recall and crisis management. She lectures in commercial litigation at the Law Society of Ireland and has sat as nominee of the Law Society on various judicial committees charged with the reform of court procedures in Ireland.

In June 2011, Isabel was named Best in Product Liability in Europe 2011 at the inaugural Euromoney Legal Media Group Women in Business Law Awards in London.

Experience

• Acted as part of the Arthur Cox team advising on the legislation establishing the National Asset Management Agency on the emergency legislation necessitated for the restructuring of the banking sector and on the legislation establishing a resolution regime for certain credit institutions, which culminated respectively in the National Asset Management Agency Act 2009, the Credit Institutions (Stabilisation) Act 2010 and the Central Bank and Credit Institutions (Resolution) (No. 2) Act 2011.
• Acting for the Minister for Finance and the National Treasury Management Agency in obtaining a series of Court Orders pursuant to the Credit Institutions (Stabilisation) Act 2010 in relation to the restructuring of the banking sector.   These included Direction Orders in respect of the recapitalisation of Allied Irish Banks (“AIB”), Direction Orders and Transfer Orders in relation to the transfer of certain assets of Anglo Irish Bank Limited and Irish Nationwide Building Society (together now Irish Bank Resolution Corporation Limited), a Subordinated Liabilities Order (“SLO”) in relation to AIB facilitating burden sharing with subordinated liability holders of AIB and acting in the defence of the subsequent challenge to the SLO by two AIB subordinated liability holders.
• Acting on behalf of the Central Bank of Ireland in securing, in January 2012, a High Court Order under the Central Bank and Credit Institutions (Resolution) Act 2011 appointing a Special Manager to Newbridge Credit Union Limited in the first application under that Act.
• Acting on behalf of several financial institutions in 2009 and 2010 in the defence of Commercial Court litigation instituted in respect of their structured products.
• Acting on behalf of a leading retailer in judicial review proceedings launched in 2010 seeking to quash assessments issued by the Revenue Commissioners seeking recovery of €36 million from the retailer in respect of the Plastic Bag Levy. The proceedings challenge the validity of the Plastic Bag Levy Regulations and, in particular, their applicability to bags not used at the point of sale.
• Acting on behalf of Gallaher (Dublin) Limited and Benson and Hedges Limited in the defence of multiparty litigation brought by smokers and former smokers seeking damages for injuries alleged to have arisen from the consumption of tobacco products.
• Acting on behalf of a leading pharmaceutical company in the defence of multi-party litigation instituted in respect of one of its products.
• Representing the State Claims Agency in the defence of all claims against public hospitals which involve allegations regarding hospital acquired infections.
• Representing a number of food processors in relation to the Irish pork and bacon recall arising from the dioxin scare.
• Acting on behalf of Greencore Group plc in its challenge to the decision of the Irish Government in July 2006 in relation to the allocation of €145 million of restructuring aid on the restructuring of the sugar industry, culminating in a High Court judgment quashing that decision in June 2007.
• Acting on behalf of Greencore Group plc in the defence in 2008 and 2009 of the first two “follow on” competition actions (consequent upon a decision of the European Commission) to have come before the Irish Courts.