Richard Willis

Richard is a partner in the Litigation, Dispute Resolution and Investigations Group.  He advises clients on investigations and commercial disputes focusing on the financial, technology, entertainment and sports sectors.

He has extensive experience in complex disputes, internal and regulatory investigations which often involve injunctive relief, crisis management, cross border data and information governance processes and related forensic data reviews. Richard co-authored the Ireland chapter of the E-Discovery & Disclosure Guide 2019 for Chambers and Partners and is a member of the sub-committee of the Commercial Litigation Association of Ireland that drafted the Best Practice Discovery Guide and the recommendations in respect of the proposed amendments to the Irish Superior Court Rules for the purposes of reducing costs in discovery.

Relevant Experience

• Acting for various global technology companies in investigations by the Irish Data Protection Commissioner
• Advising multiple financial sector clients on investigations and enforcement actions taken by the Central Bank of Ireland
• Advising multiple clients in relation to data breach response incidents and cyber-liability issues
• Advised a leading insurance broker in the investigation by the European Commission into the commercial motor insurance industry in Ireland
• Acted for Ulster Bank DAC in the Governmental Inquiry established in relation to the Irish banking sector in the aftermath of the financial crisis
• Advised Depfa Bank in relation to the investigation of Hypo Bank by the special investigator appointed by the German Parliament
• Advised the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) in relation to civil and criminal offences in terms of breaches of the NAMA Act and Official Secrets Act (illegal taking of data from former employer) to include coordinating the reporting of matters to various authorities and securing Anton Piller and related court orders
• Advised the Olympic Federation of Ireland in relation to ticketing and associated issues arising out of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, to include advising the Executive Committee in relation to the Moran Inquiry, appearing before the Oireachtas Committee and general governance issues
• Advised a major Irish bank in Commercial Court injunction and plenary proceedings arising from the sale of a division. The case was one of the first in Ireland in which a “springboard injunction” was granted
• Advised the joint liquidators of a Cayman based fund in securing the return of €14 million from an Irish based bank account in Commercial Court interpleader proceedings where the party competing was the US Trustee in Bankruptcy of the Madoff Estate