Team size: 24

What are the key projects that you have been involved in over the past 12 months?

With my legal team, I continue to provide key assistance to Government Departments and ComReg colleagues in significant transpositions of EU law in the Digital sectors and development of ComReg’s capabilities in preparation for these new roles. We are guiding ComReg through a period of significant change, embracing new responsibilities and confronting evolving market realities. ComReg has recently received new responsibilities in such areas as the European Accessibility Act, the EU Data Act, the second Network and Information Systems Directive, the Critical Entities Resilience Directive, and the Artificial Intelligence Act. As a result of these new responsibilities, the team are advising ComReg in new sectors with new stakeholders, both in Ireland and across Europe. We are an Irish and European regulator, and we continue to hold ourselves to the highest standards as we navigate a dynamic environment. There is significant legislative, sectoral, political and economic change and the challenges to completing the Single Market and ensuring Europe’s competitiveness on a global stage, and the EC Competitiveness Compass initiative. ComReg legal advisors have carefully assessed the various reports, analysis and proposals providing advices for inputs to the developing legislative proposals through the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport, and BEREC.

The Legal Team work in multidisciplinary teams to deliver our regulatory mandate in the electronic communications sector and under ComReg’s watch, strong investment in next generation networks has continued. Ireland is now well-placed to reach its EU Digital Decade coverage targets. The Legal Team have contributed to the prudent application of regulation where warranted, and the removal of regulation where, on the basis of the evidence available, it is no longer justified.

ComReg legal advisors work within their functional areas to actively monitor compliance and take action where necessary and have been particularly active in upholding consumer rights with reported cases in the High Cort and District Court over the last year. As the response to the disruption to telecommunications networks and services occasioned by Storm Éowyn in January 2025 indicates, network resilience is a prerequisite for Irish businesses and end users and ComReg has been working with all stakeholders to address these critical needs so that operators deliver reliable and resilient networks that consumers can trust. Scam calls and texts are a blight on Irish society and cause significant financial and economic damage to all sectors of society including consumers, business, and public bodies. This increasing illegal activity has required significant cross organisational attention and legal guidance to navigate the challenges and develop a package of effective measures to protect consumers and businesses and maintain trust in the networks.

Based on your experiences in the past year, are there any trends in the legal or business world that you are keeping an eye on, of which you think other in-house lawyers should be mindful?

With reference to the above it is clear a trend to continue monitoring is the evolving EU Digital legislation and challenges in the Digital infrastructure sector, how Ireland and the EU respond to geopolitical changes and the attempts to manage Europe’s competitiveness. Advocacy and debate in light of Europe’s and particularly Ireland’s connectivity infrastructure challenges, technological challenges, and investment needs, and sustainability challenges must be supported. Ireland and Europe’s future competitiveness also depends on our capacity to respond to the pace and scale of technological change. Increased and more data-intensive usage trends and emerging technologies, such as, Generative AI, may lead to services and networks becoming constrained.

The increasing sophistication of AI threats and opportunities must be engaged with, and legal advisors play a key role in doing so. Lawyers need to take a leadership role in developing the AI policy for their organisations. AI literacy for organisational needs, understanding the AI applications in the markets we regulate and AI use for safety components in high-risk cases for future regulatory roles is challenging but essential in these transformative times.

Have you had any experiences during your career as a lawyer that stand out as particularly unique or interesting?

I started out with a pupillage at 5 Kings Bench Walk in London before pursuing commercial work as a Solicitor in England. I had been mentored by the managing partner who encouraged me to take up an opportunity to move to California, he had a connection with the California Bar Association introducing me to a firm in Los Angeles where I took up a role as an attorney. I remained in America for ten years working as a senior advisor defending mass litigation, environmental and toxic tort and product liability cases. It was endlessly challenging, but exciting at the same time, with a high public profile and the leadership of a small team that worked with a larger firm for the client in San Francisco – the case was later to be made into the film Erin Brockovich.