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

During my time at Trinity Biotech, I’ve managed several strategic initiatives aimed at strengthening our financial and operational foundation. I led negotiations to relocate manufacturing to two offshore jurisdictions and oversaw the outsourcing of core business support functions to a centralised, lower-cost location. These changes have materially improved our operating margins and required careful navigation of complex legal, tax, and regulatory issues.

In parallel, I’ve been applying my extensive M&A experience to support capital structure optimisation — exploring equity raises and debt reduction strategies to position the business for sustainable growth, particularly in our continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) segment where we see high return on investment potential.

How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crises, and how does your legal strategy align with the broader business strategy to ensure the organisation’s resilience?

In times of uncertainty, the GC plays a central role in helping the business stay steady and focused. I’ve found that legal leadership during crisis goes far beyond compliance — it touches cash management, regulatory engagement, strategic transactions, fundraising, and more.

My approach is to fully engage with the stakeholders – Exec team, board, investors, staff, customers, regulators – as required – to understand what’s needed and what the optimum solution is, and thereafter help shape decisions that are legally sound, commercially viable, and ethically grounded. In times of crises, perfection is rarely an option, so an experienced GC will know the trade-offs, risks, and likely outcomes and will mitigate to the fullest extent possible. My motto is to make it an “eyes wide open” decision, so that all stakeholders are fully aligned.

I work collaboratively, move quickly, and ensure governance remains strong. It’s about being calm under pressure, keeping sight of the bigger picture, and helping the organisation emerge stronger and more resilient.

What do you think are the most important attributes for a modern in-house counsel to possess?

The role of a GC is shaped by a company’s size, industry, and global reach. But the hallmarks of an exceptional GC remain constant. GCs need to be visionary leaders who combine deep legal expertise with commercial insight, proactively managing risk while unlocking strategic opportunities. Their judgment needs to be sharp and intuitive, consistently aligned with business objectives and stakeholder interests, basically being a “grown up in the room”, balancing risk, likelihood and impact and always having a Plan B.

A truly impactful GC is agile and principled. They are able to adapt to shifting environments without compromising integrity, which is not always easy where there are divergent interests. Collaboration needs to be second nature, with a strong appreciation for cross-functional engagement and dynamics, and an appreciation of the trade-offs. A fantastic contract with great recourse provisions is only useful if the company has the time and the appetite to use it so understanding the commercial context is key. External expertise is also invaluable when niche queries or subject matter expertise is needed, and I strongly endorse the GC/law firm partnership where each benefit from the context and expertise available to make it a “win/win”.

Above all, the most effective GCs build trusted relationships across the executive team, board, investors, regulators, and broader stakeholders — recognising that sustainable success is always a collective achievement. Over the past 20 years, I’ve had the privilege of serving as a high-impact GC across start-ups and publicly listed companies in technology, energy, and life sciences. While the contexts have varied, the ability to adapt and remain agile has proven essential – demonstrating that core legal and leadership capabilities are highly transferable across sectors.