Executive Committee
The Executive Committee of Arbitration Ireland is charged with managing the affairs of the body. This includes all aspects of operations including developing strategy, ensuring the finances are in order, organising events and increasing membership.
David Herlihy SC
David is a partner in A&O Shearman’s International Arbitration Group, where he focuses on international commercial arbitration, investment treaty arbitration and public international law. David is qualified in Ireland, England & Wales and New York. His recent matters include representing Vodafone in its investment treaty win against India; successfully defending Cyprus in investment treaty claims arising out of the Eurozone financial crisis; and obtaining the largest Energy Charter Treaty award against Spain. His victories have won International Arbitration Team of the Year twice, most recently in 2021 (Legal Business Awards).
Susan Ahern SC
Susan is a Senior Counsel, international arbitrator, Fellow of the CIArb and AMINZ, and accredited mediator. She is a Council Member of The Bar of Ireland, a member of the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR, arbitrator of the Court of Arbitration for Sport and of the EC (DG-TRADE) Disputes Settlement Panel, and a member of the ICSID Panel of Conciliators. Susan regularly sits as an arbitrator in ad hoc and institutional commercial arbitrations, and as mediator in commercial and sports contexts.
Ciarán Ó Conluain, Partner, A&L Goodbody
Ciarán Ó Conluain is a partner in A&L Goodbody’s Disputes & Investigations group. Ciarán advises market leading corporates, Tech companies and financial institutions on complex commercial disputes and investigations. His experience spans large scale commercial and multiparty litigation, international arbitrations under various arbitral institutions and contentious investigations and enquiries. Ciarán has played a leading role in some of the most complex litigation and investigations in which A&L Goodbody has been involved in recent years.
Peggy O’Rourke SC
Professional Qualifications: LLB, LLM (Harv), Attorney at Law (NY1996)
Areas of specialism: Administrative/Judicial Review, Arbitration/Dispute Resolution, Commercial/Chancery, Construction, Employment Law, Professional Negligence
Caoilfhionn Ní Chuanacháin
Caoilfhionn has an established commercial litigation practice with a standout reputation for client service. She has successfully represented Irish and international clients in a wide range of business disputes before the Irish Courts, with a focus on the Commercial Court. Caoilfhionn is an all-rounder but her practice has a particular focus on financial services litigation, professional negligence claims and high profile property related litigation. She also has significant experience in alternative dispute resolution.
Paul McGarry SC was Chair of the Irish Bar from 2016 to 2018. He is a member of the Ireland for Law Implementation Group. He was appointed a senior counsel in 2010, and is also a member of the Bar of England and Wales. He practices primarily in public, commercial and European law. Paul is an accredited mediator and international arbitrator and has spoken on arbitration at events organised by the IBA, UIA, CCBE, ABA, Arbitration Ireland and ICAB. He is a former Chair of the Sports Law and EU Bar Associations of Ireland, a bencher at Kings Inns and a Master of the Bench at Middle Temple (London).
Ruadhán is a partner in Matheson’s Disputes and Investigations Group, with a broad commercial litigation, arbitration, and permitting and environmental/ESG practice. He advises clients on the avoidance, management and resolution of a wide variety of disputes, including in connection with commercial, real estate, construction, tax and competition matters.
Ruadhán represents clients at all jurisdictions, up to the Supreme Court and Courts of Justice of the European Union, and in alternative dispute resolution fora such as mediation, conciliation, arbitration (including before various international institutions), adjudication, and expert determination. He also represents clients in regulatory investigations and the defence of criminal prosecutions.
Colm has been in practice in Dublin at the Irish Bar since 1988 and became a Senior Counsel in 2005. He has a wide-ranging practice concentrated on commercial and public law litigation and on international arbitration. He has been appointed as arbitrator in international disputes under the rules of ICSID, LCIA, ICC, ICDR and DIAC. He is currently member for Ireland on the ICC International Court of Arbitration and is designated by Ireland to the ICSID Panel of Arbitrators.
Gavin is a Partner in the Litigation and Dispute Resolution Department of DLA Piper LLP. His practice has a focus on advising clients about intellectual property disputes (trademark and copyright infringement and breach of confidential information).
Rory is a Partner at Mason, Hayes & Curran, where he is head of the construction team. He has extensive experience in energy and construction issues and expertise in real estate, renewable energy and gas. Rory advises clients through ADR, arbitration and court.
Klaus sits as an international arbitrator with extensive experience across a wide range of subject-matters, industries, governing laws and major institutional rules. He has served as chair, party-appointee or sole arbitrator particularly in arbitrations pursuant to ICSID, ICC, UNCITRAL, LCIA and ICDR Rules. He is based at Brick Court Chambers in London.
Ian is Secretary General of International Chamber of Commerce Ireland and CEO of Chambers Ireland, the largest business network in Ireland. Previously Ian worked with JPMorgan Chase, Citibank and Price Waterhouse.
Gerard H. James is a Partner in the William Fry LLP Litigation and Investigations department. He is a commercial litigator with particular expertise in complex commercial and property related disputes.
A strong advocate for and experienced practitioner in the area of ADR, Gerard is a member of the Executive Committee of Arbitration Ireland and the Co-Chair of its Young Practitioners’ Committee.
Gerard is a founding committee member of the OUTLaw Network which works to promote and drive inclusion of LGBT+ people and allies in the Irish legal sector.
Elaine is a partner in the Ogier Leman Dispute Resolution team and advises across a broad range of international and domestic commercial disputes in areas such as shareholder disputes, contractual disputes and contentious insolvency. Elaine is also qualified in England and Wales having practiced with an international firm in London for 7 years.
Dr. Yağmur Hortoğlu is a Lecturer in Law and the chair of the L.L.M. in International Business Law at Maynooth University, where she teaches arbitration law, contract law and private international law. Prior to joining Maynooth University, Dr. Yağmur Hortoğlu was a Post-Doctoral Global Fellow at the Center for Transnational Litigation, Arbitration, and Commercial Law of New York University. She has also been a Teaching & Research Assistant at Sorbonne Law School, Paris, and taught private international law, introduction to civil law, family law, tort law and company law. For her Ph.D. thesis (summa cum laude, Sorbonne), which she prepared under the co-supervision of Professor Mathias Audit (Sorbonne) and Professor Franco Ferrari (NYU), Yağmur worked on various fraudulent acts that can occur in arbitration and the ways to fight against these practices that she qualified as “arbitral fraud”. Yağmur is the author of a book entitled ‘La fraude et l’arbitrage’ and publishes regularly in arbitration law.
Yağmur holds a Chair at the Academic Council of Racial Equality for Arbitration Lawyers (R.E.A.L.) based in New York, where she also serves as a mentor. Since 2017, Yağmur Hortoğlu has been acting as a legal counsel before the European Court of Human Rights for Turkish applicants. She is also a media contributor on Turkish television news and radio programs and share opinions on topical legal subjects. Yağmur is fluent in English, French and Turkish and proficient in German.
David has regularly advised on arbitration and mediation and was a board member of Sport Dispute Solutions Ireland for six years. David was also the President of the Irish Maritime Law Association in 2023.
Cian is a barrister practising at the Law Library having been called to the Bar in 2006 and he is a Fellow of the Chartered Insititute of Arbitrators, he is a member of the Council of the Bar of Ireland and the Council of the Kings Inn’s since 2022, where he is also a member of the Arbitration & ADR committee. Cian has sat as a sports arbitrator in Ireland and the UK for over 18 years and is an Arbitrator at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland. Cian is a former member of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal and is currently a member of the Mediation Council Shadow Group. In addition he is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the School of Law of the University of Limerick, a member of the ICC National Commitee and is member of the ICDR panel of International Commercial Arbitrators.
Cathy is an Irish barrister with over 23 years’ experience in litigation, arbitration and mediation. Appointed Senior Counsel in 2021, she is recognised for her expertise, independence and integrity across complex commercial and public law disputes.
Cathy is a member of the Executive Committee of Arbitration Irelandand former Vice Chair of the Bar of Ireland and former Chair of the Arbitration and ADR Committee for the Irish Bar. A CEDR-accredited mediator and qualified arbitrator in international arbitration (Chartered Institute of Arbitrators), she has extensive experience acting as arbitrator, tribunal chair and mediator in both ad hoc and institutional settings.
She serves on a number of significant arbitral and adjudicative panels, including as Independent Chair of bank appeals panels established under the Central Bank of Ireland’s tracker mortgage examination, and as a member of a statutory Determination Panel under the European Union (Common Fisheries Policy) Regulations. In 2024 she was appointed Chair of the Apple Pay (NFC) Appeals Panel. She has also been appointed by the Minister for Justice as Chair of the Trust/Company Service Provider Appeal Tribunal, established under Irish Anti-Money Laundering legislation.
Cathy’s wider practice spans commercial, employment, equality and regulatory disputes. She acts for corporate clients, financial institutions, State bodies and individuals, and brings to her dispute resolution work significant prior experience in corporate governance and company law.
She is a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and Arbitration Ireland, and a former director of the Dublin Dispute Resolution Centre. She is a member of the Employment Law Review Group and the Company Law Review Group, pursuant to appointment by the Minister for Business. She is a member of the steering committee for Dublin International Disputes Week 2026.
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Brian is a partner in the Litigation and Disputes group in Dentons’ Dublin office.
Brian acts for clients from across industries and sectors on complex commercial litigation, arbitration and in multi-jurisdictional disputes. He is also very experienced in crisis and reputation management for clients across regulatory and corporate governance issues, and represents clients in various administrative sanctions procedures, investigations and regulatory prosecutions. Over the last 15 years, Brian has advised many of the leading financial institutions in Ireland on complex enforcements and restructurings. He is also recognised for his expertise in the field of construction and engineering disputes and has acted on many of the most significant projects undertaken in Ireland over the last 20 years.
Rose Fisher
Rose Fisher is the Executive Director of Arbitration Ireland. Well known throughout the Irish legal network, Rose worked for the body representing Irish barristers, The Bar of Ireland, for almost 20 years before taking up her post with Arbitration Ireland. Rose has extensive experience in management, business development and operations roles, and holds an honours degree in business and project management.