Lewis Silkin — Northern Ireland

Adam Brett

I am a Consultant Partner, working part-time. I am based in the Belfast office and concentrate on Northern Ireland work. I have over 40 years experience dealing with employment and discrimination, mostly for employers. This has involved a wide range of Tribunal and court litigation. For many years I have been involved with the Employment Lawyers group in NI, acting as Chair, deputy Chair and committee member. · Employment

Benjamin Favaro

Partner · Data Protection & Privacy

Ciara Fulton

Ciara is a partner in Lewis Silkin’s Employment, Immigration and Reward division based in Belfast where she manages the office and a growing employment team. Ciara is dual qualified and advises on all aspects of employment law in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. She has significant experience of advising clients on all manner of employment issues including complex disciplinary and grievance issues, bullying and harassment matters, equality matters, including equal pay claims, large scale redundancies and reorganisations as well as sensitive executive severances and enforcing restrictive covenants. Ciara also advises on TUPE in the context of business transfers, insourcing and outsourcing and provide guidance and support to the HR team through the consultation process and on negotiating warranties and indemnities. Ciara has particular expertise of advising on NI and ROI cross border matters and employment related litigation in both jurisdictions. She works with a variety of sectors and has particular experience in the construction and infrastructure sector. Ciara regularly speaks on a range of employment issues at internal and external events and delivers bespoke training to clients on the differences between NI and ROI employment law. · Employment

Johanna Cunningham

Associate · Employment

Katey Dixon

As a Corporate Partner in Lewis Silkin with a particular focus on IP, I work closely with privately owned tech startups and other businesses within the creative sector, often from incorporation, through seed and series A investment rounds right through to acquisition. This typically involves advising on matters of corporate governance, pre-investment and growth plans, shareholders' agreements and buybacks as well as restructuring and exits. I have been fortunate to work with many inspiring clients throughout the life-cycle of their business. This means often working with founders on the investee / sell side, offering advice on their corporate and commercial needs and where the unexpected encroaches, assisting with shareholder and board disputes to try to find the a positive outcome for the company and parties involved. Advising companies at such an early stage when the company is run by the idea-makers has given me a useful insight into the human side of business as well as the evolution of each stage of its growth. · Corporate / M&A

Kevin Gallagher

I am a Partner in the Employment, Immigration and Reward team based in Belfast. I provide practical and commercial advice to clients on a wide range of employment related issues including contentious disputes, the conduct of internal procedures and compliance with statutory requirements. I have particular expertise defending complex claims for clients in the Industrial Tribunal, Fair Employment Tribunal, the County Court and High Court in Northern Ireland. · Employment

Mathew Forde

I am a Partner practising primarily as a commercial dispute resolution lawyer, with a specialist focus in intellectual property and reputation management. I am recognised as a leader in my field in the principal legal directories and licensed to practice in three jurisdictions, which means that I advise and represent clients on English, Northern Irish and Irish / EU law matters. I particularly enjoy working with creatives and entrepreneurs. I have more than 25 years' experience advising commercial clients on a variety of complex dispute and IP management issues across a range of sectors, in particular: digital media, technology, manufacturing, product design, food and drink. I work closely with clients at the early stages of disputes, exploring ways to prevent escalation, or finding creative ways to break deadlocks, either through mediation or ADR. · Commercial Dispute Resolution

Paul Gillen

Partner · Employment

Rory Campbell

For over 25 years I've advised private and public clients on commercial and technology law. This requires an expertise in contracts, software licensing, intellectual property and data protection law. I've gained this expertise by advising all forms of buyers and suppliers, helping startups protect and sell their creations to advising government departments and public sector bodies on multi-million pound procurement projects. I'm passionate about fitting a common sense legal structure to the story of the deal. It's crucial to look beyond legal templates, because technology continually reinvents revenue exploitation possibilities, scope of license boundaries and the use of personal data. Why do I love what I do? Because it allows me to be at the forefront of the development of tech law as it races to catch up with technological change. · Technology / IT

Shirley Blair

Of Counsel · Employment