Experience

Eleanor is Head of the Pensions & Incentives Group. She is responsible for advising financial institutions, semi-state bodies, companies, trustees, committees and employees on various pension plans, employee share plans and other incentive plans.

Her practice includes advising international and domestic clients in both the private and public sectors. Relevant experience includes advising on a range of pension issues including scheme restructuring, liability management exercises, benefit design, trustee governance, scheme amendments, dealing with funding deficits and funding proposals, mergers, scheme wind-ups and the impact of pensions and other relevant legislation regarding pensions schemes and their operation.

She also regularly advises on the establishment, amendment, governance and administration of defined contribution schemes and the pensions and incentives aspects of various commercial transactions. Eleanor advises on both Revenue approved tax efficient employee shares schemes and on unapproved employee share schemes and other incentive plans working closely with our Tax Group.

She is Chairman of the Irish Association of Pension Fund’s DC Sub-Committee, an IAPF Council member, and out-going Chairman of the Association of Pension Lawyers in Ireland. Eleanor is also the Chairman of the Irish ProShare Association. She is a member of the UK Association of Pension Lawyers, the International Pension and Employee Benefits Association, and the Global Equity Organisation. Eleanor regularly contributes to industry periodicals on pensions and incentives law, and lectures on the Law Society’s Pensions Law Diploma.

Eleanor co-heads the firms Diversity and Inclusion Committee and is lead Partner for the vision and implementation of the firm 's policies and programmes.

Key highlights include advising:

  • Aer Lingus on the multi-employer Irish Airlines defined benefit scheme and its restructuring, and on the Pilots defined benefit scheme. Eleanor also advises Aer Lingus on the Aer Lingus defined contribution schemes and other ancillary schemes, and on various other pensions-related matters.
  • Ervia on the amalgamation of its existing pension schemes, the establishment of a new defined benefit pension scheme and the pension aspects of its sale of the Bórd Gáis Energy business.
  • ESB Pension Scheme Committee on a range of issues connected ESB Pension Scheme Rules and pension adjustment orders.
  • Gaelectric Holdings on pensions aspects of its programme of asset disposal and on the wind down of its operations including advising on its redundancy programme.
  • Irish Water in relation to the establishment of a defined benefit scheme and fund for the future pension accrual of employees transferring from the Local Authorities and the Civil Service.
  • On the Irish aspects of the Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Johnson & Johnson, Apple, Alphabet, Aviva, Morgan Stanley, Sanofi, Siemens, AT&T, Uber, NewsCorp, and Intel employee incentive plans.
  • Roche Ireland in relation to the restructuring and wind-up of its two defined benefit pension schemes.
  • Sherry FitzGerald in relation to the pensions’ aspects of the sale of their commercial real estate business to Cushman & Wakefield, involving a high volume of work in relation to the restructuring and re-documentation of several pension schemes, the establishment of mirror pension arrangements for general staff and executive staff, and the transfer of several unique pension policies between pension schemes.
  • Trustee clients including on various aspects of their pension schemes, including scheme funding, mergers, wind-ups, variations in scheme benefit design, ill-health early retirements, pension adjustment orders and trustee powers and duties.
  • Fidelity Investments on an on-going basis in relation to its defined benefit scheme and various confidential issues arising.