John is a Partner and Head of the ByrneWallace LLP Restructuring and Insolvency team.
John previously worked in the firm's Commercial Property and Banking Departments prior to moving to Commercial Litigation and Corporate Recovery/Insolvency. His experience of complex property and secured lending transactions acting for all parties, provides a useful insight in addressing difficulties that arise commonly in much of the commercial litigation and insolvency disputes. John acts for all stakeholders in:
- Restructuring & Insolvency
- Property/Landlord & Tenant Disputes
- General commercial disputes
- Applications under the Companies Acts
- Planning and Development/Environmental
- Judicial Review
Recent experience
- Advising a cosmetics business in relation to a successful examinership petition
- Advising a state agency in relation to the interplay between environmental law obligations and the examinership framework
- Advising a secured creditors and its appointed receivers and managers in relation to the enforcement of security for loans against consortia of investors in 4 nursing homes, and their sale as going concerns
- Advising the secured lender on its enforcement options in relation to loans to the shareholders of a major private hospital
- Project lead on several volume platforms acting for secured creditors (banks and private equity) and their appointed receivers in relation to security realisation and all ancillary litigation
- Advising Monsoon in relation to all aspects of its Irish restructuring
- Advising the liquidator of the Key Collections Group
- Advising the liquidator or Kendar Holdings Limited
- Advising the liquidator of MPS Global Limited
- Advising a state health agency in relation to the threatened winding up of a large service provider
- Advising a state health agency in relation to a service provider’s failed petition for court protection and subsequent liquidation
- Advising a counterparty to a subsidiary of Mallinckrodt Plc in relation to the impact of its restructuring via Chapter 11 and examinership
Qualifications
- Bachelor of Business & Legal Studies (BBLS) (Hons) - University College Dublin, 1995
- LLM (Commercial) - University College Dublin, 2001
- Diploma in Insolvency and Corporate Restructuring - The Law Society of Ireland, 2010
Memberships
- The Law Society of Ireland.
- Dublin Solicitors Bar Association.
- The Irish Society of Insolvency Practitioners.
- INSOL Europe.
Recommendations
'We were well served by John, who provided us with good advice on a timely basis.' - Chambers Europe, 2024
Leading Individual, Insolvency & Corporate Restructuring - Legal 500, 2024
'John Fitzgerald is a trusted adviser. He is cognisant of the role of an insolvency practitioner and delivers prudent yet pragmatic advice. John makes himself available to ensure that advice is provided promptly. I have no hesitation in recommending John and team.' - Legal 500, 2024
'John Fitzgerald and his team provide excellent advice, which is always well considered and succinct. The team is very responsive, and advice given is comprehensive and accessible. In addition, I find the team to be pragmatic and provide a holistic view on the risks associated with scenario.' - Legal 500, 2024
'John Fitzgerald is honest, straight to the point and does not avoid having difficult conversations.' - Chambers Europe, 2023
Leading Individual, Insolvency & Corporate Restructuring - Legal 500, 2023
‘John Fitzgerald is calm, unflustered, and solution driven.’ - Legal 500, 2023
‘John Fitzgerald has very strong experience in the field of insolvency/restructuring. He is looking for practical solutions. Responsive and very easy to communicate with.’ - Legal 500, 2022
‘John Fitzgerald is readily available, responds quickly and provides clear advice.’ - Legal 500, 2022
‘John Fitzgerald is an outstanding partner for the firm. John has an excellent understanding of the law and this coupled with his excellent commercial acumen ensured that we had a thorough understanding for our complex matters and how these would progress. Various scenarios setting out risk etc greatly enhanced our decision making.’ - Legal 500, 2022
‘I have also worked closely with John Fitzgerald, Sean Neville and the insolvency team on various transactions. They are proven experts in their area and have also provided high levels of service.’ - Legal 500, 2022
‘John Fitzgerald, Partner – calm unruffled during engagement and when providing advices.' - Legal 500, 2022
John Fitzgerald advises clients on domestic and cross-border restructuring and bankruptcy mandates, often representing insolvency practitioners and creditors. "John Fitzgerald has very strong experience in the field of insolvency/restructuring. He looks for practical solutions and is responsive and very easy to communicate with," reports one interviewee. - Chambers Europe, 2022
‘John Fitzgerald is a top insolvency solicitor who provides excellent commercial and value for money advice across a range of insolvency and restructuring matters.’ - Legal 500, 2021
John Fitzgerald acts on domestic and cross-border restructuring and bankruptcy mandates, often representing insolvency practitioners and creditors. Clients say: "He is very responsive, brings a commercial approach to solutions and has a good ability to work through complex problems." - Chambers Europe, 2021
John Fitzgerald’s responsiveness and commercial approach to complex issues stands him out from the competition. - Legal 500, 2020
John Fitzgerald is a really careful and practical lawyer. He listens to clients and understands what they need. He thinks about problems and rather than jump to a conclusion he looks at it from all angles. John often comes up with very clever perspectives and just slightly tweaks a strategy to achieve an even better outcome. He is a great lawyer. - Legal 500, 2020
John Fitzgerald "has a calm and measured approach, even under pressure," a client relates. "He always sees the big picture and is client-focused." He specialises in secured lending transactions, and acts for creditors in bankruptcy proceedings, liquidation disputes and the transfer of property assets. - Chambers Europe, 2019
John Fitzgerald is"very practical, commercial, result-oriented and has a good sense of what a win looks like." Clients value the accuracy of his advice, which is "considered and well talked-through." The same source continues: "He will generally look at all of the possible outcomes and you can rely on him to give advice on the best option to take." - Chambers Europe, 2018
Highly experienced’ practice head John Fitzgerald. - Legal 500, 2018
At ByrneWallace, ‘thoughtful adviser’ John Fitzgerald has been particularly busy with contentious mandates and represented Ferris and Associates – as liquidator of Kendar Holdings – on the enforcement of a judgment in seven EU member states. - Legal 500, 2017
John Fitzgerald is ‘practical and reliable’. - Legal 500, 2016
John Fitzgerald is well regarded by clients, who consider him "calm and composed, with outstanding knowledge of the law. I have personally seen him take the arguments of other lawyers apart in settlement negotiations." He advised Bank of Scotland on its defeat of a test case challenging the client's general entitlement to enforce security, which it acquired on merging with Bank of Scotland (Ireland). - Chambers Europe, 2016
ByrneWallace’s John Fitzgerald ‘leaves no stone unturned’ and successfully represented Bank of Scotland in a test case challenge to enforce security. - Legal 500, 2015
John Fitzgerald of ByrneWallace draws praise from clients for his "responsiveness, accuracy and calm advice." Lately, he has acted on several insolvency and related litigation matters involving the possession of property assets. - Chambers & Partners, 2015
John Fitzgerald is ‘accurate and knowledgeable’. – Legal 500, 2014
John is praised by clients as "technically very strong, responsive and commercial," with one noting that he is "great at getting a deal over the line." –Chambers Global, 2014
John Fitzgerald is recommended for his "energy, responsiveness and good-quality service". – Legal 500, 2013
