Jon is Head of Litigation and Dispute Resolution at ByrneWallace LLP and a Visiting Professor in Law and Public Policy at Dalhousie University where he held the Palmer Chair. His practice includes advice to government and the health system at the strategic level and to many of the State’s regulatory bodies on major projects of various sorts. As such his specialist areas are strategic policy advice with a legal dimension, information technology, procurement, cyber-crime, white collar crime, state aid, financial services, corporate and intellectual property advices, and he is rated in the legal directories for his work in these areas. He also worked closely with policy makers during Covid.

Jon’s work focuses on the early economic analysis of cases, rational behaviour in dispute situations, and strategies designed to achieve business gains where conflicts arise. He is well versed in all types of Court actions including Mareva Injunctions, Anton Piller Orders and other pre-emptive remedies. Jon has a very high success rate in getting disputes resolved quickly and effectively.

His chosen areas of specialisation are company and corporate disputes, regulatory disputes, project based litigation in the construction and logistics sectors, and intellectual property/information technology matters. Jon’s work has included representing clients in business critical injunctions to protect or freeze assets. He has worked in leading law firms in England and Australasia, including Slaughter and May in the United Kingdom and Chapman Tripp in New Zealand. Jon joined ByrneWallace LLP in 2010.

Key Experience

• Advice to Government and the Health System in relation to the health system cyber hack and the NIS regulation.
  
• Advising on potential procurement, competition, State aid and merger control elements of the HSE arrangements with private sector healthcare providers in the State in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Lead advisor on tracker mortgage examinations for two Irish banks.
  
• Acting for the Credit Union industry in its litigation with the Central Bank of Ireland.
• Acting for various hedge funds and SPV plaintiffs in multi-jurisdictional investor protection related litigation.
• Advising Irish and global businesses on regulatory matters, including investigations, discovery, and compliance.
• Representing developers in pyrite related litigation.
• Representing and successfully resolving disputes for numerous universities in litigation against global software suppliers.
• Obtaining injunctive relief for clients in multiple trade mark, patent infringement claims and revocation proceedings.
• Resolving numerous partnership and shareholder disputes through mediation and court action.
• Acting in bank related litigation in Ireland and the United Kingdom.
• Representing a large London based stockbroker in a major IT re-insourcing project.
• Acting for various companies in the aviation sector in supply contract disputes.
• Acting for a major software manufacturer in the prosecution of its national anti-piracy programme.
• Acting for a national media company in the prosecution of its database right infringement programme.
• Advising on all areas of intellectual property including copyright, patents, trademarks, design right, passing off and database right.

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Arts (BA)(Honours)(Political Science), University of King’s College, Halifax, Canada, 1990
• Master of Science (Msc)(Econ)(British Politics), London School of Economics and Political Science
• Bachelor of Laws (LLB), University of Edinburgh, 1994
• Common Professional Exam (CPE) , College of Law, Store Street, London, 1995
• Legal Practice Course (LPC) , College of Law, Store Street, London, 1996
• Admitted as a Solicitor, Law Society of England & Wales, 1998
• Admitted as a Barrister, New Zealand Law Society, 1999
• Admitted as a solicitor in Ireland in 2010

Membership

• Dublin Solicitors Bar Association
• Law Society of Ireland
• Law Society of England & Wales
• Law Society of New Zealand
• Member of the Anti-Counterfeiting Group
• Member of the Society of Computers and the Law

Recommendations 

"Jon Legorburu understands the challenges facing a public body and how they vary from other organisations, and has an innovative approach to solving complex legal problems." - Legal 500, 2024

Leading Individual, White-Collar Crime - Legal 500, 2023

Jon Legorburu is simply at the top of the league in IP in Dublin. - Legal 500, 2020

Jon Legorburu handles tribunals, inquiries, investigations and judicial reviews on contentious topics involving the healthcare, banking and insurance industries. He acts for both private companies and state bodies. - Chambers Europe, 2019

Described by Legal 500 2019 as a "Leading Individual" - Legal 500, 2019

Jon Legorburu 'wears a wealth of experience lightly and is excellent at distilling complex matters down to the essentials' - Legal 500, 2019

Jon Legorburu is "very client-focused and lateral-thinking." - Chambers Europe, 2018

The ByrneWallace LLP contentious group is led by the ‘effective’ Jon Legorburu. - Legal 500, 2018

According to clients, Jon Legorburu "has a wide-ranging level of knowledge, and his expertise in the area of intellectual property has been particularly useful." As well as his noteworthy practice in contentious IP matters, Legorburu also handles regulatory cases in the financial services sector. - Chambers Europe, 2017

Jon Legorburu advises companies and financial institutions on a variety of disputes around corporate law, media and financial services. He represented the Irish League of Credit Unions in a judicial review case concerning regulatory directions given by the Central Bank of Ireland. Clients describe him as "astute, professional and collaborative." - Chambers Europe, 2016

Department head Jon Legorburu is "a deep thinker who helps you look at situations from a different point of view," according to clients. He focuses on cases with significant regulatory concerns, especially in the financial services sector. Lately, this included representing the Financial Services Ombudsman in a High Court Statutory Appeal challenging a ruling by the client, relating to the alleged mis-selling of a geared property investment fund. - Chambers & Partners, 2015

Head of department Jon Legorburu specialises in financial services and corporate matters, and led the team acting for US Oil & Gas on obtaining a "Norwich Pharmacal" order from the High Court. - Chambers Global, 2014

Publications

Jon has published articles relating to shareholder disputes, and has spoken on issues ranging from email misuse to mediation and regulatory affairs.