Pensions Litigation and Risk Management
Our award winning team provide a full range of contentious pensions law advice to our domestic and International client base. Working closely with our Employment and Corporate law teams, we have unrivalled strength in depth in pensions litigation in the Irish legal market and can provide a cost effective solution to resolving pension related disputes. Our broad range of clients include regulators, unions, overseas law firms, employers, pension scheme trustees and scheme members.
In 2014, the team was awarded Litigation Case of the Year at the Irish Law Awards for advising on the landmark case of Hogan & Others v The Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Ireland and the Attorney General.
Our Services
We advise on the following:
- Pension scheme trustees and employers on the delivery and receipt of ‘contribution demands’ being financial demands to close deficits in defined benefit occupational pension schemes and utilising ADR techniques as necessary
- Corporates who may have inadvertently contractually unpinned a pension related promise that the occupational pension scheme is not capable of delivering
- Contractual disputes with pensions law complexities
- Pensions related disputes concerning Ireland’s compliance with European legislation
- Pension issues that arise on a business acquisition or disposal including those attaching to company communications or employment contracts that may impact the transaction pricing
- Pensions law regulatory investigations and prosecutions including those taken by the Pensions Authority and the Pensions Ombudsman
Representative Matters
- Representing a group of Waterford Crystal pension scheme members in both Commercial Court and Court of Justice of the European Union proceedings on the failure of the Minister for Social and Family Affairs to adequately transpose the provisions of European insolvency directives concerning the protection of employees and their pension entitlements in the event of a double insolvency of their employer and pension scheme. (Thomas Hogan and others v Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Ireland and the Attorney General. Court of Justice of the European Union, C-398/11)
- Acting for employees of the Electricity Supply Board in a Commercial Court claim against their employer relating to their entitlements in a statutory defined benefit pension scheme. Advising on the provisions of the statutory instruments, the statutory entitlements of the employees and the obligations of the employer to fund any deficit in the pension scheme. Provided advice on the case management of the proceedings in the Commercial Court.
