Corporate Crime & Regulation Summit 2025

Máire Reidy is Head of Legal for Europe at Block, Inc., where she leads the Product and Regulatory Counsel team advising on product governance and regulatory compliance. She previously served as Senior Regulatory Lawyer at Stripe, supporting the payments business in EMEA. Earlier in her career, Máire spent five years at the Central Bank of Ireland in policy and enforcement roles, contributing to the implementation of Solvency II and post-financial crisis enforcement actions, including in the financial crime space. With over 20 years’ experience in legal practice, Máire brings deep expertise in financial services regulation, supervision and enforcement.

Mairead is a highly experienced compliance, financial crime prevention, and risk management professional with over 20 years in the banking sector. Over her 10 years at PTSB, she has held multiple senior roles and previously served 13 years at AIB. Her expertise encompasses both the first and second lines of defence, enabling her to address the practical and strategic challenges faced by the banking industry in a fast-evolving landscape of regulatory change. Mairead is actively engaged at an industry level, where she champions best practices and fosters professional development.

Ger Ryan is Chief Executive of Acorn Life DAC, a privately owned life insurance company operating in the Irish market. He was previously COO and Head of Compliance. Prior to joining Acorn Life over 20 years ago, he worked for Eontec Software, AccBank and Guardian Royal Exchange Insurance in technology management roles. Ger is also a Director of Acorn Master Trustee DAC and previously was a Non-Executive Director of Acorn Brokerage Limited and Bus Éireann.

Victoria Judd is a multi-specialist financing lawyer with extensive experience advising borrowers and financial institutions on complex domestic and cross-border transactions. She has a particular focus on energy finance and project development, with a portfolio spanning infrastructure, sustainable finance, real estate, acquisition finance, and corporate finance. Fluent in English and French, and proficient in other languages, Victoria facilitates multi-jurisdictional negotiations and has advised on transactions across Europe, Africa, the U.S., and Asia. Her representative work includes advising the UK Government on energy market reform, supporting major renewable and offshore wind projects, and guiding clients through restructurings and sustainable debt financings. Victoria chairs the Structured Finance Sub-Committee of the International Bar Association’s Banking & Financial Law Committee and is recognized on the Pro Bono Recognition List 2024. A frequent speaker and author on ESG, finance, and regulation, she brings a global perspective to issues of accountability, diversity, and sustainable change.

Ryan Fayhee is a partner at Akin Gump. Ryan assists corporations and senior executives facing cross-border government investigations and other high-profile reputational risks. Ryan previously served for 11 years in the DOJ, where he was a leading prosecutor handling cross border investigations and prosecutions affecting the national security of the U.S. and most recently was the principal DOJ attorney overseeing sanctions and export control prosecutions nationally. Ryan has developed a Chambers-ranked sanctions and export control practice and has been named to Global Investigations Review’s elite list of the most respected sanctions lawyers in Washington, D.C.

Michael McMahon is Professor of Economics at the University of Oxford and Senior Research Fellow at St Hugh’s College. He previously worked at Warwick University, the Bank of England, and has taught at leading institutions including INSEAD, NYU, Chicago Booth, LBS, and LSE. He has delivered IMF training across Asia and serves as a Council member of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, where he was formerly Chair. Michael is a research fellow of the CEPR, and former Director of the Research Policy Network on Central Bank Communication. He has also held roles with the Royal Economic Society and the MMF Research Group. His research focuses on macroeconomics, monetary and fiscal policy, and applied econometrics, with recent work using data science to study central bank communication. He holds degrees from Trinity College Dublin and the London School of Economics.

Frances Fitzgerald is currently a Member of the Gender Equality Advisory Committee to the G7. Frances was a Member of the European Parliament for Dublin City & County from 2019-2024. She also served as Vice-President of the EPP Group. One of only 4 women to have served as Tánaiste (2016-17), Frances served as Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation (2017); Minister for Justice & Equality (2014-2017) and as the State's first Cabinet Minister for Children & Youth Affairs (2011-2014). Frances has served as an Oireachtas Representative for two Dublin constituencies: Senator & TD for Dublin Mid-West (2007-2019) and TD for Dublin South East (1992-2002).

Dario leads ALG's Investigations Practice and is Head of our Regulatory Investigations Group. He coordinates a combined team providing financial regulatory, governance and strategic advice to Boards and Executive teams on a range of regulatory reviews, compliance remediation and redress programmes and enforcement investigations. Dario has acted on a large range of Central Bank enforcement investigations and related complaints and litigation and has advised clients in financial services and other sectors on implementing, reviewing and enhancing compliance programmes.

Katie O'Connor is a partner and white collar crime specialist in ALG's Disputes & Investigations group. Katie works with clients to manage all aspects of their interactions with regulators and key law enforcement agencies, before, during and after investigations. She represents various Irish and international corporate clients involved in criminal and regulatory investigations and related civil litigation stemming from such investigations. She acts for a broad range of organisations including financial institutions, technology companies, construction companies, motor manufacturers, pharmaceuticals and a leading charity. Over 15 years Katie has developed considerable experience in dealing with the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB); the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB); the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC); the Health and Safety Authority (HSA); the Data Protection Commissioner (DPC); the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI); the Revenue Commissioners; the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA); and the US Office of the Inspector General (OIG). More recently, she is also advising a number of clients on the regulatory and criminal aspects of newly introduced and proposed legislation establishing new Irish regulators including Comisiun na Mean (the Media Commission), the Electoral Commission and the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland.

Kenan is a partner in A&L Goodbody's Disputes & Investigations group. He leads both our White Collar Crime and Corporate Reputation groups. He has advised on many of Ireland's most high profile corporate crises in recent years. He has market leading expertise in white collar crime, reputational issues, and business-critical commercial disputes. Kenan advises on internal investigations, whistleblowing complaints, dawn raids, money laundering, bribery/corruption, cybercrime, market abuse/insider dealing and export controls/sanctions issues. He also advises clients on managing their relationships with various regulators in Ireland and abroad. Kenan's corporate reputation practice involves advising on reputational issues, including crisis communications and defamation cases. He has particular expertise in online defamation and disputes involving social media companies.

Keavy Ryan is a partner within Corporate and M&A and specialises in mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructurings, company law, corporate governance, and commercial and contractual arrangements. She advises leading Irish and international, public and private companies, equity funds and financial institutions, with significant operations in Ireland across a broad range of legal, regulatory, commercial and financial affairs. Keavy also manages the firm's equity benefits group. Keavy advises on all aspects of share incentives including the treatment of share incentives in M&A transactions and corporate governance, regulatory and shareholder issues arising from the establishment and operation of share plans and executive remuneration programs.

Mark Devane is a partner in A&L Goodbody's Disputes & Investigations Group with expertise in advising on all interactions with regulatory bodies, with a particular focus on investigations by the Central Bank of Ireland and European Central Bank. As well as market leading experience on regulatory investigations, Mark's experience includes advising clients on issues relating to fitness and probity, individual accountability, whistleblowing and regulatory inspections. Mark has also represented financial institutions and other regulated entities in the financial services sector in litigation at all levels of the Irish courts.

Chloe Culleton is a partner in A&L Goodbody's Disputes and Investigations group. Chloe is part of our specialist Regulatory Investigations team and advises on investigations and inquiries, including those initiated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Chloe has extensive experience in the strategic handling of complex disputes and contentious regulatory engagement. She frequently advises on issues such as legal privilege, and the management of litigation and regulatory risk. Chloe has acted for regulated entities, corporates and individuals in a wide range of disputes, including with a cross-border focus. Chloe practiced for a number of years in London, where she gained specialist experience advising financial services clients in high-stakes litigation and investigations. Chloe has also acted as legal counsel at a major international bank.

James Grennan is a partner in A&L Goodbody's Corporate department and Head of the Insurance group. James's area of particular legal expertise is the insurance industry. His practice embraces all aspects of insurance law and regulation including the set up and authorisation of insurers, ongoing regulation, the provision of cross-border services, sale and purchase of insurance companies and insurance businesses, captive insurance, authorisation and regulation of insurance intermediaries, contracts, regulatory investigations, enforcement actions and statutory compensation schemes. He advises life and non-life insurers, health insurers, reinsurers, captives and intermediaries. He played a key role in the A&L Goodbody legal team that advised the Irish Government’s Department of Finance on the establishment of the Irish Financial Regulator.

Joe is a Director of the technology function within ALG Solutions and helps set the vision for the technology strategy, which best supports and strengthens our advice and service to clients. Joe and his team of technology specialists and analysts are responsible for leading innovation and business transformation through the adoption, implementation and integration of technologies into our legal processes and client engagements. Previously, Joe was Head of IT Innovation within Allianz Partners. In his 26 years of experience Joe has also held senior management roles within Allianz Care and Oracle while starting his career in Ericsson's. Joe holds a degree in Engineering (Electronics) and an MBA from UCD Smurfit School of Business.

Kate Harnett is Of Counsel in A&L Goodbody's Disputes & Investigations group, where she specialises in white collar crime. Kate has particular expertise in international sanctions and export controls. Her practice also consists of a wide range of corporate crime matters such as corruption and anti-bribery, corporate fraud and anti-money laundering. Kate advises regularly on crisis management and regulatory investigations. Kate is an experienced advocate having spent years working in criminal defence which included trial work, advising clients in custody and defence of regulatory proceedings. She also worked as a prosecutor in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. Kate also has over seven years' experience working as a corporate lawyer in large Dublin firms. Previously, Kate lectured full-time on criminology and law.

Ciara Brady is a senior associate in A&L Goodbody's Financial Regulation group. Ciara advises domestic and international credit institutions, investment firms, payment institutions, and other regulated and unregulated clients on a variety of regulatory and compliance issues. Prior to returning to A&L Goodbody, Ciara spent four years working at a leading London law firm, including a client secondment to a global inter-dealer broker.