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Aim and Objectives

This annual conference, presented by the In-house and Public Sector Committee in collaboration with Law Society Skillnet is aimed at solicitors employed in-house in the private and public sectors.The first keynote presentation will explore how in-house lawyers can take a lead on tackling climate change, while the second keynote presentation will discuss diversity in the workplace. Panel members, from both the private and public sectors, will share their personal observations and insights based on their career experiences and provide guidance and practical tips.  

Topics to be covered include

• Tackling climate change as lawyers
• ESG & sustainability
• Procurement – what does ESG mean in public procurement. 
• ESG - implications for investment funds and fund service providers 
• The new workplace environment 
• Diversity
• How to attract and keep in-house talent

Chairperson
Caroline Dee Brown, In-house and Public Sector Committee Chair. General Counsel and Director of Legal Services, Commission for Communications Regulation.
Caroline has been working in-house in the public sector for 18 years after previously working in private practice in Ireland, the US and UK. In her current role as General Counsel and Director of Legal Services for ComReg Caroline is responsible for the legal advice to the Commission particularly on all major legal matters, on the legal implications of communications policies in Ireland and the EU and for handling legal matters arising from ComReg’s remit and activities. Caroline is a member of the ComReg Leadership Team and is responsible for the professional leadership of the legal advisors across the organisation ensuring continuing evolvement of matured high standards of legal advice, professional excellence, effective and efficient communication of independent advice across the organisation. Caroline is also responsible for legal aspects of advocacy and stakeholder management.

Speakers/Panelists

Adam Woodhall, Chief Executive and Founder, Lawyers for Net Zero
Adam Woodhall is the founder and Chief Executive of Lawyers for Net Zero, the fast growing non-profit supporting GCs and their teams to take climate and ESG leadership.  He is an entrepreneur, a strategy and sustainability expert, and widely published author on energy and climate change.  He is also an experienced chair, facilitator and conference presenter. The initiative now has over 100 in-house lawyers committed to net zero, with many high-profile Champions taking part in Lawyers for Net Zero’s ‘Impact Programme’, including from organisations such as Standard Chartered Bank, GSK, E.ON, Nestle and Rolls Royce. For the 15 years before setting up Lawyers for Net Zero, Adam helped deliver climate action, both with cleantech start-ups and many household names, such as PwC, Network Rail and Allianz Insurance. His mission is to support influential individuals to become impact multipliers and in 2020 he recognised the legal sector, particularly in-house, was an unrealised driver for achieving net zero. Adam has built the initiative from an idea in 2020, piloting it in spring 2021, launching formally in summer 2021 and is now making a big impact on the legal sector. 

Dr Sinead Brennan, Chief People Officer, NTMA
Sinéad Brennan joined the NTMA in March 2014 as Head of Human Resources and was subsequently appointed Director, HR before becoming Chief People Officer. Prior to joining the NTMA, she was Head of Human Resources with KBC Bank Ireland and previously HR Director with BDO Ireland. Sinéad has also worked in HR roles in the software sector and in HR consultancy services. Sinéad is Chair of the Gender Matters initiative in the NTMA and is an advocate for Inclusion and Diversity across the Agency. Her professional passion is to create work cultures where people can thrive, develop and bring their authentic selves to work. She holds a PhD from Dublin City University (DCU) and her research topic was leadership development. She was announced as the 2019 Pearse Walsh Medal Award winner for her research. Sinéad also holds an Masters in Business Studies from DCU. Sinéad is the Mum of two very active boys and spends quite a bit of time on the side-lines of (often soggy) GAA and Rugby pitches. Sinéad is also a Non-Executive Director with Aware (the mental health charity).

Abby Semple, Principal Consultant, Public Procurement Analysis, Senior Associate, Greenville Procurement Partners
Abby Semple, LL.B., Ph.D. has over 15 years of experience in advising public bodies on strategic and legal aspects of procurement. Her main focus is on the environmental and social impact of public contracts and how these can be meaningfully addressed through the contracting process.  Abby has managed complex tenders on behalf of public sector clients in Ireland and the UK, and developed policy and guidance at the EU level and in Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United States. Recent projects include the development of Ireland’s GPP guidance and criteria as well as delivery of training to over 150 public sector bodies in Ireland (2020-2022). Abby has recently delivered training on GPP to the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre and Informatics Directorate. Abby also has extensive experience with socially responsible public procurement, including acting as legal advisor for the development of 71 good practice examples on SRPP, drafting the 2021 Buying Social guidance, and advising on gender responsive public procurement. She is an active member of the Procurement of Government Outcomes group at Oxford University’s Government Outcomes Lab, focused on social outcomes contracting. She teaches the Tender Evaluation module of the postgraduate course on Public Procurement Regulation at King’s College London. Abby is the author of one of the first books on the 2014 EU Procurement Directives A Practical Guide to Public Procurement, published by Oxford University Press in 2015. She recently authored chapters on award criteria and environmental management systems in the Commentary on Directive 2014/24/EU. Her academic writing on topics including living wages and citizen participation in public contracts can be accessed on SSRN.

Patrick Daly, Legal Director, Fidelity International
Patrick is a Legal Director in the Product Legal team at Fidelity International, having joined Fidelity in 2017.  In this role, he provides legal advice and support in relation to all aspects of Fidelity’s global fund ranges and investment products, with a specific focus on the Irish fund ranges and operations.  Patrick sits on the Irish Funds ESG Policy, Legal & Reg Working Group.  Prior to joining Fidelity, Patrick was a Senior Associate in the Asset Management and Investment Funds Group at Arthur Cox, advising on the structuring, establishment and authorisation of investment funds in Ireland.  Patrick holds a Bachelor of Civil Law from National University of Ireland Galway, a Master of Laws from Trinity College Dublin, and a Diploma in International Financial Services Law from University College Dublin.  He also holds Diplomas in Finance Law and Insolvency and Corporate Restructuring from the Law Society of Ireland and has acted as a lecturer and internal examiner for the Law Society.   

John Cronin, Manager Legal, Morgan McKinley
John heads up Morgan McKinley’s legal recruitment desk in Ireland. John joined Morgan McKinley in February 2019, having previously worked as a business manager at Michael Page, Hudson Global and FRS. With 14 years of recruitment experience fully dedicated to the legal industry and covering talent identification and engagement in all legal specialisms, John has gained significant experience of the legal recruitment processes for private practice and in-house legal practitioners domestically and internationally. John holds degrees in Business and Law and a Masters’ degree in HRM. He is admitted as a solicitor in Ireland and England and Wales, having trained at Mason Hayes & Curran. A CIPD chartered member, he has a strong understanding of the practical human resourcing needs in the recruitment process of both clients and legal practitioners.

Michelle Noone, Head of Senior & Executive Recruitment, Public Appointment Services
Michelle is the Head of Senior & Executive Recruitment at the Public Appointments Service.  She is responsible for the provision of recruitment services for senior executive and non-executive roles across the civil and public service.  This includes the appointments process for Chairpersons and Non-Executive Directors to the boards of state agencies. Prior to joining the Public Appointments Service in 2014, Michelle worked for 20 years in executive search, as an Executive Search Manager in KPMG providing recruitment services to clients in Plcs, Irish indigenous and SMEs across a variety of industry sectors.  She started her career in Human Resources with PriceWaterhouseCoopers in Paris. Michelle is the President of the Alliance Francaise Dublin, has a BA in Anthropology, a Diploma in Executive & Leadership Coaching and speaks fluent French.

*Law Society Skillnet members

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