Michael O’Connor SC

Michael O’Connor is an accredited and active commercial mediator accredited with CEDR and is also a practising barrister for in excess of twenty-seven years having been called in 1996 and taking Silk in 2022. He is a graduate of NUIG and a holder of a First Class Honours LLM in Public Law. Michael was first accredited as a mediator in 2007 and later was also accredited with CEDR in London. He was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 2012 and the Bar of Northern Ireland in 2012 and is a member of both the Honourable Society of King’s Inns and the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn. Michael has lectured at third level institutions over the course of his career including in areas such as administrative law, judicial review, labour law, construction and contract law, employment and HR and, more recently, in ADR and mediation. He has recently served as part of the external faculty of the Honourable Society of King’s Inns and is also a member of the Bar of Ireland’s ADR Committee.

Michael has been a regular Guest Lecturer for the Bar of Ireland and the Galway Solicitors Bar Association over the years on topics as diverse as Mediation and ADR, the EU Charter on Fundamental Rights, Online Mediation, Probate, Land and Succession, Employment Law issues, and miscellaneous civil law issues of interest.

As a young Practitioner Michael acted in what is believed to have been the first exhumation application in Ireland for Succession Law purposes and acted in many of the most hard fought equity and land disputes in Mayo and Galway whilst on the Western Circuit as well as developing his personal injury practice at all levels. He established one of the first bespoke chancery/commercial mediation practices in 2008 and developed it considerably in the years since. See Galwaymediation.ie and Mayomediation.com. He has represented clients at every level of the Irish Courts and at the International Court of Arbitration in Paris.

Start Mortgages DAC v. Mc Namara – [2020] IEHC 187

Promontoria (Oyster) v Kean – [2023] IECA 181

Forum Connemara Ltd v. Galway County Local Community Development Committee – [2018] IECA 235

McGuinness v A Judge of the Circuit Court – [2023] IEHC370

The Board of Management of St.Patrick’s School v Eoghan O’ Neachtain Ltd. – [2018] IEHC 128

Carty Doyle v. Financial Services Ombudsman & Anor – [2014] IEHC 352

Holland v. Bord Na gCon – [2018] IEHC 542

Quinn and Others Irish Bank Resolution Corporation Ltd (in special liquidation) and Others – [2014] IEHC 577

Cave Projects v Gilhooly & Ors – [2022] IEHC 718

Forum Connemara Ltd v. Galway County Local Community Development Committee – [2016] IECA 59

Forum Connemara Ltd v. Galway County Local Community Development Committee – [2015] IEHC 369

Forum Connemara Ltd v. Galway County Local Community Development Committee – [2016] IEHC 493

Mac Aviation v Romavia – ICC Paris – ICC Paris, 2010

In the matter of the Estate of Noel O’ Brien (Deceased) [2011] 4 IR 687 [2011] IEHC 327

Searching for Reckless Lending and Liability amidst the wreckage of Irish Banking Governance, NUI Galway, School of Law 2010

The Local Government (Planning and Development) Bill 1997, Bar Review Vol 3 Issue 2

Enduring Powers of Attorney – Planning for the Advent of Mental Incapacity, 1998, ILT Vol 16,153

‘EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and Repossession of Family Homes’, 4th of July, 2019

Bar of Ireland CPD Conference, Online – ‘Mediation update and embracing virtual dispute resolution’, 4th of March, 2021

‘Time limits in Probate’- Galway Solicitors Bar Association, 24^th of April, 2015

Presentation of a Paper at EU Economic Governance and the Charter of Fundamental Rights Project, Brussels, 5th April, 2019

• 2021,2022 & 2023 – Service on Bar of Ireland ADR Committee
• Served on Committee that carried out a lengthy evaluation on the proposed merger of Galway City and County Councils
• Current Chairperson of Cumin Lúthchleas Gael, Átha Cinn
• Active GAA Underage Coach from 2020 – to date
• Active member of Corrib RFC
• Participated in successful Circuit Charity Fundraiser event for Rosedale Special School and Pieta House in 2017