• Law Society of Ireland
  • Law Society of England and Wales
  • CIPP/E Certificate, International Association of Privacy Professionals’, 2022
  • Diploma in Commercial Litigation, Law Society of Ireland, 2008
  • Bachelor of Arts in Corporate Finance and German, Lindenwood University USA, 2004
  • Bachelor of Business and Legal Studies, UCD, 2003

Gerald Byrne is a partner in the firm’s dispute resolution and regulatory department.

Gerald has extensive commercial litigation experience dealing with large-scale, complex, and multi-jurisdictional disputes. He has worked on a variety of litigation, regulatory and arbitration matters in Ireland, the UK, Switzerland, Austria, the BVI, and Grand Cayman. In addition to general commercial and contractual disputes, Gerald has broad experience in financial services, construction and defamation disputes.

Gerald is recommended for his dispute resolution work in the most recent edition of The Legal 500.
Prior to joining Philip Lee, Gerald worked in the London office of a major global law firm. He consistently delivers commercially practical advice on available causes of action, merits of claims and liability, costs and case strategy at both the pre-action stage and during the litigation and regulatory processes.

Recent Work

  • Represented a UK Limited Liability Partnership arising out of the breakdown of that partnership and breach of fiduciary duties by the members. This dispute related to the management of the assets of high net-worth individuals.
  • Acted for a wealthy Kuwaiti family in a mis-selling claim against a large Swiss investment bank.
  • Represented an investor and web-developer in relation to the transfer of land in a virtual reality world.
  • Represented high net-worth investors in the Commercial Court in respect of a dispute arising from their exit from a tax incentive scheme.
  • Represented a private investment management company, in the Irish High Court in relation to a misrepresentation claim against an oil and gas exploration company, in which it held shares.
  • Represented a senior investment bank manager regarding an FCA investigation regarding manipulation of currency exchange rates.
  • Represented a middle-eastern oil and gas company in a LCIA arbitration in a breach of contract claim worth in excess of one billion dollars arising out of the failure of a construction project in Kuwait.
  • Represented a private equity firm in a number of contractual disputes relating to the entitlement of the general partner to an interest in the fund it was managing (including disputes as to the valuation of certain assets within the fund). These matters included interlinked proceedings in the English High Court, the British Virgin Islands Commercial Court (and on appeal to the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal and the Privy Council) and a LCIA arbitration.
  • Represented a telecommunications company in the High Court regarding a breach of warranty claim and an independent expert determination of post-completion consideration.
  • Acted for a large investment bank in relation to regulatory investigations into the bank’s activities regarding fixing of Libor rates and FX transactions.
I have worked with Gerald Byrne on a number of large-scale pieces of complicated litigation and he has an outstanding ability to think through all the issues in a case.
Legal 500
Gerald Byrne is an incredibly hard-working, thoughtful and incisive lawyer who fights hard for his clients.
Legal 500
Gerald Byrne – an excellent litigator who works really hard for his clients.
Legal 500, 2024

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