Catherine is Head of William Fry’s Employment & Benefits Department. She advises on all contentious and non-contentious employment matters with a particular expertise in equality issues. Catherine also has significant experience advising clients in relation to confidentiality, restrictive covenants and severance related matters. Catherine has acted on behalf of a wide range of commercial clients and also regularly advises senior level executives.
Recent significant matters include advising:
- An employer on the enforcement of restrictive covenants in an employment contract in the context of a “team move”
- An employer in relation to employment issues arising from the Central Bank’s Fitness & Probity Regime
- An employer in relation to the successful execution of an Anton Piller Order.
Catherine has lectured and written extensively in relation to employment law matters. She is a committee member of the Law Society’s Employment and Equality Law Committee and of the American Chamber of Commerce Employment Law Working Group.
According to Legal 500 EMEA 2021 "Catherine O’Flynn is a high profile leader of the team who is easy to work with and is highly respected. The whole team are easy to engage with and with impressive technical expertise but also very user friendly."
Sources laud Catherine's approach to mandates, with one client reporting: "Her advice is very pragmatic and she always explains very complex situations in easily understandable language." Chambers Europe 2020
In Legal 500 2020, one client described Catherine as "a stand-out employment lawyer" and has "the full range of expertise and maintains a high profile with indigenous and international corporates." Another client noted that Catherine "is an excellent and experienced advisor, providing pragmatic guidance on issues of Irish employment law. She would always be my first port of call as trusted counsel in Ireland, on anything complex or strategic."
Sources say: "She is an extremely capable individual with a great understanding of our business. She has a keen academic brain and is a great asset to the team." Chambers Europe 2019
Catherine O'Flynn is often involved in issues relating to confidentiality, restrictive covenants and corporate transactions. One client particularly appreciates that "she is decisive, reassuring, incredibly efficient and effective," adding: "You feel safe under her direction." Chambers Europe 2018
Catherine is "incredibly effective". Legal 500 EMEA 2018
According to Chambers Europe 2017, sources describe her as "very astute, direct and diplomatic."
You can follow Catherine @WFEmploymentLaw.