Expertise

Elaine is a Managing Associate in the Corporate Department and works within the firm’s EU, Competition & Procurement Group. 

Elaine advises on aspects of public procurement law (Nursing and Midwifery Board) and on all aspects of competition law (PM Group), including Irish and EU merger control (LDC (Managers) Limited, Sale of Domino's Pizza, Chirisa Group, Britvic), consumer protection and product safety law (Zara). Elaine also practises corporate and commercial law and has advised Colas and Radius on miscellaneous corporate issues. 

Elaine has extensive experience of working in public sector bodies having spent over 12 years in the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission working as a solicitor in its Competition Enforcement and Division. While at the CCPC Elaine advised on matters as diverse as Freedom of Information legislation in Ireland (including determining the scope of an FOI request and considering whether certain categories of information were exempt from an access request), Data Protection (including retention and access requirements), Document Retention and Archiving Practices (in respect of obligations the National Archives Act 1986), responding to Parliamentary Questions, obtaining search warrants, search procedures, conducting summons hearings, challenges to the CCPC's investigative powers, preparing investigative files for the Director of Public Prosecution in respect of criminal breaches of competition law, conducting and managing investigations into alleged breaches of competition law including: the legality of agreements, potential abusive conduct, assessing potential competitive harm and analysing legal issues. 

Elaine also authored the CCPC's Enforcement Guidelines Manual and trained staff on all aspects of investigation procedure and practice. The Enforcement Manuel sets out how the CCPC uses its investigative powers to conduct investigations as well as advising on the strength of investigative evidence and legal assessment of investigations. Elaine has extensive experience in assessing legislative provisions having been involved in the legislative processes including for the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014 and the Competition Act 2022.