Expertise
Alice is a Partner in the Employment, Pensions and Benefits Group, with substantial experience in all aspects of contentious and non-contentious employment law. Qualified to practice in Ireland, England and Wales having trained with Clyde & Co LLP in London, Alice has in-depth knowledge of the key distinctions between employment law in Ireland in comparison to other jurisdictions. From 2019 she worked with a leading international law firm before recently re-joining Matheson in July 2024 as partner.
Alice has extensive experience providing strategic, practical advice on all aspects of employment law to international and domestic companies, including employee relations issues, investigations, contracts, cross-border M&A, redundancies, outsourcings, artificial intelligence, gender pay gap reporting, fitness and probity, senior executive appointments, diversity and inclusion. She also has substantial WRC and High Court experience, including employment injunctions.
Alice is particularly experienced in supporting multi-national companies on international people related projects including global workforce expansion and restructuring. She advises employers across the Technology, Financial Services, Retail and Hospitality and Life Sciences Sectors. She has particular unrivalled, hands-on Technology and Fintech sector experience, having completed secondments with a number of large multinational technology companies. These roles have provided her with unique experience navigating legal risk across several jurisdictions, as well as hands on experience of the day to day issues facing international employers.
Alice is an active committee member and former Secretary of the Employment Lawyers Association of Ireland and regularly provides bespoke internal and external employment law training.
Notable examples of the recent types of work that Alice has been involved in include:
- Conducted a highly sensitive multi-jurisdictional grievance investigation involving two senior members of a global fintech company’s leadership team. This entailed a cross-border fact gathering investigation into allegations of gender discrimination and retaliation for long-term medical leave. Due to the substantial reputational and litigation risk implications, this matter involved careful consideration and management of complex international employment law and principles of natural justice and fair procedures.
- Advised and co-ordinated a global reduction in force impacting approximately 14% of the workforce of a multinational technology company across 20 jurisdictions. With over 500 employees at risk of redundancy in Ireland, this project included time sensitive, strategic advice and training to the board of directors on collective redundancy obligations, tech focused severance strategy, advice on political and media commentary, including consulting with the IDA, Ireland’s FDI agency; specialist advice on industrial relation communications, including management of a Labour Relations dispute and crisis management support relating to inter-group redundancy consultations.
- Advised a global gaming services platform on the closure of its physical offices and move to permanent remote working. This work including advising on contract variation and employee consultation process across its Irish workforce, as well as successful resolution of a complex disability discrimination dispute before the Workplace Relations Commission.
- Assisting a multinational AI research and development company on all stages of the establishment of the company’s Irish operations including its first strategic hires. This has involved creating employment documentation for all stages of the employment lifecycle, background checks, staffing models, benchmarking employee benefits to support competitiveness in the talent market and general employment law compliance.
- Successfully secured High Court injunctive relief against a global financial services company’s former employee in the context of the alleged theft and misuse of a client’s confidential information;
- Handed a sensitive investigation on behalf of an international media client into serious allegations of breaches of their code of conduct, conflicts of interest policies, fraud, raised against members of its Irish c-suite.
- Counselled numerous international companies on the implementation of hybrid and remote working arrangements, global mobility programmes and the new rights to request flexible working arising under recent work life balance legislation.
- Advised a global investment bank on a cross-border merger from an employment law perspective arising under the new EU Mobility Directive, including advice on complex issues pertaining to employee participation rights and consultation under the transfer of undertakings rules.
- Successful defence of claims for penalisation under Protected Disclosures legislation against a global software service company and subsequent support and advice on the implementation of local whistleblowing channels and procedures in compliance with new obligations under the EU Whistleblowing Directive.
- Advised multinational employers on global diversity and inclusion strategies, including global diversity data collection, pay equity and transparency obligations.
"Alice Duffy is well versed in handling redundancies, outsourcings and restructurings."
Employment: The European Legal 500 2024
Professional Diploma in Employment Law: 2014-2015
Legal Practice Course (LPC), BPP Law School: 2008-2009
Master E-commerce & Commercial Law (LLM), University College Cork: 2004-2005
Bachelor Business & Law (BBLS), University College Dublin: 2000-2004