Holding court on the business of law
‘AH YOU’RE enjoying the view,” says Emer Gilvarry as she enters a meeting room on the sixth floor of Mason Hayes Curran’s impressive glass-clad building on Barrow Street in Dublin.
It’s a sunny Friday morning and the view is indeed impressive. The office overlooks Grand Canal Dock, where a number of quaint barges are tied up and some people are splashing about in kayaks.The Spire on O’Connell Street glimmers in the distance on the right, while the Aviva Stadium dominates the view on the other side of the building.
Look hard enough and you might see Croke Park, where Gilvarry, managing partner of the firm, has booked her seat this Sunday for the All Ireland football joust between Donegal and her beloved Mayo.
She can’t wait. Sam is within touching distance after a 61-year wait that has seen its fair share of false dawns for the county. Emer’s father, Dr Joe Gilvarry, was a member of the Mayo team that brought home the bacon in 1950 and 1951.
He’s something of a legend in Mayo, landing the winning scores the last time the county won Sam.
“A winning goal and a winning point in the ’51 final,” Gilvarry proudly states. “I have a YouTube piece on it that I’ve sent to some friends of mine over the last few days. It’s wonderful stuff.”
Dr Joe, a general practitioner, died in 2004 but the Gilvarry clan – Emer is one of seven children – will be out in force at Croker.
“I’m very nervous,” Gilvarry admits. “But we have some good young players. Here’s hoping.”
Gilvarry is quite the sports fan. Rory McIlroy and Brian O’Driscoll are among a small group she follows on Twitter.
“I follow a few people,” she says. “I don’t actively do it because I don’t have the time, but Twitter are clients and LinkedIn are clients, so you align yourself with your clients and try and understand what it is they do.”
Gilvarry is a keen rugby fan, helping out behind the scenes with fundraising for Connacht.
“Connacht are doing great now when you think where they were two years ago. We’re throwing shapes.”
She describes the funding efforts to bring Connacht to the next level as a professional team as a “work in progress”.
“We’ll be looking to move from the Sportsground or upgrade the Sportsground and we’re investing in players. That’s what the business model is.”
Her father captained Blackrock’s 1942 senior schools cup winning team and played for Leinster schools. He also played for Connacht but not under his own name.
