Colm Lyons 

Barrister | Mediator
Year of call: 1990

About Colm

Colm has been a Barrister in independent practice since 1990.

Areas of Specialism

  • Banking and Financial Instruments including swaps and other derivatives
  • Commercial Law
  • Intellectual Property
  • Real Property
  • Landlord & Tenant
  • European Law
  • International Human Rights Law and the Rights of Indigenous and Nomadic Peoples

Since 2004 he has worked on the law and legal consequences of financial derivatives particularly interest rate swaps and on issues arising from securitization and other banking matters. He works with financial mathematicians, traders, bankers and forensic accountants to provide accessible information and services to clients caught up in the mis-selling of derivatives and the fallout from the banking collapse of 2008 which is still ongoing. Colm has a wide and detailed knowledge of European Law and the European regulatory framework in particular in banking, financial derivatives, securitization and related areas.

In addition to the above he carries out work on intellectual property particularly in the area of renewable energy (patents) and has a more general practice across several areas of law.

He is helpful and approachable and is popular for trying to make opaque subjects clear to clients and solicitors alike. He has clients in New Zealand, Australia and Europe especially in Ireland and Germany and makes himself available to clients in each country as required.

As well as law, he reads history, economics and politics and writes for various journals.

Colm has a particular interest and is active in the area of indigenous rights and the relationship between customary law and practice and that of the wider state. He has contributed papers to the Congresso de Americastas and has worked on several projects on indigenous rights.

Previously he worked for the UN and as a law lecturer (Law of Property and Landlord and Tenant).

He holds postgraduate qualifications in Intellectual Property Law and Human Rights Law and is a qualified mediator, trained through ADR Chambers Canada and the University of Windsor. He is currently reading for a qualification in International Arbitration.

EQUALITY | EXCELLENCE | EQUITY