Triona Cody

An employment law specialist with more than a decade of experience, she advises corporates, SMEs, public bodies, not-for-profit organisations and individual private clients and is aware of the expeditive rate of change and rapidly developing legislation in the sector that informs case law and her daily dealings with clients.

It’s much of the reason she was drawn to employment law: “Primarily, I simply enjoy it. But importantly it’s a very dynamic area and with developments in case law it’s constantly moving,” she says.

“If I look back at what I was advising on 10 years ago, that advice is often very different today, because of the developments in law we must constantly keep abreast of and the need to challenge ourselves to keep up to date.”

It’s also a very people-focused sector in which lawyers deal with a diverse range of clients, she adds. After all, every business and organisation has employees, so employment law is highly relevant to every walk of life.

A graduate of University College Dublin and Dublin Institute of Technology (now TU Dublin) she was, she says, attracted to Kane Tuohy for its “good quality, high-level work”.

The firm also saw expansion last year when it joined forces with Hatstone (Ireland) and Ms Cody adds that though it now has a staff of more than 40 it retains a personal approach which means that “people don’t get lost within the firm – so it’s a good culture in that way, inclusive and collaborative”.

She finds a down-to-earth quality in her colleagues: “It’s a nice workplace with the culture of a small firm but the aspirations of a big one, close to Fitzwilliam Square and very much in the centre of town”.

Growing up on a farm in Co Kilkenny, she explains that she had no family background in law. “I suppose I became interested in it when I was completing my undergraduate degree, so I went on to do a post-grad in Legal Studies and then decided that I wanted to pursue a career as a solicitor.

“Like most 17-year-olds, I initially hadn’t much idea of what I wanted to do but I found my direction. It hasn’t been all straightforward though and there have been twists and turns in my career path but that has culminated with me being appointed a partner here.”

It has also resulted in a committed focus on employment law, a route from which she doesn’t anticipate diverging.

“I have a lot of direct contact with clients so it’s not just paper based and I have a good mix of work, doing a lot of contentious and advisory work but also non-contentious work. This requires strong organisational skills, strong interpersonal skills and the ability to be adaptable.

“The fact that it’s constantly changing and evolving is what keeps it interesting for me,” she reiterates. As a member of the Dublin Solicitors Bar Association Employment Law Committee, the Employment Lawyers Association of Ireland and the European Employment Lawyers Association she believes it’s important to keep abreast of all developments, not just to have a narrow focus.

Ms Cody agrees that dispute resolution, as in other areas such as family law, is playing an increasing role in her area of expertise. “It’s now a very common ‘go to’ mechanism for resolving employment law disputes and it’s a very successful one. I’d always encourage clients to avail of it where possible,” she says.

“It’s a great way to achieve an outcome expeditiously and one that helps to avoid incurring unnecessary legal costs for the client.”

She and the firm act for both employers and employees. “We do act on both sides of the fence and that’s useful because it allows you to see things from both points of view.

“I feel that acting for both employers and employees enhances my practice, because I don’t have a particular view on a matter that lands on my desk and because of that I have a more rounded view of the employment issue and dispute.”

Her clients are, she says, typically more from the SME than the corporate sector and the cases she is advising on have included several discrimination claims which appear to be currently quite topical.

Though there are a variety of areas at play, including issues over the mandatory retirement age.

“Also, since March 2024, there has been a new Code of Practice on the right to request a flexible working arrangements for caring purposes for certain categories of worker, and the right to request remote working for all workers. There have been recent cases in the Workplace Relations Commission around this since the introduction of the Code.

“You need to follow the changes and developments in the law: those tend to follow legislation being enacted, then further down, later in the year you see those issues land on your desk.”

While social media issues in the workplace are not a new phenomenon, it is likely to pose a growing threat to employers. “It comes down to whether the employee is posting on an individual basis or on behalf of their employer – and that’s where the lines become blurred.

“You also have phishing scams and similar on social media which involve employees being targeted in the workplace where security systems can be compromised and cyber criminals use social media to infiltrate the workplace is definitely a growing menace.”

No one, she stresses, can take any half measures when it comes to security. “That particularly includes the legal world, in which we’re dealing with client confidentiality – but whatever the size of the operation, if you’re in business you must have all those mechanisms in place.”

In the current economic climate this is not effortless, but Ms Cody is broadly optimistic about the direction employment law is taking: “Smaller employers may find several changes difficult to keep up with and difficult to implement, depending on the resources they have available to them on the HR side.

“But overall, the changes that are being implemented in Irish employment law are having positive impacts across the board.”

A keen supporter of her home county’s hurling team, Ms Cody has a wide interest in sports. “There’s going to be a gap in my evenings now that the Olympics are over – but I also enjoy live music events,” she says.

She’s enthusiastically anticipating her new role as a partner at Kane Tuohy and says: “What I enjoy most about my area of the law is when you’re working toward and obtaining a positive outcome for your clients, whether they are employers or employees.”

Now living in Dublin, she still attributes much of her success to the strong work ethic instilled by her parents back on the farm in Kilkenny. “It has served me well in my career – and being part of a large Irish family also keeps you very grounded.”