Expertise
Brendan is a Partner in the Commercial Litigation and Dispute Resolution Department at Matheson and is a member of the firm’s Corporate Restructuring and Insolvency Law Group. Brendan provides specialist advice to financial institutions, creditor groups, NAMA, receivers, examiners and companies on contentious and non-contentious corporate restructuring and insolvency matters.
Brendan is a former Council member of Restructuring & Insolvency Ireland (formerly known as the Irish Society of Insolvency Practitioners) and is also a member of INSOL Europe and the American Bankruptcy Institute. Brendan lectures on insolvency law matters on the professional practice courses of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland.
Experience Highlights
- Advising in relation to solvent corporate restructurings, including high profile section 72 capital reductions such as Eaton Corporation plc, Tullow Oil plc and Weatherford International plc and section 201 schemes of arrangement such as Valista Limited and the merger of IAWS Group plc and Hiestand to create Aryzta.
- Advising on numerous cross-border mergers (both in and out of Ireland) under the European Communities (Cross-Border Merger) Regulations 2008 (as amended), examples of which include the merger of Citibank Europe plc with a number of its European sister companies, which was the first cross-border merger into Ireland, and the merger of various Henkel group companies.
- Advising financial institutions in relation to the enforcement of security, recovery of debt and enforcement options (including bankruptcy) with extensive experience in advising in connection with both High Court and commercial court proceedings.
- Advising directors and shareholders of companies on corporate governance and compliance issues and on matters relating to the Director of Corporate Enforcement, restriction proceedings, Section 205 proceedings and shareholder disputes.
- Advising financial institutions and receivers in domestic receiverships, examples of which include B3 Cable Solutions (Ireland) Limited, Goode Concrete, Murrays Rent A Car Limited, WMG Group Limited and Castleknock Golf Club.
- Advising Danske Bank A/S and various receivers in connection with the first ever residential property portfolio sale of over 700 properties.
- Advising in examinerships, both from an examiner’s and creditor’s perspective, examples of which include Fate Park, Qualceram Shires plc, Linen Supply of Ireland, Blackshore Group, Classic Marketing Limited and Tougher Oil Distributors Limited.
- Advising in liquidations, both from a liquidator’s and creditor’s perspective, recent examples of which include Buzreel Limited (In Liquidation) which company owned the Buy & Sell brand and advising the liquidators appointed to Newbridge Credit Union Limited (In Liquidation) and Berehaven Credit Union Limited (In Liquidation) in respect of their obligations under the Central Bank and Credit Institutions (Resolution) Act 2011, which are the only two credit unions to be wound up in Ireland.
Accolades
“Brendan Colgan is an outstanding lawyer, he is commercial technically capable and responsive.”
Restructuring & Insolvency: The European Legal 500 2025
“Brendan Colgan, excellent communicator and problem solver. Able to distil complex matters into easily understandable facts.”
Restructuring & Insolvency: The European Legal 500 2025
“Brendan Colgan is a superb insolvency lawyer backed up by a very experienced team. Really good experience and well rounded. Very enjoyable to work with and not afraid to challenge clients.”
Restructuring & Insolvency: The European Legal 500 2025
"He must work 24/7! He's very strong and very diligent."
Restructuring & Insolvency: Chambers Europe 2025
"Brendan is always available with very considered advice. He's a strategic thinker who is excellent at drafting correspondence and enjoyable to work with."
Restructuring & Insolvency: Chambers Europe 2025
Brendan Colgan is Highly Regarded
Restructuring & Insolvency: IFLR1000 2018 - 2024
“Brendan Colgan is a leading insolvency lawyer in the Irish market, always available to advise on tricky situations with commercially minded solutions.”
Restructuring & Insolvency: The European Legal 500 2024
Brendan Colgan is named as a Leading individual
Restructuring & Insolvency: The European Legal 500 2020 - 2024
“He is extremely good - very competent and well respected.”
Restructuring & Insolvency: Chambers Europe 2024
“Brendan is an exceptional solicitor.”
Restructuring & Insolvency: Chambers Europe 2024
"He is a great restructuring lawyer and very commercial."
Restructuring & Insolvency: Chambers Europe 2023
"Brendan Colgan is a good lawyer. He is effective and fights his client's corner, while also being a person you can deal with in commercial transactions and negotiations."
Restructuring & Insolvency: Chambers Europe 2023
"He is a top insolvency and restructuring lawyer. He takes time to really understand the issues at hand and then uses his deep knowledge of the law and experience to advise on possible courses of action. He brings a very personable and calm approach, which is very important in the intense stages of a deal or restructuring engagement. "
Restructuring & Insolvency: IFLR1000 2022
"He is a super lawyer, who brings commercial acumen with his excellent knowledge of the law to provide practical and valuable advice in difficult situations."
Restructuring & Insolvency: IFLR1000 2022
"He brings a huge depth of technical knowledge to any engagement, but more importantly he brings a personal, calm, responsive, innovative and problem-solving approach to difficult cases. "
Restructuring & Insolvency: IFLR1000 2022
Brendan Colgan “brings commerciality and excellent responsiveness to every engagement.”
Insolvency and Corporate Restructuring The European Legal 500 2022
“I have found Brendan Colgan to be a best in class partner in the space and balances achieving commercial objectives with protecting his clients downside perfectly. Brendan has a deep knowledge of all areas of law outside his insolvency and restructuring expertise which is a significant asset to his clients.”
Insolvency and Corporate Restructuring: The European Legal 500 2022
"He is technically very strong and always considers the commercial impact of his advice."
Restructuring & Insolvency: Chambers Europe 2022
"He is incredibly strong technically, very practical and commercial."
Restructuring & Insolvency: Chambers Europe 2021
“Brendan Colgan is quickly developing as one of the leading insolvency/restructuring solicitors following in Tony's footsteps, offering excellent technical knowledge but crucially backed up by excellent relationships and a commercial focus.”
Insolvency and Corporate Restructuring: The European Legal 500 2021
Sources say Brendan is "always good to deal with."
Restructuring/Insolvency: Chambers Europe 2020
“Brendan Colgan is my main point of contact at Matheson. He has got an unbelievable work ethic and is very practical in his approach. His ability to remember specific detail on complex litigation is impressive.”
Corporate Restructuring and Insolvency: The European Legal 500 2020
“We deal with Brendan Colgan and Tony O'Grady. Brendan is extremely technically proficient and effective, whilst Tony has unrivalled experience and respect in this field.”
Corporate Restructuring and Insolvency: The European Legal 500 2020
Education
National University of Ireland, Galway, B Corp. Law, LLB
Law Society of Ireland