Rossa A. Fanning (born 1976) is an Irish barrister and legal academic who has been the

Attorney General of Ireland The Attorney General of Ireland ( ga, An tArd-Aighne) is a constitutional officer who is the legal adviser to the Government and is therefore the chief law officer of the State. The attorney general is not a member of the Government but does pa ...

since December 2022. His practice at the Bar has been primarily focused on commercial litigation and insolvency.

Early life

Fanning attended secondary school at

Blackrock College Blackrock College ( ga, Coláiste na Carraige Duibhe) is a voluntary secondary school, voluntary day school, day and boarding school, boarding Catholicism, Catholic secondary school for boys aged 13–18, in Williamstown, Blackrock, Dublin, Bl ...

. He studied obtained a BCL law degree from

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...

and obtained a master's degree from UCD where he wrote a thesis on civil procedure. While at UCD, he was returning officer for the

University College Dublin Students' Union University College Dublin Students' Union (UCDSU; ga, Aontas na Mac Léinn COBÁC) is the students' union of University College Dublin. It is the largest students' union in Ireland. The Union was founded in 1975 as the successor of the Student Re ...

and was auditor of the

University College Dublin Law Society The UCD Law Society is one of the largest student societies in Europe. Established in 1911 as 'The Legal and Economic Society', as of 2009 it had approximately 4100 members drawn from the various faculties of the university. Weekly Tuesday nigh ...

. He studied for an LLM degree at the

University of Michigan Law School The University of Michigan Law School (Michigan Law) is the law school of the University of Michigan, a Public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1859, the school offers Master of Laws (LLM), Master of C ...

as a scholar of the

Fulbright Program The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

. He attended the

King's Inns The Honorable Society of King's Inns ( ir, Cumann Onórach Óstaí an Rí) is the "Inn of Court" for the Bar of Ireland. Established in 1541, King's Inns is Ireland's oldest school of law and one of Ireland's significant historical environment ...

and was the individual winner of the

Irish Times Debate The Irish Times National Debating Championship is a debating competition for students in higher education in Ireland. It has been run since 1960, sponsored by ''The Irish Times''. While most participants represent institutions in the Republic of ...

while studying there.

Legal career

He was called to the Bar in 1999 and appointed Senior Counsel in 2016. He specialises in commercial litigation and insolvency. He has been involved in cases involving commercial lettings, defamation, debt recovery, company law, injunctions, repossessions and professional negligence. He has represented

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

, and

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

in disputes. He was

Rory McIlroy Rory Daniel McIlroy (born 4 May 1989) is a professional golfer from Northern Ireland who is a member of both the European and PGA Tours. He is the current world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking, and has spent over 100 weeks in tha ...

's barrister in a High Court dispute over agreements with his former management company and

MCD Productions MCD Productions is an Irish concert promotion company. Established in 1980, and headquartered in Dún Laoghaire, County Dublin. History The company was founded by Eamonn McCann and Denis Desmond, the company name MCD is made up of their ini ...

's barrister when it sought to enforce a judgment against

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

. In his insolvency and corporate recovery practice, Fanning has acted in cases involving

CityJet CityJet is an Irish regional airline with headquarters in Swords, Dublin. It was founded in 1992 and has gone through a series of corporate structures. Air France sold CityJet to ''Intro Aviation'' in May 2014; in March 2016 the airline was b ...

, USIT,

Monsoon Accessorize Monsoon Accessorize is a British private limited company. It operates two international retail clothing chains – Monsoon and Accessorize.Business Post The ''Business Post'' (formerly ''The Sunday Business Post'') is a Sunday newspaper distributed nationally in Ireland and an online publication. It is focused mainly on business and financial issues in Ireland. Founding to Irish financial crisi ...

'',

Debenhams Debenhams plc was a British department store chain operating in the United Kingdom, Denmark and the Republic of Ireland. It was founded in 1778 as a single store in London and grew to 178 locations across those countries, also owning the Danish ...

, and

Norwegian Air Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA, trading as Norwegian, is a Norwegian low-cost airline and Norway's largest airline. It is the fourth largest low-cost carrier in Europe behind Wizz Air, easyJet and Ryanair, the second-largest airline in Scandinavia ...

, and was senior counsel for the receivers of Apollo House. He was successful in obtaining a €8.2 million judgment against

Bill Cullen William Lawrence Francis Cullen (February 18, 1920 – July 7, 1990) was an American radio and television personality whose career spanned five decades. His biggest claim to fame was as a game show host; over the course of his career, he host ...

for his client

Danske Bank Danske Bank A/S is a Danish multinational banking and financial services corporation. Headquartered in Copenhagen, it is the largest bank in Denmark and a major retail bank in the northern European region with over 5 million retail customers. ...

in 2012. Fanning was barrister for

Michael Fingleton Michael Fingleton is a former chief executive of Irish Nationwide Building Society. He joined the building society in 1971 and retired in April 2009 as the effects of the 2008–2012 Irish banking crisis became apparent. He is known as "Fingers ...

in a debt recovery case taken by former employer

Irish Nationwide Building Society Irish Nationwide Building Society was a financial institution in Ireland from 1873 to 2011. One of the country's oldest financial institutions, it was originally called the Irish Industrial Building Society; it changed its name in 1975 when it had ...

. He was a member of the legal team for

Seán Quinn John Ignatius Quinn, commonly known as Seán Quinn (born 5 December 1947), is an Irish businessman and conglomerateur. In 2008 he was the richest person in the Republic of Ireland, but in 2012 he was declared bankrupt. The '' Sunday Times Ric ...

and two of his sons in action taken by

Anglo Irish Bank Anglo Irish Bank was an Republic of Ireland, Irish bank headquartered in Dublin from 1964 to 2011. It began to wind down after nationalisation in 2009. In July 2011 Anglo Irish merged with the Irish Nationwide Building Society, forming a new co ...

but resigned while the case was ongoing. He was defence counsel for the

Congregation of the Holy Spirit , image = Holy Ghost Fathers seal.png , size = 175px , caption = The seal of the Congregation depicting the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Trinity. , abbreviation ...

in a civil action for damages. In 2022, he represented

Dany Boon Dany Boon (; born Daniel Farid Hamidou on 26 June 1966) is a French actor, film director, screenwriter and producer. Starting out as a comedian during the 1990s, he found success in 2008 as an actor and director in the film comedy ''Welcome to ...

in the High Court in an action to recover money he claimed was fraudulently taken from him. He has acted for the State in judicial review proceedings and for the

Health Products Regulatory Authority The Health Products Regulatory Authority is an Irish regulatory agency. It advises the Irish government. It is responsible for both public and animal health. It regulates medicines, medical devices, clinical trials and other health products and ...

in a test case in relation to the

Pandemrix Pandemrix is an influenza vaccine for influenza pandemics, such as the 2009 flu pandemic. The vaccine was developed by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and patented in September 2006. The vaccine was one of the H1N1 vaccines approved for use by the Europea ...

vaccine. Fanning appeared at the

Disclosures Tribunal In 2014, material was revealed by two whistleblowers of the Garda Síochána, Maurice McCabe and John Wilson, to the Confidential Recipient. The disclosures and the handling of the disclosures, led to the resignation of Ireland's Minister for Jus ...

(for Paul Williams and

Independent News and Media Mediahuis Ireland (formally Independent News and Media (INM) )) is a media organisation that is based in Dublin and publishes national daily newspapers, Sunday newspapers, regional newspapers and operates multiple websites including Independent. ...

) and the

Moriarty Tribunal The Moriarty Tribunal, officially called the Tribunal of Inquiry into certain Payments to Politicians and Related Matters, was an Irish Tribunal of Inquiry established in 1997 into the financial affairs of politicians Charles Haughey and Michael ...

(for

Michael Lowry Michael Lowry (born 13 March 1953) is an Irish Independent politician who has served as a Teachta Dála (TD) since 1987, currently for the Tipperary constituency. He previously served as Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications from 1 ...

Academic career

Fanning was a lecturer in law at UCD, lecturing in company law and constitutional law, and has written on these topics for the ''Irish Jurist''. He took part in a panel discussion at the Constitutional Convention in 2014 on the topic of

economic, social and cultural rights Economic, social and cultural rights, (ESCR) are socio-economic human rights, such as the right to education, right to housing, right to an adequate standard of living, right to health, victims' rights and the right to science and culture. Econ ...

Attorney General

Fanning was appointed

on 17 December 2022, succeeding

Paul Gallagher Paul Gallagher may refer to: * Paul Gallagher (barrister) (born 1955), Attorney General of Ireland, 2007–2011 * Paul Gallagher (bishop) (born 1954), diplomat of the Holy See * Paul Gallagher (footballer) (born 1984), Scottish football player for ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fanning, Rossa Living people 1976 births 21st-century Irish lawyers Attorneys General of Ireland Alumni of University College Dublin University of Michigan Law School alumni People educated at Blackrock College Alumni of King's Inns Irish Senior Counsel