Our People

Friel Stafford > Our People
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Jim Stafford

Consultant

Jim qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1987. He is one of Ireland’s leading Corporate Recovery and Insolvency specialists.

Whilst training, he obtained Insolvency experience on a number of assignments. Upon qualifying, he moved to New York and joined Spicer & Oppenheim. During his 2 years with Spicer & Oppenheim, he had experience with Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 bankruptcy procedures. In 1989 he joined Cork Gully, the insolvency practice of Coopers & Lybrand (now PWC) in London. He spent five years in London specialising in Corporate Recovery and Insolvency. He returned to Ireland in 1994 and established Friel Stafford.

He has had extensive practical experience of all types of industries, ranging from aerospace and mining to hotels, construction and IT.

He also has extensive experience of resolving shareholder disputes where he uses his expert knowledge of the Companies Acts, tax legislation and case law and his extensive negotiating expertise to formulate solutions.

He is an expert on corporate governance and regularly advises Boards on corporate governance issues. He has assisted a number of directors to successfully defend Restriction applications.

He drafted the complete syllabus for the Diploma in Insolvency course run by Chartered Accountants Ireland. He wrote and presents two of the six modules on the course. Jim was selected by the CAI to present the Module on Corporate Turnaround Strategies given his expertise in the area.

He is also engaged by Chartered Accountants Ireland as a lecturer for their CPD (Continuous Professional Development) in the areas of Corporate Recovery, Insolvency, Personal Bankruptcy and Credit Management. He is frequently asked to speak about specialist Corporate Recovery and Insolvency topics by other institutes and organisations such as the Irish Institute of Credit Management, EBS, Goodbody Stockbrokers, IBRC, Bank of Ireland, Investec and KBC Bank. Jim has contributed numerous technical articles on Corporate Recovery and Insolvency for the magazines of the three leading accountancy bodies in Ireland, and for the Sunday Business Post. He has also done a number of radio and television interviews on Corporate Recovery and Insolvency.

He has extensive experience of all areas of Litigation Support and Expert witness. He has worked with private clients, SMEs, national companies, multi-nationals, county councils and various Government and Regulatory agencies in defending and bringing proceedings.

He is a member of the Council of The Irish Society of Insolvency Practitioners, a group which was established in 2004 as a forum for the development of expertise and experience of those practicing in the insolvency profession in Ireland. He is chairman of the Representation Committee of ISIP. He is member of the Fellows committee of the Irish Institute of Credit Management.

He is authorised to act as a Personal Insolvency Practitioner by the Insolvency Service of Ireland.

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Tom Murray

Director

Tom qualified as a Chartered Certified Accountant (ACCA) in 1997 whilst working with Chase Manhattan Bank. Tom has over 20 years experience in accounting and business roles.

Before moving into Corporate Recovery and Insolvency with Friel Stafford in 2003, Tom developed wide ranging experience in finance roles with a number of leading financial institutions in a number of diverse areas including Corporate Treasury, Corporate Finance and Corporate Accounting.

He is one of Ireland’s most experienced corporate recovery and turnaround practitioners and was one of the first Personal Insolvency Practitioners licensed in Ireland.

He also is an experienced Corporate Financier with particular interest and expertise in the area of equity and debt fund raising, and the buying and selling of businesses.

He has extensive experience of all areas of Litigation Support and Expert witness. He has worked with private clients, SMEs, national companies, multi-nationals, county councils and various Government and Regulatory agencies in defending and bringing proceedings.

He is heavily involved with the ACCA accountancy body and is a past President of ACCA Ireland. He represented ACCA Ireland at the ACCA International Assembly in 2011. He was nominated in January 2021 by ACCA to represent it on the the CCABI insolvency Committee.

He is engaged by the three leading Accountancy bodies in Ireland as a lecturer for their CPD (Continuous Professional Development) in the area of Corporate Recovery, Insolvency and Personal Bankruptcy. Tom has written and presented two of the six modules in the Diploma in Insolvency run by Chartered Accountants Ireland.

He has contributed technical articles on Corporate Recovery and Insolvency for the magazines of the three leading Accountancy bodies in Ireland. He is currently writing a monthly column in this area for Accounting and Business Ireland – the magazine of ACCA Ireland.

He was asked to make numerous media appearance as an Insolvency expert and has appeared on RTE’s main news bulletins, TV3, Sky News, Newstalk and Today FM for comments on insolvency issues and business matters.

He is also a member of The Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Ireland, has a diploma in Forensic Accounting and is a Certified Mediator. He is authorised to act as a Personal Insolvency Practitioner by the Insolvency Service of Ireland.

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Anthony Glennon

Associate Director

Anthony is a Chartered Certified Accountant who joined Friel Stafford in 2015. He leads a Restructuring Advisory team.

He is focused on restructuring and insolvency situations and his key responsibilities include managing our solvent liquidation and corporate simplification assignments.

Anthony has extensive corporate restructuring experience, undertaking examinerships, receiverships, liquidations and solvent liquidations across a wide variety of sectors including leisure, manufacturing, construction, newspaper and professional services.

Anthony’s team are also responsible for business valuation services to support tax structures, tax appeals and marital and shareholder disputes.

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Ciara Nolan

Manager

Ciara joined Friel Stafford in 1996 and is a Manager in our Personal Insolvency department.

Ciara has extensive personal insolvency experience and works closely with the Company’s Personal Insolvency Practitioners to support clients and develop debt resolutions strategies and solutions.

She has a particular specialism in formulating and negotiating informal debt solutions without the need for court resolution.

Recent assignments include the a number of complicated multi creditor personal insolvency arrangements and bankruptcies for high net worth individuals.