Our Team

Donal is a founding partner of the firm and its principal. A native of Ballinasloe, he took his primary degree at University College Galway and was admitted to the Roll of Solicitors in 1992 following his studies at the Law Society of Ireland in Blackhall Place. Before establishing this practice with Frances Mescall in 1998 he spent six years with a well known Galway firm, where the greater part of his work concerned the sale, purchase and mortgaging of residential and agricultural land. Donal has charge of the conveyancing and probate departments of the firm. He has a particular interest in the law relating to agricultural holdings, rights of way and the registration of title, and he acts for a number of farming families in the counties of Westmeath, Roscommon and Galway, in several cases across two and three generations. He is a Commissioner for Oaths. Outside the office he is a keen follower of hurling and has served for many years on the committee of a local club.

Frances is a founding partner of the firm. She graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Civil Law from University College Dublin and qualified as a solicitor in 1994, having completed her professional training at Blackhall Place and served her apprenticeship with a Dublin practice. She remained in Dublin for a further period, practising principally in family law and in employment matters, before returning to the midlands to establish this firm. Frances has charge of the family law and employment law departments. She appears regularly in the District Court and the Circuit Family Court in this Circuit and has a considerable experience of judicial separation, divorce, maintenance, custody and access applications, and of applications for orders under the domestic violence legislation. She has also acted for both employees and employers before the Employment Appeals Tribunal and the Rights Commissioner Service. Frances has completed training in mediation and is a strong believer in the resolution of family disputes by agreement wherever this can properly be achieved.

Aidan joined the firm in 2010. He holds a law degree from the University of Limerick and was admitted to the Roll of Solicitors in 2009, having served his apprenticeship with a general practice in the south east. Aidan assists in all departments of the firm and has particular responsibility for litigation, for landlord and tenant matters and for employment claims. He also carries out a substantial volume of residential conveyancing work and is often the member of staff with whom purchasers of a first home will deal from day to day. Aidan is a fluent Irish speaker and is happy to conduct business through Irish where a client wishes to do so.

Marie joined the firm in 1999, less than a year after it was founded, and is accordingly the longest serving member of staff after the partners themselves. She holds the Diploma in Legal Studies and works principally with Mr. Culliton in the conveyancing and probate departments, where she deals with the preparation of documentation, the gathering of title, correspondence with lending institutions and the many practical enquiries which arise in the course of a sale, a purchase or the administration of an estate. Many clients of the firm know Marie better than they know their own solicitor and she is very often the first person to whom an enquiry is directed.

Bernadette joined the firm in 2003 and is responsible for the administration of the office, for the accounts of the practice and for the reception of clients. She ensures that the office complies with the Solicitors Accounts Regulations and liaises with the firm's accountants in relation to the annual reporting requirements. Bernadette will in most cases be the first person a caller meets on arriving at the office and she arranges all appointments.