BILL SHIPSEY SC is one of the better known corporate and insolvency law practitioners at the Irish Bar. Over the past year, he represented developer Liam Carroll’s Zoe Group in its bid to be placed in examinership, which foundered on its second attempt in the Supreme Court, and O’Brien’s Irish Sandwich Bars, which was rescued from liquidation. Colleagues say he has not been as active as he might have been, largely because he was working on the DCC’s report published yesterday.

Mr Shipsey is from Dunmore East, Waterford, where his father was a successful businessman. He studied law at UCD before studying for the Bar at the King’s Inns. Then he went to California for a year, where he worked on death penalty appeals, before returning to Ireland. He did free legal aid work and subsequently chaired the Free Legal Aid Centres and Amnesty International in Ireland. It was as a company lawyer that Mr Shipsey made his name. He worked on the Ansbacher case and appeared for clients at the McCracken and Moriarty tribunals.

At a personal level, he is said to be affable and approachable.