MHC Life: Lisa Joyce

This week in our MHC Life Series, we hear from Lisa Joyce, Partner in our Public, Regulatory & Investigations team at the firm. Lisa chats about her love of football and a typical day.

Tell us a bit about you and your career journey to MHC – what inspired you to get into this career?

The most important thing about me is that I’m from Connemara! I grew up just outside Maam Cross in County Galway - a crossroad on the Galway to Clifden road with a hotel and petrol station and that’s it. It’s remote but very beautiful. I have to go home every couple of months for a good dose of Connemara to keep me sane. When I was pretty young, I remember wanting to be a part-time lawyer, part-time lifeguard like Craig in Baywatch… Only the lawyer part stuck. I went to boarding school in Limerick, studied Corporate Law and an LLB in NUI, Galway, and then moved to Dublin to work as a legal assistant in AIB while I sat my FE-1s and secured an apprenticeship. That took longer than planned, but eventually I convinced MHC that I was worth a shot. I started in May 2007 and have been here since.

What was your first job?

My first job was unpaid – my family home was a B&B so we had to help out during the summers cleaning and making beds. At 15, I got my first paid job in the hotel tourist shop in Maam Cross. All I can remember is folding a lot of very expensive Aran sweaters, dusting lots of glass cabinets and watching The Quiet Man on repeat in the restaurant over lunch. It was filmed in the area, so was very popular with the tourists. The job didn’t last too long because I was fired! I had booked a day off to go to my first festival – The Big Day Out in Galway in 1996. At the last minute, I was told I had to work but I chose to go anyway. Radiohead were headliners - totally worth it!

Talk us through a typical day for you

Every day starts with hitting snooze on my alarm many, many times. I am definitely not a morning person. Once I drag myself out of bed, I get ready for work while listening to the radio. I used to listen to cool(er) radio stations but now it’s usually Morning Ireland. I start work at about 9.15am, with the help of caffeine. The best thing about my job is that it is really varied. I work with a lot of public bodies and advise on all types of public law issues. There is no typical day, which helps to keep things interesting after 15 years. I might be advising on anything from statutory interpretation to a threat of judicial review to a data breach. At lunch, I try to get out for a walk if the weather permits, and in the evenings, I try to get to pilates twice a week or watch TV.

What sports/hobbies/pastimes do you enjoy?

I love watching most sports, but especially GAA, rugby, tennis and athletics. I’m a very enthusiastic Galway GAA supporter and have been lucky enough to get tickets for a few All-Ireland finals over the years, including this year’s football final. Sadly, I’ve never been to a final that Galway has actually won so fingers crossed for 2023 – Gaillimh Abu! I’ve been to lots of other sports arenas and events - even an NFL game in San Francisco - but the roar of the crowd in Croke Park on All Ireland final day is pretty hard to beat.

If I wasn’t a lawyer, I would be........

If I wasn’t a lawyer, I would be a make-up artist or hairdresser.

What tv shows have you binge watched recently?

I am slightly embarrassed to admit that I still watch Home and Away religiously – 20 mins of sunshine fuelled escapism daily. I am also loving the new Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings spin-offs, House of Dragons and The Rings of Power. I love the originals of both and it’s great to be back in those worlds, but it’s killing me to wait a whole week for each new episode.