Hugh Ward

Hugh qualified as a solicitor in Ireland in 1986.  He is admitted to practice law in Ireland, Northern Ireland, England, Wales and the USA.  His qualifications include: (i) BA (Mod), MA, Trinity College Dublin, 1982, (ii) Juris Doctor Law Degree, USA, 1991, (iii) Member of the Law Society of Ireland, (iv) Member of Association of International Credit Directors and Professionals  (v) Member of the Credit Management Institute of Ireland.

Hugh was elected a “Fellow” of the Irish Institute of Credit Managers (“IICM”) in 2011 as a mark of his significant contributions over many years to the area of Credit Management in Ireland. He is a member of the technical committee in the Irish Institute of Credit Managers and also a member of the Law Society and Chambers Ireland Dublin.

Legal Practice Management 

Hugh has extensive practical experience in managing a sizeable legal firm which specialises in credit and debt management and associated services. This includes end-to-end execution of legal debt recovery, from initial demand for payment, through institution of proceedings, conduct of contested cases, obtaining judgments in all Courts. In addition, he has experience in all enforcement methods including examination/instalment orders, execution against goods, registration and publication of judgments, judgment mortgages, well charging orders and orders for sale.

Hugh’s successful management of the practice has been independently acknowledged by a number of industry awards including winning the 2025 Irish Law Firm of the Year (Dublin) at the annual Irish Law Awards and winning the 2024 Irish Legal Credit team of the Year at the Irish Credit Team Awards .

Hugh has lectured on the legal aspects of debt recovery in the Law Society and has published in the Law Society Gazette and in other Credit Management Trade Gazettes both in Ireland and internationally. He has written many articles on debt collection subjects including “Enforcement of Judgments” which deals with the various options available in Ireland when enforcing judgments and was published in the Irish Institute of Credit Managers Gazette. He has presented and spoken at many Credit Industry seminars.

Hugh has established a number of strategic partnerships in the area of  Credit Bureaus and providing information and data analytics on credit vetting, fraud and credit review.

International Experience and Contribution to Public Policy:

His  extensive and publicly-acknowledged contributions to public policy on receivables management and debt collection include (i) contributing to the Troika and DPER-driven project on debtor management, (ii) lecturing at the behest of the EU Commission on cross-border debt recovery and contract construction, and (iii) in 2018 Hugh was consulted by the Government on the Late Payments Code and attended in Brussels by invitation of the EU Commission as the Irish representative on round-table discussions on same. His contributions were acknowledged in the Report that was subsequently published called “Business-to-Business Transactions: a comparative analysis of legal measures vs.  soft-law instruments for improving payment behaviour”. He was consulted on the debt management implementation project which was led by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform at the suggestion of the IMF-led Troika during the period of fiscal consolidation and reform that followed the financial crisis, (iv) The Law Reform Commission acknowledged his contributions to its reports into “Personal Debt Management and Debt Enforcement” in 2010.

Hugh was requested by the European Commission to speak on contract construction and enforcement of contracts cross border in the European Union. This was targeted at entities  doing cross border business within the EU internal market.  Cross border business transactions can result in  credit and debt management issues including debt recovery issues . This can discourage  cross-border business and therefore prevent the development of  possibilities offered by the European single market.

The general objective of the project was to support entities  that operate across borders by facilitating a better understanding of cross-border contract construction and debt recovery. The business entities  were helped to optimise their business procedures by improving their access to information on claims management instruments and options. The aim was also to improve the use, understanding and awareness of the available legal instruments.

During the project Hugh presented and spoke at the European Commission events in Dublin, Latvia, Cyprus, Malta, Bulgaria and Hungary.