Ian Devlin
Partner
Ian is a Partner and Head of Pensions in William Fry’s Employment & Benefits team.
- [email protected]
- VCard
- Dublin - Head Office

Ian advises employers and pension scheme trustees on all areas of pension law and has extensive experience in advising on issues related to pension scheme funding, investment and restructuring.
Significant recent experience includes:
- Advised the trustees of the John Player Ireland and Imperial Tobacco Mullingar pension schemes on two significant bulk annuity buy-out transactions.
- Advised Aviva’s Irish staff pension funds providing legal support on all issues relating to the operation of its defined benefit and defined contribution pension funds.
- Advised IKEA on various legal issues related to its Irish pension arrangements, including scheme amendments and IORP II related issues.
- Advised the Guinness Ireland Group Pension Scheme, one of the largest pension funds in the State, and provide advice on governance, funding and investment matters and all aspects of regulatory compliance.
Ian is a former Chairman of the Association of Pension Lawyers in Ireland. He is currently a member of the DC Sub-Committee of the Irish Association of Pension Funds and he has spoken at a variety of forums on topical pension issues.
Ranking & Recommendations
2023 Chambers Europe
“Ian Devlin responds quickly, is very pragmatic and has a very balanced judgement and perfect knowledge of the law.” “Ian is always responsive and has a very practical approach which makes him good to work with.”
2023 Legal 500 EMEA
"Ian Devlin is a stand-out partner and very helpful in getting to the core of the issues and brings great insights and practical advice that help create workable solutions."
"Ian Devlin has a skill in understanding and evaluating the commercial context as part of the provision of legal advice. The advice is always clear, unambiguous and to the point. He is extremely responsive."

Practice Areas
Related Knowledge
Article and Insights
5
Dec 2023
We consider the likely impact on employers and defined benefit pension schemes.

Partner
Ian Devlin
Article and Insights
6
Oct 2023
We consider how Irish employers can start to plan for the introduction of auto-enr...

Partner
Ian Devlin
Article and Insights
28
Jun 2023
High Court concludes pension scheme trustees are still trustees, a decade after th...

Partner
Ian Devlin
Article and Insights
25
Apr 2023
With the pensions landscape in Ireland ever-changing, our pension team's Spring Br...

Partner
Ian Devlin
Article and Insights
28
Feb 2023
As pre-legislative scrutiny of auto-enrolment proposals comes to a close our pensi...

Partner
Ian Devlin
Report
18
Nov 2022
In their Winter Briefing our pensions team consider key issues of concern for sche...

Partner
Ian Devlin
Article and Insights
17
Nov 2022
Rolling on Up – Government approves General Scheme of Auto-Enrolment Bill

Partner
Ian Devlin
Article and Insights
19
May 2020
We examine the new transparency obligations for pension schemes under Directive (E...

Partner
Ian Devlin
Article and Insights
6
Mar 2020
In our Spring Pensions Briefing, our team consider the likely implications of the ...

Partner
Ian Devlin
Article and Insights
19
Dec 2019
In the penultimate instalment of our '12 Days of Christmas' series, we highlight t...

Partner
Catherine O’Flynn