Local Law Firm Wins Top Honours at Irish Law Awards 2025

New Ross / Waterford based Firm Secures National and Leinster Awards for Excellence and Innovation in Client Services

In a remarkable achievement that underscores years of consistent excellence, Coghlan Kelly Solicitors has won both the Leinster Regional Award and the National Overall Award for Excellence and Innovation in Client Services.  Eric Furlong and Orlagh Wafer, Partners at the Firm, attended at the prestigious 2025 Irish Law Awards, held in Dublin on Friday night to accept the award on behalf of the Firm.

This latest recognition marks the third consecutive year the firm has been honoured at the Irish Law Awards:

• In 2022, the firm was named Leinster Law Firm of the Year
• In 2024, they were awarded Regional Winner for Excellence and Innovation in Client Services (Leinster)
• And now in 2025, they have achieved both the Leinster and National Overall Awards for Excellence and Innovation in Client Services

These awards highlight the firm’s unwavering commitment to client care, innovation, and legal excellence across Leinster and Munster – values that have guided its expansion, including the recent opening of the Firm’s new meeting space and consultation rooms just outside Waterford City. Coghlan Kelly’s expansion in Waterford, headed up by Partner and Waterford native Eric Furlong, builds on and strengthens the firm’s longstanding presence in New Ross reaffirms its commitment to serving clients across the Southeast region, including Waterford, Wexford, and Kilkenny.

 “Martin Lawlor, Managing Partner, said: This national recognition is a testament to our team’s dedication to delivering an outstanding client experience. Our recent expansion of our offering in Waterford is a natural step in our growth and allows us to deepen our connection with clients and communities across the region.’”

The Irish Law Awards celebrate outstanding achievement in the legal profession throughout Ireland. Coghlan Kelly’s consistent presence among the award winners reflects a forward-thinking, client-first approach that has set them apart nationally.

For further details about the Irish Law Awards, visit: https://irishlawawards.ie

 

 

At workLAB, we believe that business success should go hand-in-hand with community support. While we focus on providing flexible, professional offices and meeting rooms in Waterford, we are equally committed to making a meaningful local impact—and sometimes, that starts with something as simple as a bottle or a can.

Since June 2024, we have been working with the incredible team at Waterford Food Bank, collecting returnable bottles and cans across our office spaces. Through this small, sustainable initiative, we have helped raise over €11,500 to date—directly supporting over 250 families in our community who rely on food parcels.

 

Why We Got Involved

Waterford is at the heart of our business. From the professionals who use our meeting rooms to the entrepreneurs growing their businesses in our offices, we are part of a thriving local ecosystem—and we want to give back.

The opportunity to support Waterford Food Bank was a perfect fit:

• It’s simple: just collect returnable cans and bottles.

• It’s impactful: funds go directly to families in need.

• It’s collaborative: anyone in the business community can participate.

 

How You Can Join In

If you’re a business or organisation in Waterford, getting involved is easy:

1. Contact Waterford Food Bank to receive a printable poster for your workplace.

2. Set up a collection point in your office or communal space.

3. Schedule a collection with the WFB team once you’ve gathered enough items.

It’s a small effort with a big return—for the environment and for the people who need it most.

 

Join Us in Supporting Waterford

We’re proud to offer more than just workspaces—we’re building a space that supports people, both in business and in life. If you’re visiting our offices or booking a meeting room, you’ll likely see our collection points in action. Feel free to join us by bringing your own plastic bottle, aluminium or steel can that features the Re-turn logo or starting a similar initiative in your own workplace.

Let’s continue to grow, work, and support Waterford—together.

To learn more or get involved, visit www.waterfordfoodbank.com

 

We are delighted to welcome the team from Baker Finn Recruitment to workLAB.

Baker Finn was establishment in 2018 in Cork and in July 2024 due to years of dedicated effort, backed by an exceptional team and spear headed by Grace Mc Dwyer and Barry Delany, Baker Finn Recruitment‘s hard work has resulted in the opening of a 2nd office located in Waterford.

The new office is located here in workLAB and is headed up by Rachel Gahan Hoban & her team. The office location was strategically chosen to be placed in the  busy hub of workLAB Waterford, surrounded by many of their valued clients.

We are delighted to have Rachel and the team join the ever growing client base here at workLAB. We currently have over 30 companies based here with us.

Baker Finn Recruitment support the Life Sciences, Tech, and Engineering industries with Permanent placements and Contractors.

Contact :-  📲 021 603 1000 📨 Info@bakerfinn.com

Great to see Kinetic Labs located here in workLAB featured in the Sunday Business Post article, Think Waterford First on 21st April 2024. 

Kinetic Labs is Ireland’s first private laboratory facility incubator space for the life sciences sector. Funded mostly by Enterprise Ireland, it offers a base and space for those in in of lab facilities.

Check out the full 7 page spread on Waterford on the link https://www.flipsnack.com/partnerships/waterford-cj0b3fm1ci/full-view.html

 

 

PKF are thrilled to have recently opened a new office in Waterford. Our team is excited to expand our presence in the South East and build new connections with local businesses and organizations. We look forward to working closely with the local community. Based in workLAB in the IDA Business Park, our Tax Director, WIT graduate and proud Waterford man, Eoin Kenny is leading the team here.

We are a full service accounting practice, with this being our first regional office outside of Dublin. PKF provides a full range of audit, accountancy, tax, payroll and advisory services – with almost sixty years in practice, our team and range of services have grown to meet our clients’ ever-changing needs. We have an appetite for progress, continual improvement, and innovation. We strive to exceed our clients’ expectations by being responsive, creative and by going the extra mile to deliver superior outcomes.

Due to our continued growth and expansion we have a number of open roles at the moment; trainee accountants, tax seniors and an opening for a tax manager so please check us out PKF and apply directly.

This week, Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys, announced a raft of initiatives to support remote working. Among the key highlights were a voucher scheme to promote working from hubs as well as a €5 million investment under Connected Hubs to improve 81 remote working facilities nationwide.

With news of these updates, it’s set to be a busy summer of hot deskers using hubs across the country. And the workLAB will be no different – so many new people will be able to make use of the amazing facilities we have to offer. We’re excited to see many new faces come through the door so that they can get the most out of their experience here in Waterford.

So, what exactly can you expect when you book a hot desk in the workLAB?

At workLAB you can make use a Glass Pods all beautifully designed to look nice and be functional. Enjoy a coffee from Joes Cafe or take a call in our phone booth. Complete with all the modern facilities one needs to have an enjoyable, easy-flowing meeting, they are all equipped with screens so that people can join from anywhere in the country – or around the world.

We look forward to meeting you over July and August. Make your you have registered on Connected Hubs to get your 3 free passes.

 

Trinity Green Energies (TGE) has joined Kinetic Labs in Waterford and will be bringing additional employment to the South East.

TGE is a SME spin out from Trinity College Dublin which specialises in the capture, storage and utilisation of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. TGE aims to be the leading inventor and integrator of sustainable and affordable technologies for the capture and utilisation of carbon dioxide using renewable energy. The TGE technology will over time help to bring the existing CO₂ concentration in the atmosphere back to safe levels.

Patsy Carney, Director of Kinetic Labs commented:

“TGE joining Kinetic Labs is not only great for our science community, but also Waterford and the South East. I know that for start-ups finding affordable and flexible lab space can be a big challenge so Kinetic Labs is the ideal place for spin-outs such as TGE to develop their business. This is the next step in our vision to transform Kinetic Labs into a science innovation hub for the South East.”

The cause of global warming is the rise in concentration of CO₂ in the atmosphere due to intensive human emissions. With ambitions to tackle climate change and an appreciation for carbon emissions mitigation, TGE will work to remove carbon from the atmosphere and reuse it through their unique system. In its aim to capture carbon and transform it into a harmless waste compound or reusable fuel TGE plan to, within 10 years, deploy 25,000 TGE System units in Ireland and capture 10M tonne per annum of CO₂. In parallel, TGE will license its technology to partners to replicate this in other countries with a worldwide target of capturing 100 million tonne of CO₂ per annum and growing this over the following decade to 1 billion tonne per annum.

Talking about the move to Kinetic Labs, Ray Naughton, TGE Director said:

“It has taken TGE 10 years from initial University research to commercialisation of our technology. The opening of Kinetic Labs in Waterford uniquely provides the ideal lab environment to allow our ground breaking carbon capture technology to be developed. The location also provides access to sophisticated prototyping and manufacturing capability which will enable us manufacture and produce systems which will help to address the global challenges of Climate Change and Global warming.”

This is positive news for the South East region and Waterford with initial recruitment starting for a Mechanical Engineer and Chemical Engineer. This is a major opportunity for Ireland to become a world leader in Carbon Capture and Reuse technologies. TGE and Kinetic Labs could lead the Climate Change Industry by helping to establish an advanced Centre for the capture and reuse of carbon across multiple industries.

 

About Kinetic Labs: Kinetic Labs is a new purpose-built science innovation centre for the South East. It was set-up to provide science-based companies in the South East with the lab facilities needed to develop their products and processes. Companies can access 400 m² of high-quality lab space together with office space, meeting rooms and all the facilities required to grow their company.

Based in Waterford, Kinetic Labs is located in the heart of a thriving industrial and business park within walking distance of Waterford Institute of Technology, Pharmaceutical and Molecular Biotechnology Research Centre (PMBRC), the local IDA, Enterprise Ireland and South East Business & Innovation Centre (SEBIC) offices. Kinetic Labs is in a unique position in Ireland and Europe surrounded by a cluster of operations with knowledge and experience in the Life Sciences.

Before Kinetic Labs, the South East had no wet lab incubation facilities for science-based companies to develop their products and processes. A combination of a REDF grant from Enterprise Ireland and add on funding from workLAB and Waterford City & County Council enabled the development of this much needed infrastructure in the region.

The design work on the new facility commenced in late 2019, with construction completed in December 2020.

Website: https://kineticlabs.ie/

 

About Trinity Green Energies: Trinity Green Energies Ltd (TGE) is a spin out company from Trinity College Dublin (TCD) and is focused on providing innovative solutions to the challenge of Climate Change. These solutions are based on Carbon Capture technologies developed in TCD and University College Dublin during the past 5 years. The systems have been developed in the lab and it is time now to build the prototype and commercial process at scale and bring them to market. As part of this activity TGE is recruiting a Mechanical Engineer and a Chemical Engineer to join the team in Waterford.

Website: https://trinitygreenenergies.com/

 

We are delighted to be live on ConnectedHubs.ie

Book now or check us out