Capital markets · Legal engineering · Digital infrastructure

Independent capital markets advisory at the intersection of law and technology.

McGonagle Advisory helps financial institutions, market infrastructure providers and technology firms design capital markets products and infrastructure that are legally robust, operationally viable and commercially coherent.

Organisations I’ve worked with

  • Tokenovate
  • ISDA
  • Deutsche Bank
  • Morgan Stanley
  • Allen & Overy

Independent judgement at the boundary of law, markets and technology.

Institutional digital-asset and market-infrastructure projects often fail in the gaps between legal design, product architecture and technical implementation. McGonagle Advisory works at that boundary, helping senior teams design products and systems that are commercially coherent, legally grounded and operationally viable.

Legal intent into system design Rights, obligations and documentation logic translated into product architecture and operating models.
Institutional tokenised workflows Tokenised products and smart contract workflows structured for regulated, capital markets use.
Independent challenge Senior review where strategy, architecture, delivery and client expectations need to align.

Advisory services for complex digital market infrastructure work.

Engagements are scoped around clear decisions, deliverables and senior stakeholder needs — from strategy through product architecture and independent design review.

Strategic advisory

Direction, structure, market entry.

Advising leadership teams on product direction, market infrastructure design and digital asset strategy. This includes tokenisation strategy, structuring tokenised financial products, and developing new product models within existing legal, regulatory and market frameworks.

Typical outputs Board briefings, strategy papers, product direction, market-entry analysis.

Product and system design

From documentation to data to lifecycle.

Defining how financial products are represented in data, system logic and operating models. This includes lifecycle modelling, documentation-to-data mapping, smart contract logic and tokenised product architectures.

Typical outputs Operating models, product architecture, data models, lifecycle workflows.

Independent review

Stress-tested before capital and delivery are committed.

Reviewing proposed products, platforms and architectures to test whether legal rights, obligations, lifecycle events and operational dependencies are accurately reflected before significant capital or delivery effort is committed.

Typical outputs Design reviews, risk assessments, investor or client-readiness reviews.

McGonagle Advisory does not provide formal legal or regulatory advice, software development, implementation delivery or staff augmentation. Where legal, regulatory, tax or technical advice is required, the relevant specialist advisers should be engaged.

Practical engagement formats for senior teams.

Engagements can take the form of focused decision support, structured diagnostics or ongoing senior input into live programmes.

Portrait of Ciarán McGonagle

Founder-led by Ciarán McGonagle, a capital markets lawyer and product leader.

I have worked at ISDA, leading global financial institutions and financial market infrastructure providers, focused on the legal, operational and technological foundations of digital assets, smart derivatives contracts, tokenisation, computable financial-market workflows.

Former Assistant General Counsel, ISDA Led work across smart derivatives contracts, digital asset documentation and legal data standards.
Chief Legal & Product Officer, fintech infrastructure Directed product architecture for tokenised financial instruments and automated collateral workflows.
Former Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley and Allen & Overy Experience across global financial institutions and capital markets legal practice.

Industry leadership

  • LexisNexis Banking & Finance Consulting Editorial Board
  • Chair, CDM Tokenised Assets Working Group
  • Co-chair, FINOS Smart Contracts Taskforce

Signature Projects

  • Led development of the ISDA Digital Asset Derivatives Definitions
  • Led the ISDA Taxonomy and Clause Library project — recognised in the FT Innovative Lawyers Awards 2019, Innovation in legal expertise
  • The Lawyer Hot 100, 2025

Working on something where law, product and technology need to align? Let’s talk.

McGonagle Advisory works with institutions, market infrastructure providers and technology firms where legal design, product architecture and technical execution need to align.