Brendan J. Gardiner

About Brendan

Drawing on his two decades of in-house experience with multinational companies, Brendan helps clients of all size navigate legal, compliance, and geopolitical risks to enhance resilience, safeguard assets, uphold stakeholder trust, and drive long-term success. He couples his legal expertise with business acumen to help clients see around corners, identify solutions, and advance their business objectives.

Compliance and Investigations
Brendan advises general counsels, boards, and senior executives on sensitive regulatory and compliance matters, including designing effective compliance programs, conducting due diligence, leading internal and government investigations, and implementing remedial measures. His approach emphasizes delivering pragmatic, solutions-focused advice tailored to each client’s unique needs and objectives.

Global Dispute Resolution
Brendan provides strategic guidance on litigation, arbitrations, and mediations in both US and international contexts. Collaborating closely with in-house and trial counsel, he evaluates disputes at all stages to align legal strategies with business goals and, where appropriate, explore alternative resolution pathways that enable commercial success.

International Business
Brendan serves as US legal counsel to non-US companies with operations in the United States, particularly those without dedicated in-house US legal staff. Acting as an extension of his clients’ internal teams, he supports business operations while ensuring compliance with US legal and regulatory frameworks.

Enterprise Risk Management and Insurance
Brendan helps organizations strengthen their enterprise risk management and insurance strategies to proactively identify, assess, monitor, and mitigate operational and financial risks. Working collaboratively with clients’ commercial, legal, finance, and risk management teams, he architects solutions that allow clients to capitalize on opportunities in a risk-controlled environment.

Before joining SouthBank Legal, Brendan held senior legal roles in the US and Europe with leading multinationals in the energy, infrastructure, transportation, food and agricultural, and commodities industries.

Most recently, Brendan was Deputy General Counsel at a leading food ingredient and commodities trading company, where he led a global team of over 100 legal and compliance professionals supporting operations in more than 200 countries. He also oversaw the company’s insurance and risk management division, placing insurance, managing claims, and running its captive insurance entity.

Previously, Brendan spent 11 years with the world’s largest manufacturer of construction, mining, and engineering equipment, where he held a series of legal positions in the US and EMEA handling litigation, commercial transactions, and international trade matters, including tariffs, sanctions, and FCPA compliance.

Before moving in-house, Brendan practiced at an international law firm, focusing on internal investigations and commercial and securities litigation. He began his legal career clerking on the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit for the Honorable Susan H. Black.

A native of Boston, Brendan earned his J.D. and B.A. from the University of Notre Dame. Since 2022, he has been an Adjunct Professor at Notre Dame Law School, where he teaches a course on internal investigations. He serves on the Board of Directors of Irish Community Services and previously served on the boards of St. John’s International School (Belgium), WorldChicago, and All Saints Catholic Academy.