Attorney Advertising · Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome · Providence, RI
Attorneys

Four partners. Senior attention on every file.

Each attorney below is admitted to the bar of at least Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Biographies reflect education, admissions, and representative experience.

Managing Partner

Margaret S. Halloran

Practice focus: Business & Corporate · Mergers & Acquisitions · Commercial Real Estate

Margaret Halloran founded Ironside Legal in 1998 after nine years in the corporate group of a large Boston firm. Her practice concentrates on privately-held businesses in Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts, with particular depth in family-owned manufacturing, specialty food and beverage, and multi-location professional practices. She has guided clients through more than ninety transactions, from owner-financed asset sales in the low seven figures to a platform acquisition exceeding $40 million. Margaret regularly serves as outside general counsel to long-term clients, sitting in on board meetings and advising on governance, shareholder disputes, and succession planning. She chairs the firm's management committee and leads associate training on contract drafting.

Education
  • J.D., Boston College Law School, cum laude, 1989
  • B.A., Government, Georgetown University, 1986
Admissions
  • Rhode Island (1989)
  • Massachusetts (1990)
  • U.S. District Court, D. Rhode Island
  • U.S. District Court, D. Massachusetts
Memberships
  • American Bar Association — Business Law Section
  • Rhode Island Bar Association
  • Providence Business News, 40 Under 40 (1998)
Partner — Real Estate & Land Use

David A. Ntiri

Practice focus: Commercial Real Estate · Commercial Leasing · Land Use & Zoning

David Ntiri leads the firm's real estate and land-use practice. Before joining Ironside, he practiced at a regional real-estate boutique where he represented institutional landlords and developers on ground leases, build-to-suits, and mixed-use developments. At Ironside, David's clients include regional retail landlords, industrial developers, self-storage operators, and owner-occupiers acquiring their first commercial property. He has closed leases and acquisitions across Rhode Island, Bristol County, and Eastern Connecticut totaling more than $320 million in aggregate value since 2015. David frequently appears before municipal zoning and planning boards and has obtained special-use permits and dimensional variances for restaurant, cannabis, childcare, and medical-office uses.

Education
  • J.D., Boston University School of Law, 2008
  • B.A., Urban Studies, Brown University, 2005
Admissions
  • Rhode Island (2008)
  • Massachusetts (2009)
  • Connecticut (2014)
Memberships
  • Rhode Island Bar — Real Estate Section
  • ICSC (International Council of Shopping Centers)
  • Urban Land Institute, Rhode Island District Council
Partner — Estates, Trusts & Elder Law

Eleanor R. Vasquez

Practice focus: Estate Planning · Trust Administration · Elder Law

Eleanor Vasquez chairs the firm's estate planning and trust administration practice. A former CPA, she approaches estate planning with a tax practitioner's discipline, integrating federal and Rhode Island estate-tax planning with income-tax considerations and beneficiary titling. Eleanor regularly drafts irrevocable life insurance trusts, grantor-retained annuity trusts, and spousal lifetime access trusts for clients navigating the federal estate-tax sunset. She also maintains a focused elder-law practice, advising families on Medicaid planning within Rhode Island's five-year lookback, long-term care insurance review, and guardianship petitions. Eleanor has administered estates ranging from modest RI probate matters to $30M+ trust administrations coordinated across multiple jurisdictions.

Education
  • LL.M., Taxation, Boston University School of Law, 2013
  • J.D., Suffolk University Law School, 2011
  • B.S., Accounting, Providence College, 2006
Admissions
  • Rhode Island (2011)
  • Massachusetts (2011)
  • U.S. Tax Court
Memberships
  • American College of Trust and Estate Counsel — Fellow candidate
  • Rhode Island Bar — Probate & Trust Section
  • National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys
Partner — Litigation & Employment

James T. Okafor

Practice focus: Commercial Litigation · Employment Defense · Appellate

James Okafor leads the firm's litigation and employment practices. He joined Ironside from the Rhode Island Office of the Attorney General, where he served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Division handling complex commercial and constitutional litigation on behalf of state agencies. In private practice, James has tried matters to verdict in both Rhode Island Superior Court and the Business Litigation Session of the Massachusetts Superior Court, including a jury trial on a non-compete enforcement matter and a bench trial resolving a shareholder-oppression dispute. His employment practice emphasizes proactive counseling for small and mid-sized employers alongside defense of discrimination, wage-and-hour, and restrictive-covenant claims. James has argued appeals before the Rhode Island Supreme Court and published in the Rhode Island Bar Journal.

Education
  • J.D., University of Virginia School of Law, 2012
  • B.A., Political Science, Dartmouth College, 2009
Admissions
  • Rhode Island (2012)
  • Massachusetts (2013)
  • U.S. District Court, D. Rhode Island
  • U.S. District Court, D. Massachusetts
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit
Memberships
  • Defense Research Institute — Employment Law Committee
  • Federal Bar Association, Rhode Island Chapter
  • Rhode Island Bar Journal, Editorial Contributor