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Law FirmsWho’s WhoAPRILSURVEY2012Detailed listing of the leading Commercial Lawfirms and the views of Managing Partners

Stretch Effect InThe Legal MarketInternational business, bank restructuring, Nama and litigation havesheltered Dublin’s top commercial law firms from the impact of therecession, writes NICK MULCAHYChina calling: John Cronin ofMcCann FitzGeraldOn the home page of law firm McCannFitzGerald’s website, there’s a littleChinese language button. Click on itand you’re taken to inside pages withbiographies of the firm’s aviation leasingexperts. Aviation leasing is a huge globalbusiness, and China is where a lot of thegrowth is. Every lease requires bundles ofpaper work and McCanns has been in thisspace for about 30 years, thanks to TonyRyan and GPA, who set this ball rolling inIreland. As China has joined the leasingparty, McCanns has developed a lucrativenew income stream.It’s an activity that outsiders never see butit’s the type of international business thathas cushioned McCanns and the other bigDublin corporate law firms from the worsteffects of the domestic recession. JohnCronin, chairman of McCann FitzGerald,says the firm ranks in the top three or fouraviation law houses in the world, and it’s abusiness activity that other peer firms in thecapital benefit from too. For instance, A&LGoodbody recently acted for SumitomoMitsui Banking Corporation in its $7.2bnpurchase from Royal Bank of Scotland ofits Dublin-based aircraft leasing business.International tax is another moneyspinnerfor Dublin’s big corporate lawhouses, who between them share amarket estimated to be worth €600m to€700m annually. Matheson OrmsbyPrentice, with a headcount of around 550people, majors in advising multinationalson tax issues, a practice that managingpartner Liam Quirke more or less builtfrom the ground up.Financial funds is another major prop forthe big firms. Dublin is one of the topglobal centres for the funds business.Maples and Calder, led by Andrew Doyle,has targeted this niche in an aggressivemanner since the firm started ramping upfive years ago. The firm head-hunted anumber of top funds lawyers from rivalA&L Goodbody and in the last three yearsthe number of funds advised by Maples hasgrown by 500%, moving the firm fromseventh to second place among Irish legaladvisors. This is one of the reasons Mapleshas gone from startup to 175 staff, 92 ofwhom are lawyers.In the good old days, these steady earnerswere complemented by the gravy fromcorporate finance activity. There’s a lot lessM&A going on now, though restructuringactivity has filled some of that void. AtMcCann FitzGerald, John Cronin instancesthe Superquinn sale and thetakeovers of Clearstream and Norkom lastyear as deals that keep the firm’s corporateteam ticking over.“The deals are smaller and they takelonger to get done,” says Cronin. “A fewyears ago if you were finalising a deal inDecember there would be a big rush tosign it off before Christmas. Now thepurchaser won’t mind the closing intoJanuary or February. At the same timethough, there is always ongoing dealactivity related to multinationals.”William Fry represents many of Ireland’sleading public companies and managingpartner Myra Garrett says the firm had agood year in 2011 and is cautiouslyoptimistic that business levels will continueto increase this year. “M&A was busy forus in 2011 with a wide range of deals indiverse sectors,” says Garrett. “We have astrong M&A pipeline and are seeing a lotof interest in Irish companies and commer-52 Business Plus April 2012

LISTING DATAPartner and solicitor numbersare sourced from the LawSociety Directory 2011.Practice descriptions aredrawn from the law firms’websites and submissions.Law FirmsWho’s WhoArthur Coxwww.arthurcox.comPartners/Solicitors: 211Managing Partner: BrianO’GormanArthur Cox is all-Ireland firm, withfull-service offices in Dublin andBelfast. The firm also has offices inLondon and New York. The firm isranked in the FT’s Law 50 listing ofEurope’s Most Innovative law firmsand recent awards include IrelandLegal Adviser of the Year(FT/Mergermarket, and PLC WhichLawyer?). Arthur Cox recentlystrengthened its New York officewith the appointment of residentpartners Gary McSharry and AilishFinnerty. The firm says its strategy isto proactively assist women lawyersat the firm.Matheson OrmsbyPrenticewww.mop.iePartners/Solicitors: 207Managing Partner: Liam QuirkeMOP has offices in Dublin, London,New York and Silicon Valley.The firmfocuses primarily on serving the Irishlegal needs of internationalcompanies and financial institutionsdoing business in and throughIreland. Recent awards include IrishLaw Firm of the Year (The Lawyermagazine) and Adviser of the Year atthe Funds Europe awards.The firmsays it is the leading Irish law firm forinternational bond issues and isranked ninth in the world by totalnumber of international bond deals.Last year, senior tax adviser JohnRyan relocated to New York to headup MOP’s US presence while StanleyWatson, former head of the corporate80 Business Plus April 2012 2011department, relocated to London tohead up the firm’s office in the City.A&L Goodbodywww.algoodbody.iePartners/Solicitors: 203Managing Partner: Julian YarrA&L Goodbody has a full-serviceoffering in Dublin and Belfast andhas overseas offices in London, NewYork and Palo Alto. In 2011, the firmappointed a new permanent residentpartner (Cian McCourt) in New Yorkwith a supporting team, and openednew offices.The office in Palo Altowas opened in January 2012.Thefirm was named Top Irish M&A lawfirm by both Bloomberg andThomson Reuters based on its workon the majority of corporate deals inIreland in 2011. Says managingpartner Julian Yarr: “Our strike rateon international deal flow is atestament to the relationships wehave built over many years on theground in other jurisdictions.”McCann FitzGeraldwww.mccannfitzgerald.iePartners/Solicitors: 179Chairman: John CroninMcCann FitzGerald has offices inDublin, London and Brussels. Recentawards include Irish Law Firm of theYear (International Financial LawReview, and Chambers Europe).Experian Corpfin ranked the firm asNo.1 for M&A activity by deal valuefor 2011. Notable deals involvingthe firm over the past year includethe sale of Quinn Insurance toLiberty Mutual and IBRC; AIB’sacquisition of EBS; Azur Pharma’smerger with Jazz Pharmaceuticals;BAE Systems’ purchase of NorkomGroup; the sale of Superquinn toMusgrave Group (Ireland’s first prepackreceivership sale); and the saleof NCB Group to Investec.William Frywww.williamfry.iePartners/Solicitors: 153Managing Partner: Myra GarrettWilliam Fry has offices in Dublin,New York and Mountain View inCalifornia.The funds practicerepresents over 420 Irish domiciledfunds with over $190bn of assetsunder management. Mergermarkethas ranked the firm as one of the Top3 for M&A for the last five years.Significant transactions in 2011included €1.1bn private equityinvestment in Bank of Ireland; theJacob Fruitfield merger with ValeoFoods; RIM’s acquisition of NewBay;IBM’s acquisition of Curam; and the€668m sale of Northern Foods tothe Boparan Group, which was thefirst public takeover structured as across-border merger.A keyappointment for the firm last yearwas Lisa Carty as litigation partner.Mason Hayes & Curranwww.mhc.iePartners/Solicitors: 124Managing Partner: Emer GilvarryMH&C has offices in Dublin, NewYork and London and has hired 47lawyers in the past two years. Sayschairman Declan Moylan: “Litigationcontinues to be an engine of thefirm, with the largest department ofany firm in Ireland in this area.Thetax department has doubled in sizeover the last year and works closelywith clients who use Ireland as aglobal economic platform.” In thepast year, the firm advised LibertyMutual on its acquisition of QuinnInsurance, and other transactionsinvolving the firm includedDoneDeal, Xilinx, Odeon andLaCrosse Global Fund Services.ByrneWallacewww.byrnewallace.comPartners/Solicitors: 95Managing Partner: PaulMcGennisWith offices in Dublin and NewYork, ByrneWallace says that clientneeds drive the firm. According tomanaging partner Paul McGennis:“Our job is to understand ourclients, their markets and theirbusiness goals and objectives – andto tailor our services accordingly.We take a personal professionalinterest in client matters. The lawyeryou brief is the lawyer who will doyour work.” In October 2011 thefirm appointed new partners in itsemployment law practice, bankinggroup and corporate restructuringteam.Evershedswww.eversheds.iePartners/Solicitors: 71Managing Partner: Alan MurphyIn November 2011, the firmcompleted its integration into theEversheds brand by changing thename from Eversheds O’DonnellSweeney to Eversheds. “This hasbeen a journey the firm has been onfor over seven years,” says managingpartner Alan Murphy. “The Irishmarket now has an Irish law firmthat can provide all the benefits ofan international law firm and stillretain their relationship with their

Startups 40Ammeon 24Simply Zesty 34MindConnex 36FEATURESSUBSCRIPTION OFFERFree Alison Krauss &Union Station CDwww.bizplus.ieAprilIssueOut Now.Only €2.3010 EconomyReducing the lower rate of VAT last summer hashad little or no impact on boosting employment.What next?12 Fiscal CompactThe government can’t afford to lose thereferendum on the fiscal compact treaty. The scarydebts stats show why22 Virtual MobileInnovation from internet telephony players likeBlueface is just one of the factors keeping a lid ontelecoms costs24 AmmeonThe guys in charge of this software firm shouldrun the country – they slashed their payroll by60% in two years34 Simply ZestyFormer chef and mega Tweeter Niall Harbison hasscored a quick profit after selling his social mediaagency36 MindConnexMichael Cordner has done a nice job adaptingShakespeare plays for the iPad. But can hepersuade schools to buy his apps?40 StartupsFocus on a range of micro ventures, including asmashing piñata startup and a clever idea to profitfrom other people’s photos86 New iPadIt’s not iPad 3, more like iPad2.5. But there’senough in Apple’s latest tablet to tempt iPad1owners to make the upgradeCOVER STORIES16 Johnny RonanThe legendary property developer is in thecourts fighting attempts by Nama to takecontrol of his company. Is this the end foran extraordinary property entrepreneur?51 Commercial LawWho’s who in Ireland’s commercial lawfirms and the views of managing partnerson the sector, the economy, insolvencyreform and regulation of lawyers26 Bank of IrelandIt’s the punters’ favourite but coming downthe tracks for chief executive RichieBoucher are sizeable impairments and newcapital adequacy tests44 Makeshift JobsJoan Burton’s department will throw nearlya billion euro at variousemployment support schemes this year.Most of them are a waste of space