For the second year running Arthur Cox has taken the position of top Irish law firm in an international survey of Irish in-house lawyers.
Arthur Cox received the highest ranking in the Global Counsel 3000 survey as a highly recommended firm in 14 categories including: banking, corporate finance, corporate and M&A, insolvency, employment, intellectual property, information technology, commercial property, administration/environment, agency/distribution, arbitration, litigation, tax and EU competition.
Other law firms recognised with strong positions in the survey were McCann Fitzgerald and A&L Goodbody who were ‘highly recommended’ in 12 categories, William Fry in nine, Matheson Ormsby Prentice in eight and Mason Hayes and Curran in seven.
Arthur Cox partners William Johnston and Grainne Hennessy received strong recommendations in banking and finance, as did Ronan Molony and Niall Powderly at McCann Fitzgerald, James Dudley at A&L Goodbody, Neville O’Byrne and Elaine Hanley at William Fry and William Prentice at Matheson Ormsby Prentice.
The ‘most recommended’ practitioner in corporate finance was Owen O’Connell at William Fry. The survey said that ‘all the large firms have strong M&A practices’. The description of lawyers who were highly recommended or ‘received a high degree of praise’ includes just about all corporate lawyers in the large firms.
James O’Dwyer, chairman of Arthur Cox, told Finance, ‘we are obviously pleased that the survey confirms our leadership position in the Irish corporate legal services sector’.
Arthur Cox recently appointed Mary Redmond, whose own practice was highly recommended in the employment and pensions category, as a partner.
The Global Counsel survey is based on the views and comments of independent, in-house counsel and lawyers who are substantial clients of the top legal firms.
The Ireland section in another publication, ‘Law Firms in Europe’, sets out the main specialisms of 26 corporate law firms and groups them according to prominence in particular areas. The four largest firms, A&L Goodbody, Arthur Cox, McCann Fitzgerald and William Fry feature in the top group in the main areas of Company and Commercial, M&A, Banking and Finance and IFSC. Matheson Ormsby Prentice is listed in the top group in Company and Commercial and IFSC, while two firms, McCann Fitzgerald and A&L Goodbody together make up the top group in relation to Capital Markets. The publication says that of 5,200 solicitors in Ireland, only 530 practise law outside private practice. |
