A slowdown in domestic transactional activity has hit the leading Irish independents, but they remain bullish about the landscape post-Brexit
Despite the possibility of seeing an increase in work and clients post-Brexit, domestic transactional activity has slowed in the Irish market, affecting the top domestic firms.
‘We are coming off probably the back of the busiest few years we have had in this firm; the market generally has been a little bit quieter, since around April or May last year,’ says Brian O’Gorman, managing partner of Arthur Cox.
‘The issue is that you start comparing now against those years, and arguably they are not the relevant comparator because they were exceptional years. The market is stable with reasonable levels of activity. It is less intense and frenetic than it was in 2014/15 and the early part of 2016.’
According to data from Mergermarket, last year the Irish market saw a total of 135 deals worth €31bn compared to 2015, which saw a total deal count of 126 transactions and combined value of €16bn. For the first four months of 2017, there have been a total of 29 deals, worth €845m.
The biggest transaction so far this year was Canada Life Assurance’s disposal of a 33.5% stake in Allianz Irish Life Holdings for €160m. McCann FitzGerald advised Allianz, while A&L Goodbody advised the bidder, which was the company’s German arm.
Echoing the general slowdown in domestic transactional activity, according to O’Gorman, core areas of corporate, finance and litigation have also had solid but unspectacular years. However, real estate has been strong, in part due to rapid development of office space in Dublin, as well as antitrust and competition, energy and projects and technology and innovation – particularly around the areas of data privacy and data protection.
Says Bryan Bourke, managing partner of William Fry: ‘Last year the Irish real estate market was very hot. We did the Hammerson deal and bought a number of high-profile buildings, a lot of them coming out of the first tier of ownership when people moved in after the financial crisis. Some investors were turning over their investment and cashing in. Property and construction was very strong. If you look from our reception, which is on the top floor, the number of cranes you can see is extraordinary. There are something like 70 cranes on the Dublin skyline again.’
Meanwhile, as Dublin emerges as a possible legal and commercial hub post-Brexit, many firms are finding plenty of advisory work in this area.
‘On the Brexit side we have been very busy,’ says Michael Jackson, managing partner of Matheson. ‘There are quite a lot of financial institutions in particular looking at their options and we are working with a number of them, trying to effectively provide solutions so that they maintain a strong presence in London, but also have head office operations in an EU jurisdiction.’
According to Jackson, the advisory work has also now moved beyond financial institutions to other regulated sectors such as life sciences, fintech and payments. In addition, firms are also seeing other benefits to Brexit, namely in the hiring space.
‘We are seeing a lot of quality candidates making themselves available and we have managed to recruit quite a number of candidates from UK firms who are looking to move back to Dublin because they have been unsettled by Brexit. That has provided a good opportunity for us at a time when we are heavily recruiting in London. So far it has been a positive experience, but who knows how it will play out?’
And although there have been plenty of rumours about which UK law firms are looking to move into the Dublin market, with Pinsent Masons instructing a Dublin commercial property agent to find office space, independent Irish firms remain confident that they can maintain market share.
‘If you look at other European markets where international firms have infiltrated those markets, the empirical evidence suggests that there is always room for two or three major independent firms,’ says O’Gorman.
‘There will always be that demand, whether it is from domestic clients or international clients or from the leading international law firms who want to go to those firms.’ LB
kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk
| Firm | Total lawyers | Total partners | No. of offices |
| Matheson | 371 | 80 | 4 |
| McCann FitzGerald | 350 | 71 | 4 |
| Arthur Cox | 348 | 97 | 5 |
| A&L Goodbody | 346 | 87 | 6 |
| William Fry | 330 | 82 | 5 |
| Mason Hayes & Curran | 275 | 80 | 4 |
| ByrneWallace | 125 | 38 | 2 |