William Fry’s David Carthy will join the firm to head new office
The decision of DLA Piper to join a handful of other City and international firms that have opened a Dublin office in the last year was partly to do with the UK’s move to leave the EU, and partly not.
Or, as new senior partner Andrew Darwin (pictured) put it to Legal Business: ‘Dublin was a market the firm had thought about for many years, without ever finding the right moment to move. Brexit had been the catalyst to take another look and was the additional dimension which tipped the balance of the Dublin business case.’
Five firms have launched a Dublin presence in the last year following the Brexit referendum in mid-2016. This includes Lewis Silkin in March, and Simmons & Simmons, Covington & Burling and Pinsent Masons before that. Pinsent Masons was the first in June last year but insists its decision was made pre-Brexit.
For Darwin, the ‘right moment’ came through a combination of Brexit and finally finding an appropriate person to lead a Dublin opening.
That person is William Fry corporate partner David Carthy, head of its foreign direct investment, life sciences and healthcare groups. He will lead DLA’s Dublin office, for which an opening date has not been confirmed.
DLA had as recently as a year ago ruled out speculation the firm was in the advanced stages of a Dublin launch, albeit while conceding the firm’s management and board had discussed the idea. It was undoubtedly a long-pondered move, but Darwin said Carthy was the person with the right experience and pedigree for it.
The firm had already talked to further potential lateral hires and was confident it could attract more people.
Darwin commented: ‘You always want to do things as quickly as you can, but getting the right leader on board was an absolute prerequisite. We only wanted to do it if we could find the right person and it’s taken quite a lot of effort to find him.’
In addition to this, however, was the sense the Dublin market was strong in sectors the firm is interested in. DLA’s US arm, for instance, was very keen on the move, particularly its tax practice. The Dublin office will initially focus on financial services, technology and life sciences.
DLA co-chief executive Simon Levine said those sectors can only gain importance in Dublin given the context of Brexit, with the firm expecting more institutions to expand or develop presences there.
‘We have been evaluating Dublin for some time and through consultation with our clients, a number of whom currently operate in Ireland or are looking to, our partners have decided now is the right time for DLA Piper to enter the Irish market.’