Two of Ireland’s largest law firms, Byrne Wallace LLP and LK Shields Solicitors LLP, have agreed to merge their firms to create Byrne Wallace Shields.
The deal is one of the largest involving two Irish law firms and will create a firm with more than 430 employees, including 220 solicitors, giving them the opportunity to work on “larger mandates” from clients.
Feargal Brennan, the current managing partner of Byrne Wallace, will become managing partner of the merged firm when the deal takes effect on January 1st, 2025. Richard Curran, managing partner of LK Shields will become senior partner in the merged firm.
“We see this merger as a strong vote of confidence in the Irish economy,” the two men said in a joint statement.
“Our firms share similar cultures and values and we both enjoy the support of loyal clients, both domestic and international. We believe that this merger will enable us to provide enhanced services to those clients in support of their growth ambitions, and to compete for new Irish and international business.”
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The merger is designed to give the combined law firm “strength in depth” across key areas of corporate and commercial law, including banking and financial services, mergers and acquisitions, European Union and competition, tax, litigation, property, infrastructure construction and energy, regulatory, public sector, employment, technology, cyber and data privacy.
The managing partners said the deal would create “a larger, better resourced, more dynamic firm to service the needs of existing clients and to target larger mandates from existing and new clients”.
Byrne Wallace Shields will be based in the current offices of Byrne Wallace on Harcourt Street in Dublin. All of the partners in LK Shields Solicitors will become partners in Byrne Wallace Shields.
At present, LK Shields has 25 partners, while Byrne Wallace, the larger of the two firms, has 57.
Byrne Wallace, which employs 311 people overall, is a full-service law firm with dedicated teams across all significant aspects of Irish law, with particular expertise in several areas including infrastructure construction and energy, life sciences, healthcare, retail, intellectual property, data protection and tax.
LK Shields Solicitors, which has acted in a number of large, high-profile corporate transactions and legal cases, has offices in Upper Mount Street in Dublin as well as in Galway. The corporate and commercial law firm, which employs 123 people, has clients across Irish and international businesses, financial institutions and public bodies.
The deal between two of Ireland’s leading law firms echoes a trend seen internationally for firms to seek operational scale through mergers and acquisitions.
It was announced the day after two smaller Irish law firms said they had agreed to merge. Flynn O’Driscoll, a 2002-founded corporate law firm with offices in Dublin, Galway and Shannon, and Vincent & Beatty, first established in Dublin in 1846, will combine as of January 1st, 2025.
The merged firm will have 140 legal professionals, with the Vincent & Beatty team joining Flynn O’Driscoll, led by managing partner James Duggan. Mr Duggan said on Thursday that the firm looked forward to “further growth opportunities”.
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