Leading Irish law firm William Fry has hired four senior partners from rival Eversheds Sutherland as the fallout from a failed merger of the two firms continues.
Merger talks between the two firms collapsed in May, but it subsequently emerged that William Fry was bidding to recruit several senior partners from Eversheds.
Sources confirmed over the bank holiday weekend that William Fry has succeeded in hiring Gerard Ryan (the head of corporate mergers and acquisitions in Eversheds Sutherland), together with Gavin O’Flaherty, Enda Newton, and Maria O’Brien.
All four are senior partners in Eversheds’ corporate unit and are likely to bring members of their departments with them.
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In all, 10 to 15 lawyers could move to William Fry as a result, it is understood.
Eversheds did not comment when contacted by The Irish Times. Sources say its corporate lawyers had strongly supported the proposed merger with William Fry.
The weekend’s move means that the firm has gained many of the likely benefits of the merger, but at a fraction of the cost and risk normally associated with such deals.
It leaves William Fry with one of the country’s biggest corporate and mergers and acquisitions practices.
It also means that five of the firm’s senior partners are ranked “leading partners” by Legal 500 EMEA 2025, an international directory that grades lawyers according to jurisdiction and specialisation.
So far this year, William Fry’s corporate team has advised on two of the three biggest deals in the Republic in the six months to the end of June.
The firm advised Irish-listed company DCC on the €1.22 billion sale of its healthcare division to HealthCo Investment Limited, a subsidiary of funds managed by Investindustrial Advisors Limited.
It also worked for the Department of Finance on the completion of a €1.2 billion share buyback with AIB, which was bailed out by the State post the 2008 financial crash.
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William Fry is one of the State’s biggest law firms and employs 500 people, including 350 legal and tax professionals. The firm was founded in 1847 and is led by managing partner Stephen Keogh.
According to recent reports, nine Eversheds Sutherland partners are likely to join a new practice that Eversheds Sutherland will establish in the Republic, while about 150 of the firm’s existing 290 staff were destined to do the same.
London-based Eversheds Sutherland (International) put the existing Irish practice on notice that it was taking back the Eversheds name after news of the merger talks broke late last year.
