Headquartered in London, the globally recognised firm already has six offices in Asia Pacific, two offices in the Middle East, four offices in mainland Europe and one in Africa.
Currently one of the 100 largest firms in the world (by turnover), Pinsent Masons was named Law Firm of the Year by Legal Business magazine and Legal Week magazine.
The decision to open in Dublin is the firm’s fourth international office opening in less than 18 months.
The new office will focus on Financial Services and Technology sectors initially, targeting 50 of Pinsent Masons top 250 clients who are present in Ireland
This will bring the company’s lawyers across Ireland to 12 partners and over 50 lawyers. Globally, the firm employs nearly 3000 people, including over 1500 lawyers; and more than 400 partners.
“Our vision is to be recognised as an international market leader in the five global sectors in which we specialise. We have operated in Ireland for some time on a range of matters and Dublin has long been in our thinking as a key global hub for the financial services and technology industries,” Senior Partner Richard Foley said.
“That status has only become even more significant in the context of Brexit. The feedback we’ve had from our clients as we developed our Ireland strategy was that they would welcome a disruptor coming into the market and our reputation as an innovator is therefore of significant interest to them.”
A team of three eminent practitioners in Dublin will found the new practice, namely:
Gayle Bowen, a partner specialising in Investment Funds with over 12 years experience advising international asset managers in relation to all aspects of Irish regulated UCITS and alternative products. Gayle is currently Chair of the Irish Funds Legal & Regulatory Committee, which liaises with the Central Bank, the Irish Government and European bodies to represent the interests of the Irish funds industry. Gayle has a particular expertise in relation to cross border mergers. She joins from Walkers.
Andreas Carney, a partner who specialises in outsourcing and other material service arrangements, data protection and IT. Andreas has advised extensively on IT infrastructure projects, including software and systems development, systems implementation and integration, systems support and maintenance, hardware supply, cloud services and co-location and other data centre arrangements. A fluent German speaker, Andreas is ranked for Information Technology in Legal 500 and joins from Matheson.
Dennis Agnew, a partner who specialises in advising domestic and international companies on all aspects of Corporate law. He is recognised as a leading inward investment lawyer by Chamber and Partners and joins from Byrne Wallace where he set up and led the firm’s New York office as well as practising in Dublin.