Eversheds Sutherland has announced a new Irish practice, after merger talks between its current Irish arm and leading Irish independent William Fry broke down in May.
The firm said today that it would launch fully integrated operations in Ireland under its International LLP on 15 September. The firm currently operates there as Eversheds Sutherland Ireland, an Irish partnership that is a member of the Eversheds Sutherland Europe network.
The new practice will launch with a team of 170 across the current practice’s offices in Dublin and Belfast. Pamela O’Neill, Eversheds Ireland’s head of dispute resolution and litigation, will lead the new practice in the Republic of Ireland as Dublin managing partner, while commercial real estate partner Gareth Planck will head the Belfast team as senior office partner.
Eversheds’ global co-CEO and international chief executive, Keith Froud, said Eversheds was one of the few large international law firms with a full-service offering in the important Irish market.
“Opportunities for our clients in Ireland are considerable and today’s announcement is a significant step in our long-term plans for the future,” Froud said. “We wanted an ambitious, like-minded team of the highest quality and that is exactly what we have achieved. I’m confident that we will now be able to move our strategic goals for our Irish business forward at pace.”
The new practice will launch with 26 partners – around 20 fewer than Eversheds currently lists on its website for its Dublin and Belfast offices. It isn’t immediately clear what will happen to those partners not joining the new practice and whether they include Alan Connell, Eversheds Ireland’s current managing partner.
In August, William Fry said it had hired away four corporate partners – Gerard Ryan, Gavin O’Flaherty, Enda Newton and Maria O’Brien – and their teams, with between 10 and 15 lawyers to join in total, in a move that created one of Ireland’s largest corporate and M&A practices.
The hires followed Eversheds Ireland and William Fry confirming in late May that their “exploratory” merger talks had ended and that each firm would “instead focus on their individual strategic growth priorities”.
Eversheds’ new Irish practice will focus on financial services, TMT, life sciences, energy and industrials, the firm said.
“Many of our major clients, particularly those based in the US, have their European headquarters in Ireland, and the firm already advises eight of the largest 15 listed companies with headquarters in Ireland,” said Alexander Niethammer, Eversheds’ European managing partner.
“Of particular note, financial services clients which have operations and investments in Ireland, can take advantage of access to EU markets, with Ireland the only English-speaking, common law jurisdiction in the EU.
“We are also excited to develop further our TMT clients as this sector accounts for over half of Ireland’s total service exports. Ireland is currently the third largest software exporter in the world, and we’re excited for what the future holds.”
Eversheds’ international arm grew revenue 3% in the year to 30 April 2025 to £768.7m, against an 8% rise in profit per equity partner to £1.4m. The integration of its Ireland practice follows Eversheds folding its European practices in Germany, the Netherlands and most recently Belgium into its international business.
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