The new office will specialise in employment law and has recruited Irish employment law specialists Siobhra Rush from Leman Solicitors who joins as partner and Linda Hynes, who joins as managing associate. The office will be supported by London-based colleagues Sean Dempsey, Catherine Hayes and David Hopper and will focus on the provision of Irish and international employment law services as well as supporting clients with business immigration needs in addition to workplace data protection compliance. It is the fourth international firm to do so with Simmons & Simmons, Covington & Burling and Pinsent Mason recently launching Dublin offices.

Ius Laboris

Michael Burd, chair and employment law partner at Lewis Silkin, commented: 'Launching in Dublin capitalises on a real opportunity for Lewis Silkin to not only further build on the existing scale and breadth of our employment practice, but also to expand our role within Ius Laboris. We look forward to contributing to and participating in the local business community in Dublin, while continuing to develop the world’s leading global HR law offering through both Ius Laboris and our wider network of offices in the UK and Hong Kong.'

Avenues for expansion

Ian Jeffery, chief executive of Lewis Silkin, commented: 'The opening of our new office in Dublin is a significant step in our evolution as a firm as we continue to grow and invest to meet increasing client demand for our market-leading international employment law offering. The new Dublin office is a natural and complementary addition to our existing offering, and further enhances our ability to deliver for clients with operations in Ireland, the wider EU and globally. Going forward, we will continue to review avenues for expansion in Ireland in line with evolving client requirements.'

Data privacy

James Davies, divisional managing partner of Lewis Silkin’s Employment, Immigration and Reward Division, added: 'Ireland has become an important jurisdiction for our clients across many different sectors in the wake of Brexit - in particular with regard to employment and data privacy. We are therefore pleased to be able to offer our clients Irish employment advice going forward.'

Talent pool

Martin Shanahan CEO of IDA Ireland said: 'I am delighted to welcome the dynamic legal services firm Lewis Silkin to Dublin. Today’s announcement will act as another reference point for IDA, enabling us to market Ireland’s international legal services sector to other similar firms. The company's rationale for locating in Ireland centres around the strong talent pool this country has on offer. It is the number one factor which companies cite when they make investment decisions in favour of Ireland'