Taylor Wessing has taken the next step towards its Ireland office launch by hiring partner duo Adam Griffiths and Deidre MacCarthy to spearhead its new base. 

The hires come a few months after Taylor Wessing joined a number of UK law firms to confirm its plans to set up shop in Ireland back in April in an effort to adjust to the post-Brexit trading environment. 

As the firm’s starting partners in Dublin, Griffiths and MacCarthy will be supported by corporate partner and executive board member James Goold and the firm’s international co-head of life sciences and healthcare Alison Dennis. 

Griffths returns to the firm as a partner and head of its Dublin operations from regional law firm ReganWall four years after he left its London private equity group to relocate to Ireland in 2017. After leaving Taylor Wessing, he worked at Ronan Daly Jermyn for a year before landing at ReganWall in Cork where he worked as a partner. An experienced corporate lawyer, Griffiths focuses on private equity and M&A transactions in the international technology and life sciences sectors, the two key focuses of Taylor Wessing’s Dublin office. 

MacCarthy, meanwhile, moves across after nine years at offshore law firm Maples Group, including five as a corporate partner. She brings with her a wealth of experience on cross-border corporate transactions, particularly in the life sciences and healthcare sectors. The firm said her appointment will support the firm’s ‘strategic objectives’ to serve clients across the life sciences and healthcare sectors across its global network, thereby facilitating their international expansion and M&A opportunities. 

Before joining Maples Group in 2012, MacCarthy held roles at leading Irish firms Arthur Cox and ByrneWallace. 

Shane Gleghorn, Taylor Wessing’s managing partner, said: “As we indicated when we announced our plans to open an office in Ireland., this is a natural progression of our strategy to be present in significant hubs for tech and life sciences.”

Griffiths added: "Taylor Wessing has the ideal network and quality of sector expertise to support clients with their international expansion, in particular in the tech, life sciences and healthcare sectors which are so key to the Irish knowledge-based economy. I'm pleased to be back with such a fantastic team in Ireland now, as the world's next generation hub for tech and life sciences investment and innovation." 

Other firms setting up offices in Dublin in the wake of Brexit include Hogan Lovells and Ashurst, which both announced their plans in March.