Ms Wightman brings extensive expertise and experience as a commercial litigator in managing complex legal cases and providing strategic counsel to a diverse range of business clients.

Ms Kerr has qualified into the firm’s dispute resolution team as one of the Belfast office’s first home-grown solicitors, having been offered a training contract in 2022.

The latest hires mean that Lewis Silkin now employs a total of 60 lawyers, paralegals and support staff in Northern Ireland, advising clients across a range of sectors, in particular, digital media, technology, manufacturing, product design, and food and drink.

Mathew Forde, partner in the Belfast office, said: “Lewis Silkin’s Belfast operation is home-grown, and that means providing local knowledge and specialisms to businesses and individuals in Northern Ireland, while benefiting from Lewis Silkin’s much broader GB and Ireland-wide networks, experience and depth of know-how.

“The majority of our team are either dual- or tri-qualified, meaning that they can work across a range of jurisdictions.

“As a team we’ve been growing and evolving to stay ahead of the ever-changing nature of the industries we work across, to ensure we are providing clients with the legal protection and advice that they need across different jurisdictions.”

The firm also recently welcomed Northern Ireland lawyer Katie Major to its London office.

The media law specialist is a graduate of Queen’s University Belfast and qualified in Northern Ireland and south of the border.

She will support the Belfast team in multi-jurisdictional disputes relating principally to defamation, privacy, harassment and data protection.