UK law firm Shoosmiths LLP has announced the expansion of its presence in Northern Ireland with a new “Inceptions” team in Belfast.

The new team, which will create 13 new jobs, will service continued business growth across the firm’s network of 11 UK offices.

Invest NI has offered the company support of £52,000 towards the 13 new roles, with seven of these at graduate level.

Jason Byrne, head of Shoosmiths’ Belfast office, said: “As part of our ongoing commitment to deliver a superior service to clients we are delighted to announce our Inceptions team will be based in Belfast. Our merger with McManus Kearney in 2016, brought Shoosmiths to the region for the first time and since then we have been very impressed with the expertise and client focus delivered by our Belfast team.

He said Invest NI’s support was “instrumental in helping us to choose Northern Ireland as the location for this new centre”.

Mr Byrne added: “The exceptional quality and ready supply of talent here makes the region a very attractive location for our firm. We are looking forward to developing our Inceptions team to provide a truly national, best in class service for our clients.”

Brian Dolaghan, Invest NI’s director of technology & services, said: “Northern Ireland has a vibrant international legal services sector which has developed significantly in recent years with investment by national and global firms. Mergers and acquisitions have brought UK firms like Shoosmiths together with successful Northern Ireland practices. The resulting benefits not only mean firms can deliver an improved service to their clients, but that local legal teams increase their engagement on a broader range of clients and projects.

“Shoosmiths’ decision to expand the range of client services it delivers nationally from Northern Ireland is a further example of how the legal sector here is evolving. The firm considered a number of its offices for this project and combined with our support, chose Northern Ireland due to the wealth of regulatory and compliance talent on offer here.”