Mr Newell and Ms Kelly take up permanent roles following the completion of their training contracts with the firm, while the other three are new joiners, all spread across DWF’s insurance, dispute resolution and construction teams.

DWF recently also recruited 15 other legal professionals to its Belfast office, including Katrina Gray as director and Angela Crawford as an associate in the CAT PI Insurance team, Rebecca Walker as a senior associate in dispute resolution, and Aoife Reidy, Daniel Clarke and Josh Hunter as solicitors.

The new hires will supplement DWF’s key sector and practice area teams including real estate, insurance, corporate, employment, construction, dispute resolution and finance and restructuring.

DWF’s Belfast office also recently recruited nine new trainee solicitors: Adele McCafferty, Lucy Brown, Courtney Best, Michelle Watson, Kaitlin Stewart, Sarah Cooling, Evan Leslie, Olivia Devine and Claire Jewsbury.

Commenting on the new additions, Julie Galbraith, executive partner of DWF in Belfast, said: “I am delighted that Andrew and Anne have successfully completed their training contracts with us and that Paula, Shauna Lee and Sarah will join them as newly-qualified solicitors.

“They are starting their legal careers with us at an exciting time of growth for the team and we have been delighted to welcome a number of new colleagues. The continued investment in our Belfast team builds on our strong heritage of legal excellence as we continue to evolve and innovate at pace.

“Our teams play a crucial role in delivering legal advice with commercial intelligence across a range of sectors to our local business community and inward investors and we have seen demand for our specialisms continue to grow.”