Belfast-based Carson McDowell has been recognised as a Top Tier Firm in 11 practice areas in the Legal 500 2016, which was published yesterday.

Carson McDowell was ranked in the Top Tier in more categories than any other NI firm in this year’s listing.

Of the 14 categories reviewed Carson McDowell has been recommended in them all and ranked in the top tier for 11 in total, including Dispute Resolution, Corporate and M&A, Finance, Employment, Energy and Natural Resources and Technology, Media and Telecoms (TMT).

Fourteen Carson McDowell lawyers are listed in the elite Leading Lawyers list, the Legal 500’s guide to outstanding lawyers nationwide.

Michael Johnston managing partner at Carson McDowell, who was individually named as a leading individual in the Corporate and Commercial field, said: “The Legal 500 is an important series for us and we have consistently achieved top tier status for the last eight years. This year we saw an increase in the number of our lawyers who have been listed in the elite Leading Lawyers list, which is testament to our continued efforts to recruit and retain the best talent.

“We have been recognised as a top tier firm for our work in the TMT sector, both for intellectual property and IT and telecoms. Northern Ireland is quickly developing itself as a global hub for the digital community and we are proud to be able to work with indigenous companies and foreign direct investors as they set up here.”

He added,

“We have also noticed an increase in M&A activity in the first half of this year and the firm has been instructed to work on some of the largest deals taking place in Northern Ireland, including advising Chain Reaction in deal with Wiggle and Abbey Insurance in its acquisition of Open + Direct. We anticipate more of the same in the second half of this year and we are looking forward to the future with optimism.”