Three partners join Pinsent Masons ahead of Dublin launch

The firm has recruited Gayle Bowen, Andreas Carney and Dennis Agnew, Legal Week reports.

Investment funds partner Mr Bowen joins from Walkers, outsourcing partner Andreas Carney joins from Matheson, and corporate partner Dennis Agnew joins from ByrneWallace.

Senior partner Richard Foley told Legal Week: “We will look to expand pretty fast - we certainly won’t be opening and standing still.”

DLA Piper is also expected to open a base in Dublin later this year, but both firms have said their decision was not based on the Brexit vote.

Mr Foley said: “We took the strategic decision that we would explore whether we should have a presence in Ireland before 23 June last year. This wasn’t a Brexit decision for us, but after the referendum, that just reinforced that it was a good idea we should be looking at it.

“Dublin is a key global hub for financial services and technology, and the clients in those spaces are strategically critical to us. When Brexit happened, it made us think that was the right call.

“We are still in the dark as to the impact Brexit will have. I don’t think I would say that Brexit changed the game, but it gave us the confidence that the decision we made for other reasons was a good one.”