James Donnelly

Of the 168 deals involving a Northern Ireland firm in 2020, Tughans advised on 49 of them – nearly a third.

James Donnelly, head of corporate at Tughans, said: “We are delighted to be ranked as the most active commercial law firm in Northern Ireland. The profile and complexity of our work really stands out in the market and we are proud to have played a role in a significant share of the transactions making the headlines over the last year.

“Of course, underpinning those headlines is the ambition of our clients backed up by the outstanding dedication of our teams in what has been a challenging year for everyone and this ranking is once again welcome recognition of that effort.”

Corporate partner John McGuckian added: “We are also pleased to experience a very strong start to 2021, with the recent completion of significant transactions including acting for Metacompliance in respect of a major equity investment by Tenzing, acting for gym equipment maker BLK Box in its move to a new premises tripling its footprint and representing nTopy Data shareholders interests in the sale to Civica.”

Managing partner Patrick Brown said: “This success reflects the talent within our corporate team under the leadership of James with corporate partners John McGuckian and Paul O’Brien, as well as real estate partners David Jones, Rebecca Moffett, and Joe Moore and Chris Milligan. But it is also driven by the strength in depth of other departments such as employment, banking and finance, restructuring and contracts and technology.

“To be the most active advisor in the region for six consecutive years, and over such a challenging period of time is fantastic recognition, but the ranking only shows part of the picture. In addition to our transactional work, we also have market leading teams in our disputes, construction, planning, environmental, insurance, public law, healthcare and regulatory practices as well.”

Mr Brown added: “We are proud that our lawyers have been recognised, however it is important to acknowledge that this is only possible because of the success and ambition of our clients. Similarly, we value close connections with law firms in both the Republic of Ireland and Great Britain, and have a strong record in acting as NI counsel on multi-national transactions.”