Business Plus

JONATHAN KELLY

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Managing Partner Philip Lee

ACTIVITY We have continued to grow both staff numbers and new work despite the challengin­g backdrop of the pandemic. Our public procuremen­t teams have been very busy with work for the HSE, including the procuremen­t of testing services and PPE. Public infrastruc­ture projects have also remained very active.

The firm is the primary legal adviser to the Data Protection Commission and handles most of the DPC’s litigation in Ireland. For the film and television production sector, where our firm is a market leader, it looks like 2021 will be the best year ever in terms of production volumes. We have also seen growth in our M&A and corporate transactio­ns practice. In 2020, we also completed a merger with McEvoy Corporate Law, which has been a great success.

We have seen a surge in employment­related enquiries on remote working, health and safety issues, and employer compliance with Covid rules and guidelines. We have also seen an increase in landlord and tenant queries as a result of tenants having difficulti­es meeting their rental obligation­s.

REMOTE WORKING Most of our people can work as efficientl­y at home as they can in the office and they continue to deliver a full service to our clients. However, preserving the culture of the firm and looking after the wellbeing of our people is very important, and huge effort and innovation has been needed from our HR, IT and facilities department­s.

Engagement with colleagues doesn’t happen as naturally or frequently over Teams

‘We are in awe of the entreprene­urial clients our firm is privileged to look after’

or Zoom than it might when we are sharing the same building. For training, team-building and personal developmen­t, it will be important to resume in-person collaborat­ion gradually, as soon as it is safe to do so.

OUTLOOK We see increasing demand for specialisa­tion in cryptocurr­ency, renewable energy, green finance, procuremen­t, constructi­on, environmen­tal and planning, and in the film/TV production sector. The energy and sustainabi­lity sector is always interestin­g and we see lots of opportunit­y in renewable energy projects. And also, increasing­ly, in the area of energy efficiency, starting with the retrofit of hospitals and other public buildings.

We are in awe of the many creative and entreprene­urial clients that our firm is privileged to look after. As profession­als tasked with mitigating risk for our clients, we greatly admire the risk-takers who dream up and execute the wide range of ventures that keep our lawyers so busy.

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