SHANE O’NEILL

ACTIVITY The past year or so has been very interesting. When Covid first occurred, we were immediately impacted when a great deal of our commercial transactions were put on hold or cancelled altogether. The courts also largely stopped functioning, so all litigation cases were put back and priority was given to crime and family law.

We recovered for a while in the latter half of 2020, but then we were shut down again in January 2021, which was probably harder to deal with than the first lockdown. Somewhat to our surprise, since we got back into the office in late March 2021, we have been busier than ever, probably even more so than during the Celtic Tiger years.

PANDEMIC FALLOUTS There has been a notable increase in employment and family law cases driven by Covid. Aoife Hennessy and Jane O’Connor, partners in our Employment and Family Law teams respectively, both recognised as experts in their fields, have been well placed to guide our clients.

M&A As one of the leading commercial law firms in the mid-west region, we have witnessed an extraordinary upturn in this area of work. In the past year we have completed a number of significant mergers and acquisitions in the healthcare, manufacturing, pharma, insurance and technology sectors.

A number of these transactions were placed on hold during the pandemic but have now been successfully concluded. There is great buoyancy in Limerick and the mid-west region, with many new companies having opened in the last few years.

OUTLOOK During the financial crash, upwards of 85% of our work was trying to save companies and individuals who were hugely indebted. This time around, at least 85% of what we are working on is positive transactions. There is great amount of economic activity and it seems more positive than ever before, despite inflation and the war in Ukraine.