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A full legal offering

Alan Taylor takes over as Managing Partner in Belfast for law firm Arthur Cox. Owen McQuade met with him to discuss the remit of the firm’s work and how he sees its future.

The Belfast office of Arthur Cox was established by the large Dublin practice in 1996 and also has branches in London and New York. Crossing boundaries is therefore second nature to one of Ireland’s leading corporate law firms.

As Alan Taylor explains, the partnership aims to offer “the proper all-island offering to try and service our clients properly in whichever jurisdiction they operate”. From small beginnings, the Belfast office now has 90 staff and works closely with the 600 staff in Dublin.

The growing integration between teams working in different jurisdictions means that the firm can roll out full legal services across a range of different areas of practice. This is especially relevant for people and companies involved in project work.

“We’ve found that the resource capability, the depth of specialisation and expertise required in the area of projects is very significant. And also projects demand a number of people involved in a very short space of time, so you need the strength and depth in numbers to enable you to do large infrastructure projects.”

Procurement processes and contractual structures for such projects are becoming increasingly sophisticated and Arthur Cox has an integrated projects team, combining partners in Belfast and Dublin, to offer expertise in this area.

Arthur Cox also prides itself in a deep industry knowledge of the sectors in which it operates which allows it to “maximise the opportunities” for its clients. Its solicitors try to ensure an efficient working relationship between firm and client so that projects are driven forward.

“We would be very keen always to show that part of our offering is to drive projects as opposed to sitting as a passenger and just advising in a passive way. It’s proactive in trying to drive things to the delivery deadlines which our clients are expecting for themselves.”

A browse over the some of the recent tenders which the partnership has taken on shows the variety of work within its brief: the arc21 and SWaMP waste programmes, international connectivity and broadband projects for the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment, the Department for Social Development’s medical support services outsourcing project, assisting Portadown 2000 with its bid for an Olympic rowing facility, and work with Sports Northern Ireland.

“This evidences what we’re saying, that we can provide a high level, effectively London-based law service out of Belfast with Dublin and with London acting as a fully integrated team.”

Arthur Cox helped to bring Aer Lingus to Northern Ireland and dealt with the employment and corporate issues involved in moving to its new Belfast base. Other high-profile clients include eircom, Viridian, Translink, the Kingspan Group, Paddy Power plc, Ulster Bank and Bank of Ireland.

Citing one example of the firm’s distinct offering, he recalls how one client phoned him to ask “if we could list a bond on the Guernsey Stock Exchange” – an unusual call for a Belfast lawyer to get.

“It was sent through from a foreign jurisdiction and the client contacted us because we had done some work previously for them,” Taylor adds.

“I said: ‘I think we probably could.’ And I checked with our capital markets team in Belfast and they had done it before. By four o’clock the next day, we had done the bond and provided all documents to the tax advisors. A listing took place soon afterwards.

“The client was delighted. I was delighted because we’d shown that Belfast had the capability to do much more than ‘jurisdictionalise’ documents [that is] adding local law provisions and only them. We were actually able to drive a transaction and do something which is international in nature with a very high level of capability and expertise which is resident here.”

Subsequently, the firm helped another client handle a number of queries about bonds and training which related to capital markets work. The opportunity to engage in diverse specialist work is one which is increasingly coming forward and is something that makes the firm distinct in Belfast law circles.

Smooth process

The projects team now has 12 partners with a range of expertise, which serves clients in the public and private sectors. On public-private partnerships, they have worked with key agencies such as the Strategic Investment Board, the Republic’s National Development Finance Agency, local councils and government departments.

Taylor remarks: “The public sector need a unique understanding of their imperatives such as the procurement issues, processes and various stakeholder issues as well as their outline business case, the gateway reviews and so on. We are also pleased to announce that Professor Sharon Turner will be leading our environmental law group.

“All of these things are things that our team are experienced in handling, to enable a smooth process for the public sector as well as for the private sector where they become involved. And it provides a comfort to other advisors that our team is experienced in dealing with those issues.”

The future of the firm, in his view, is one in which its offering to clients is consolidated and its teams develop the market in Northern Ireland.

“There’s increasingly a sophistication in terms of the client demand here which we are able to meet and I think that we have done is to try to seek a specialisation across the board which is international in nature,” he comments.

“We want to be obviously the firm of choice for clients who have sophisticated projects and transactions that require a level of expertise. The development of the firm really is around the corporate and financial sectors and projects incorporating the development of the type of innovative companies with technology and export potential, as well as indigenous service companies.”

He is keen to see his business clients become fast-growing operations with “people that have the desire to become large multi-national players of high value”.

The firm also intends to play a part in developing the environmental and commercial property sectors as well as focusing on banking, where its expertise ranges from securitisation to project finance. Energy, in particular, is a strategic area where it has a long tradition of work both on the regulatory and private utility company side.

“These are all offerings that basically are available in London and Dublin and have been less so traditionally in Belfast. That is increasingly demanded by the market here. Really we’re responding to that market demand as evidenced by the fact that we are very busy with new work in the specialist areas.”

Financial crisis

Taylor takes charge at Arthur Cox at a turbulent time for the corporate world with unstable financial markets and turmoil in the banks. However, this has not translated into a downturn in legal work. Indeed, quite the opposite is true.

“The people who have cash are still very active and are still picking up opportunities and still dealing with ongoing business. The level of activity has increased,” he states.

“We’ve been involved indirectly and directly on a few of the larger banking issues with various [members] of the capital market teams as well as our corporate recovery partners. But generally the activity comes from those with cash – large equity holders who are looking for bargains and opportunities to take little pieces of businesses. That level of activity will probably continue.”

The firm’s long history and its experience of operating in difficult times – it was established in Dublin in 1920 and advised the emerging Irish Free State on its industrial development – puts it in good stead to meet the challenges that the financial crisis poses. Its international reach also means that staff can share lessons learned from dealing with problems in different places.

“Certainly clients who come through this would be stronger and I think there’s a direct impact on us in that clients want to have an advisor on board who probably has the strength and depth across the various areas and has a level of expertise and engagement with them that helps them through a difficult time when they are meeting issues that actually have never had to meet before.”

He predicts that the market is in for a long period of uncertainty but is nonetheless optimistic about the firm’s prospects.

“Some would say it’s a bad time to take over the management of a law firm, right in the mouth of a global financial crisis and difficult trading environment for everybody – professional advisors as well as clients. While that might be true, in some ways it just means that you have to focus on the core issues that every business has to focus on more and more.

“Certainly it’s an exciting prospect to take over as Managing Partner at this time. The predecessors have done a great job in getting the firm to the level it’s at. We have very good feedback from clients in terms of high quality delivery and advice and a strong appreciation of the issues that they face. We have a very commercially-minded approach to problem-solving.”

It is exciting for Taylor to look around the practice and see the potential of its people and its client base. Belfast has “excellent” support from the Dublin team led by its Managing Partner, Pádraig Ó Ríordáin: “They are experienced people who have a shared vision for the brand and where we want to be in Belfast and certainly want to contribute to the economy here for the next 20 years in the same way that we have over the last 10 – to grow it.”

In conclusion, Taylor says that Arthur Cox is at a challenging time but also a time of opportunity.

“Things are happening. There’s a lot of talk about the economy, there’s a lot of talk about business, which I think is good for us in the business sector. There’s a lot of talk about infrastructure investment and the development of our infrastructure to be globally competitive. And I think that part of that is making sure that the infrastructure, including the professional services infrastructure, is capable of sustaining the growth that Northern Ireland needs.”

Profile: Alan Taylor

Alan hails from Tandragee. He is married with three children and a miniature Schnauzer puppy: “Most free time seems to be clearing up after the puppy.” Alan studied law at the University of Dundee before attaining his Certificate of Professional Legal Studies at Queen’s University Belfast. He was admitted as a solicitor in 1995. An intermittent golfer, he is also a member of the CBI’s Economic Affairs Committee.

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