The Legal 500

A&L Goodbody advises on transactions requiring innovative or time-pressured tax solutions, such as Jazz Pharmaceuticals’ corporate inversion for legal and tax purposes from the US to Ireland, and assisting Quinn Group with its complex financial restructuring. Practice head Peter Maher is a leading tax practitioner.

Arthur Cox’s well-resourced tax group advised Cooper Industries on the tax aspects of its $11.8bn acquisition of Eaton Corporation, a matter which was led by Fintan Clancy, who is ‘the best international tax lawyer in years’. Other clients include Lloyds Banking Group, GE Capital and Northern Rock. Caroline Devlin is ‘concise, commercial and policy-aware’.

Matheson has a leading Irish tax practice, which is also the largest in the market. The firm handled the tax aspects of Eaton Corporation’s $11.8bn acquisition of Cooper Industries and Beam’s $95m takeover of Cooley Distillery. The widely respected Turlough Galvin heads the practice, and ‘other firms lag behind’ his expertise.

William Fry, which has ‘comprehensive knowledge of Irish taxation’, provided tax advice to Conoco Phillips on the separation of its refining and production divisions, and advised State Street on its acquisition of Goldman Sachs’ hedge fund administration business. Sonya Manzor has ‘tremendous energy’ and ‘quick understanding’, and the experienced Martin Phelan is also recommended.

Dillon Eustace has a proven track record and fields two specialist tax partners: David Lawless and Sean Murray. The firm advised Gazprombank on the tax structure of its standalone Irish SPVs.

Deutsche Bank and Barclays Bank are clients of Maples and Calder, which also advised the note-holders on tax aspects of the Quinn Group restructuring. Andrew Quinn has ‘deep knowledge of current market practice’, and ‘very bright’ senior associate William Fogarty is ‘a rising star’.

John Gulliver heads Mason Hayes & Curran’s ‘very experienced, quality tax team’, which also includes Robert Henson. Recent work includes acting for Samsung on the sale of its hard disk drive business to Ireland-based Seagate.

McCann FitzGerald advised Azur Pharma on tax aspects of its $1.5bn reverse takeover by Jazz Pharmaceuticals. Eleanor MacDonagh is ‘excellent on Irish tax with a specialist insight for aircraft leasing and fund work’. Justin McGettigan joined Eversheds.

Walkers’ tax experts Anthony Smyth and Petrina Smyth act for a number of blue-chip clients, such as Investec Bank and China Export-Import Bank.

ByrneWallace’s Ursula Tipp has ‘rare international expertise and perspective which is difficult to find’, and gives advice which is ‘second to none’. Clients range from overseas companies to high-net-worth individuals.

Eversheds recruited former chartered accountant Justin McGettigan from McCann FitzGerald as its new head of tax. Clients include Bank of Scotland (Ireland). Gavin McGuire joined Philip Lee.

LK Shields Solicitors’ clients are ‘consistently pleased with the practical and concise advice’ of ‘clear thinker’ Emmet Scully, who is an authority on Irish stamp duty, and practice head Eoin Cunneen. The firm has a specialist tax/regulatory investigations and prosecutions unit.

Philip Lee joins the ranking following the recruitment of new head of tax Gavin McGuire, who joined from Eversheds. The practice’s work includes tax planning, corporate support and litigation on behalf of companies and high-net-worth individuals.

John Cuddigan at Ronan Daly Jermyn receives plaudits for his tax knowledge, particularly in respect of transactional work. He recently provided tax advice on a significant UK hotel deal.