Millar McCall Wylie LLP > Belfast, Northern Ireland > Firm Profile
Millar McCall Wylie LLP Offices
EASTLEIGH HOUSE
396 UPPER NEWTOWNARDS ROAD
BELFAST
BT4 3EY
Northern Ireland
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Millar McCall Wylie LLP > The Legal 500 Rankings
Insurance > Personal injury and clinical negligence: claimant Tier 1
Millar McCall Wylie LLP‘s practice covers all areas of personal injury, including road traffic accidents, employer liability, and industrial disease, but has a particularly strong clinical negligence offering. Caroline Prunty is team head and acts for claimants across UK jurisdictions, often before the High Court. William McSorley leads a hearing loss department within the firm, in addition to acting on other industrial injuries such as repetitive strain and diseases as a result of asbestos. Associate Ashley Black is perceived as ‘an exceptional young driven lawyer’.Practice head(s):
Caroline Prunty
Other key lawyers:
William McSorley; Ashley Black; Louise McNally
Testimonials
‘Caroline Prunty is excellent and deals with cases and clients gracefully and effectively.’
‘Very strong innovative team.’
‘Ashley Black is standing out as an exceptional young driven lawyer in the jurisdiction.’
‘I find the team pragmatic, commercially aware and client-focused. They seek to represent their client’s position well, but will always strive to enter into meaningful negotiations, if possible, to ensure excellent settlements for their clients.’
‘William McSorley and Ashley Black are both highly effective lawyers.’
‘I appreciated the attention to detail and honest advice especially from William McSorley.’
‘I have found Caroline Prunty to be the stand-out partner among many within the MMW legal team who are excellent.’
‘They are courteous, well-informed and pay attention to detail.’
Work highlights
- Advised a client on a £120,000 settlement for road traffic injury claim.
- Advised a client on a road traffic accident claim that settled for £100,000.
Private client > Personal tax, trusts and probate Tier 1
Millar McCall Wylie LLP fields a team with experience in advising high-net-worth individuals on wills, estate planning, and property relief. Founding partner and practice head Conor Wylie is dual-qualified as a chartered tax advisor, resulting in an ‘unsurpassed knowledge of tax and trust‘. In addition to working within Northern Ireland, Wylie covers the Republic of Ireland and other international jurisdictions. Chief operating officer Christopher McCandless is a tax professional with an accountancy background and acts as a key team member in matters involving tax issues.Practice head(s):
Conor Wylie
Testimonials
‘Commercial with excellent technical knowledge.’
‘Conor Wylie is the most technically aware partner within this sector in Northern Ireland.’
‘Conor Wylie has an exceptional all-round ability to advise on complex matters.’
‘Conor Wylie and Peter McCall are very good.’
‘Professional, effective, high level of client service.’
‘Conor Wylie is extremely professional, has an unsurpassed knowledge of tax and trust and always meets any target date.’
‘I found Conor Wylie to have a wide breadth of knowledge in inheritance law and tax and he was particularly innovative in dealing with some unique challenges and circumstances. He thought outside the box.’
Work highlights
Corporate and commercial > Corporate and M&A Tier 2
Millar McCall Wylie LLP is well known for its work with domestic owner managed businesses, with matters covering real estate, technology, and construction. The department has worked on sales, acquisitions, and equity funding, and has been increasingly active on high value matters involving multiple jurisdictions. Department head Damian McParland contributes experience in high value corporate deals, with major clients including Learning Pool Limited and Cookstown Cement. The team also benefits from the work of John Finnegan, who focuses on corporate governance and commercial contracts.Practice head(s):
Damian McParland
Other key lawyers:
Testimonials
‘Excellent level of service. Very responsive and represent extremely good value for money – priced far more competitively than some of the biggest names in the Belfast legal market but provide service and insight on par with the best.’
‘MMW are far more proactive than a lot of firms out there, and proactively find solutions rather than problems, which is something that is really just something that other firms say, but MMW actually do.’
‘John Finnegan – strong all-rounder with good experience across a range of corporate transactions, but particularly robust on property finance transactions.’
‘Damian McParland – excellent lawyer with arguably the broadest skills base of any corporate lawyer in Belfast, with very strong commercial acumen. Has an excellent ability to surmise complex concepts into simple statements and documents, benefiting his clients and facilitating smooth transactions.’
Key clients
Learning Pool Limited
Cirdan Imaging Limited
Traction Finance
McAleer & Rushe Group
Whiterock Capital Partners
Cordovan Capital
Keystone Group
Garvan O’Doherty Group
MJM Group
Cookstown Cement
Work highlights
- Acted for Learning Pool and its management team in one of the largest ever US investments in a Northern Ireland business which saw US based private equity firm Marlin Equity Partners buy out Carlyle Cardinal Ireland.
- Advised Cirdan Imaging Limited in all aspects of the conversion to equity shares of a convertible loan from the British Governments Future Fund (through UK FF Nominees) and existing shareholders, following a ‘Non-Qualified Fundraising’ equity fundraising round.
- Acted for Cookstown Cement in the acquisition of LaFarge Ireland Limited.
Northern Ireland > Dispute resolution Tier 2
Millar McCall Wylie LLP continues to attract new sources of work, and boasts key clients in the Northern Ireland film industry, such as Northern Ireland Screen and Draugr Limited. The ‘professional and personally dignified‘ Caroline Prunty leads the team, and has more than thirty years of experience in the practice area. Among her areas of expertise are construction disputes, contentious procurement, and banking litigation. Jan Cunningham acts on shareholder, partnership and contractual disputes, with a niche practice in sports and media. William McSorley covers insurance litigation and liability claims. Associate Ashley Black is also noted.Practice head(s):
Caroline Prunty
Other key lawyers:
Jan Cunnningham; William McSorley; Ashley Black
Testimonials
‘Very easy to work with, good communications throughout the process.’
‘William McSorley put me at ease, was reassuring and clear with his communications.’
‘I will forever be indebted to Caroline Prunty for the depth of understanding she had of the circumstances I found myself in.’
‘Very attentive and understanding and answer queries and respond to phone calls and emails very promptly.’
‘Excellent level of service. Very responsive and represent extremely good value for money – priced far more competitively than some of the biggest names in the Belfast legal market, but provide service and insight on par with the best.’
‘Caroline is a really experienced litigator and is fearless. She calmly, but ferociously defends her corner and is the go-to person for all litigation disputes as far as I am concerned.’
‘I have always had great success with Caroline and her team, Ashley Black is also an exceptional solicitor.’
‘Caroline and her team, in my opinion, are the best in the business because of their great attitude with clients and their ability to problem solve any issues without all the drama.’
Key clients
SERE Group Limited/SERE Holdings Limited
Jet Assist (Aviation) Limited
Northern Ireland Screen
Draugr Productions Limited
Learning Pool Limited
Moffett Belfast CP Limited
De Rigo Refrigeration (SRL)
Cirdan Imaging Limited
Loral Developments Limited
LCC Group Limited
Work highlights
- Acted on behalf of the Plaintiff in a claim for approximately £1,000,000 against a contractor on the grounds of negligence in or about the provision of ground survey work.
- Acted in a shareholder dispute in relation to a company whose main business was potato processing and with assets worth approximately £5,000,000.
- Acted in the Republic of Ireland against the Health Service Executive in respect of the decision of a public body to not award our client a €12,000,000 contract for the provision of an emergency air ambulance service.
Finance > Banking and finance Tier 2
Millar McCall Wylie LLP is a domestic firm that fields a team of ‘exceptionally good lawyers‘. The practice acts across the whole range of NI finance providers, working with peer-to-peer lending platforms, private investors, and overseas funds, in addition to the established local banks. Co-head and founding partner Peter McCall specialises in property finance and security. John Finnegan, with whom McCall jointly leads the team, is relationship manager for the major lender clients and is particularly active in construction financing. Simon Fleming has substantial experience in the refinancing of large-scale loans.Practice head(s):
John Finnegan; Peter McCall
Other key lawyers:
Testimonials
‘They go out of their way to make themselves available. Will pick up the phone to discuss commercial solutions to issues encountered rather than present roadblocks.’
‘Extremely open communication and focus is on finding ways to do things, rather than finding academic issues.’
‘MMW have an excellent team with a great depth of knowledge and experience.’
‘The banking team is strong and reliable on multijurisdictional deals.’
‘The MMW finance team stands out in the local market for its extremely commercial and client-focused approach.’
‘The entire team are exceptionally good lawyers.’
‘Very responsive and represent extremely good value for money – priced far more competitively than some of the biggest names in the Belfast legal market, but provide service and insight on par with the best.’
‘John Finnegan: strong allrounder with good experience across a range of corporate transactions, but particularly robust on property finance transactions.’
Key clients
Danske Bank
Bank of Ireland
Assetz Capital
Whiterock Capital Partners (Growth Finance Fund, Growth Loan Fund)
Blend Loan Network
First Trust
Fairfield Real Estate Finance Services Ltd
McAleer & Rushe Group
Garvan O’Doherty Group
Meridian Trust Company
Work highlights
- Advised Collinbridge Finance on a facility in favour of a residential property development group for the construction for a major bypass/relief road at Ballyclare.
- Advised local property firm in relation to the acquisition of a landmark Belfast city centre hotel and related finance.
- Advised major locally-based manufacturer and exporter of medical equipment on the conversion to equity shares of a convertible loan from the British Governments Future Fund (through UK FF Nominees).
TMT (technology, media and telecoms) > Intellectual property Tier 2
Millar McCall Wylie LLP is developing a strong IP practice in film and television, in addition to its existing specialisms in manufacturing, technology, and software. Corporate partner Damian McParland advises on intellectual property rights relating to investments and acquisitions across multiple sectors. Abbie Long is another name to note.Other key lawyers:
Testimonials
‘Excellent capability in the firm for IP.’
‘Knowledgeable and professional in this area, which gives confidence to the client.’
‘They look to develop a partnership with their clients, and really understand the business they are advising on.’
Key clients
Learning Pool Limited
Cirdan Imaging Limited
Causeway Sensors Limited
Kanisi Limited
Keystone Group
iGame Media
Stormharvester Ltd
Makematic Limited
Northern Ireland Screen
Humain Limited
Work highlights
TMT (technology, media and telecoms) > IT and telecoms Tier 2
Millar McCall Wylie LLP advises a wide range of technology start-ups on contractual and corporate matters and is developing a reputation in media and TV production work. Corporate partner Damian McParland and Abbie Long are other key contacts.Other key lawyers:
Key clients
Learning Pool Ltd
Kanisi Ltd t/as Rotor Videos
Retinize Limited
Causeway Sensors Ltd
Humain Ltd
StormHarvester Ltd
Makematic Ltd
Viberoptix
iGame Media Ltd
Cirdan Imaging Ltd
Work highlights
Northern Ireland > Employment Tier 3
Millar McCall Wylie LLP‘s ‘involved and empathetic‘ team provides advice on all aspects of TUPE and is active for both domestic NI clients and national level employers such as Games Workshop and Avon Cosmetics. Practice head Jan Cunningham is a leading figure in sporting law, informed by his background as a professional rugby player, with the caseload featuring his representation of Ulster Rugby on contractual issues and other high-profile matters. Associate David Mitchell, who specialises in non-contentious employment law, is increasingly gaining in profile.Practice head(s):
Jan Cunningham
Other key lawyers:
Testimonials
‘The employment team at MMCW offers a service that feels personal. The team is lead by Jan Cunningham who is very approachable and provides advice and guidance that considers the legal aspect, but also the practical implications!’
‘Key strengths include the ability to build good relationships, communication, honesty, consistency and availability.’
‘Communication was frequent, you are kept up to date at all stages of the process.’
‘Unique understanding of the practical application of law in the field of professional sports.’
‘Jan’s dedication and commitment is outstanding.’
‘No issue is too big or too small, all advice is backed up with legal assurances and practical examples which can be applied in practice.’
‘I have found working with MMW a breath of fresh air and almost as if we are part of the same firm, working collaboratively to reach the same goal.’
‘I could not have asked for a more involved and empathetic team to work with. Their attention to other stakeholders was outstanding and I feel privileged to have them in my network.’
Key clients
Irish Rugby Football Union – Ulster Branch
FP McCann Ltd
Hexagon
Keystone Lintels Ltd
Tobermore Concrete
Inter Terminals Denmark Ltd
Northern Ireland Screen
Avon Cosmetics
Learning Pool Ltd
Games Workshop Ltd
Work highlights
Projects, energy and natural resources > Energy, project finance and PFI Tier 3
Real estate > Commercial property Tier 3
Millar McCall Wylie LLP has strong relationships with both domestic NI and international clients. Founding partner Peter McCall is department head and offers more than 25 years’ experience in the practice area. Simon Fleming acts for investors, retailers, landlords and developers, with recent highlights including assisting with the property restructuring of the MJM Group during a major refinancing. Associates Michael Wilson and Neil McCreadie are other key contacts.Practice head(s):
Peter McCall
Other key lawyers:
Testimonials
‘The lawyers consistently understand the commercial issues as well as the legal issues and are there to provide advice which takes into account of the realities of the commercial world.’
‘My main contact is Peter McCall who is universally regarded as one of the leading commercial property lawyers in Belfast and invariably has his finger on the pulse of the market. He has an eye for the big picture and has an enviable reputation for getting the deal done.’
Key clients
McAleer and Rushe Group
Fairfield Real Estate Finance
Consolidated Property Group (CPG Wallop)
Peacocks/Edinburgh Woollen Mill Group of Companies
NFU Mutual
Monsoon/Accessorize
CBRE Global Investors
MJM Group of Companies
Card Factory
Hays Travel
Tata Steel
Jollyes
Scottish Power Renewables
Portman Healthcare
Warren James Jewellers
Moffett Group of Companies
LCC Group of Companies
Schuh
EuroChange
Work highlights
- Advised Magmel (Ballymena) Limited on the acquisition of the Fairhill Shopping Centre, Ballymena.
- Advised CPG Wallop on the acquisition of the Kilroot Business Park, Carrickfergus.
- Advised MK6 Limited on the acquisition of the former Park Inn Hotel, Belfast and the associated offices.
- Insurance > Personal injury and clinical negligence: claimant
- Private client > Personal tax, trusts and probate