Firm Profile > DWF > Dublin, Ireland
DWF Offices
5 GEORGE'S DOCK
5 GEORGE'S DOCK, IFSC
DUBLIN
Ireland
DWF > The Legal 500 Rankings
Commercial, corporate and M&A Tier 3
DWF launched its corporate practice in Dublin with the arrival of the experienced Ross Little in 2016 and expanded the team at senior level with the promotion of Edon Byrnes to partner in December 2019. The 'dedicated' team is experienced in M&A and private equity transactions, acting on domestic and cross-border matters with a particular emphasis on the energy, healthcare and life sciences sectors.
Practice head(s):
Ross Little
Other key lawyers:
Edon Byrnes
Testimonials
‘We find the firm’s very professional approach, combined with the personal attention to detail, time and cost control, excellent and comforting when they are acting on our behalf.’
‘Ross Little is our main contact and makes sure we are happy in all aspects of the firm’s service even it is outside his particular discipline, ensuring that there is a consistency of excellent service.’
‘A dedicated team that provides a very personal approach.’
‘They stand out for their ability to find legally challenging solutions and explain them in a simple manner.’
Key clients
eEnergy Group PLC
Eurofins Scientific Ireland Limited
The Brindley Manor Federation of Nursing Homes Limited
CentralNic Group PLC
Castlehaven Investment Finance DAC
Keywords Studios Limited
Irish Studio Media Publishing Limited
Insurance Tier 3
DWF bolstered its Dublin insurance practice with the arrival of Daniel Scanlon, who joined from Kennedys in October 2019, bringing notable expertise in professional indemnity claims, particularly in the financial services and construction sectors. Lorna McAuliffe and Adrian Flynn are also key contacts in the team, which is experienced in professional negligence, employers' liability, public liability and motor claims. Clients include a number of international insurers.
Practice head(s):
Daniel Scanlon; Adrian Flynn; Lorna McAuliffe
Other key lawyers:
Sinéad Ryan
Key clients
AXIS Specialty Europe SE
Square Mile Underwriting
Aspen Insurance
Phoenix Liability Services
Pen
Hiscox
Chubb
AXAXL
DHL
Liberty Specialty Markets
Employment Tier 5
DWF's practice is led by the 'pragmatic and commercially savvy' Dermot Casserly. Under his leadership, the team advises clients on matters such as redundancies, disciplinary issues and the employment aspects of corporate transactions. In 2020, the team was instructed on a number of Covid-19-related matters, which included helping firms access the Temporary Wage Subsidy scheme.
Practice head(s):
Dermot Casserly
Other key lawyers:
Alison Martin
Testimonials
‘As a small team. DWF can react quickly to complex queries. They provide commercial and pragmatic advice in a timely manner.’
‘Dermot Casserly is a pragmatic and commercially savvy solicitor. He is an excellent communicator who provides advice without the legalese. Alison Martin is an up and coming associate, who is an excellent and strategic lawyer.’
‘One thing that makes DWF different is the specialists they employ in different fields who are outstanding in what they do. Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, we have had access to alternative legal services whereby our cases and issues were managed by telephone and emails. These methods gave us flexibility in how we conducted business. Meeting clients’ needs is also an outstanding feature DWF possesses.’
‘We have worked together with Ms Alison Martin and Mr Dermot Casserly who are both outstanding in their fields. I find both extremely approachable, knowledgeable and prompt in responding to queries and questions we might have. I could not recommend Alison and Dermot highly enough.’
Key clients
BNP Paribas
Norwegian Air International Limited
GEA Process Technologies Limited
Carlow Dental Centre
Molson Coors Brewing Company Ireland DAC
Calor Teoranta
Harvey Nichols Group Limited
Alexander Mining Plc
DWF > Firm Profile
DWF is the largest listed legal business in the world, with an award-winning reputation for client service excellence, effective operational management and innovation. The company became the first Main Market Premium Listed legal business on the London Stock Exchange in March 2019. DWF has been named by the Financial Times as one of Europe’s most innovative legal businesses and has been independently recognised for its quality of legal advice, service delivery and responsiveness.
DWF’s stated purpose is to transform legal services through its people for its clients using its three principal strategic objectives: understanding our clients, engaging our people and doing things differently. DWF aims to deliver its strategy by building long-term relationships with its clients, recruiting talented individuals to maintain a high service level culture and continually innovating in its provision of complex legal services, managed and connected services to address client needs and increase its market share.
The business has core strengths in corporate banking, insurance and litigation and in-depth expertise in several chosen sectors, including insurance; public sector; energy and industrials; real estate; financial services; retail, food and hospitality; technology and transport.
In addition to its legal services, DWF provides a range of professional, business or consulting services, a number of which include or are enabled by technology products and solutions to its clients through its Connected Services division. This offering is complementary to the traditional legal services offered by DWF.
DWF employs over 4,000 people across 31 key locations and has steadily grown its international presence in response to client demand. In 2019 and 2020 DWF expanded its international footprint by opening a new office in Warsaw, Poland and acquired Mindcrest Inc. to establish offices in Chicago and New York, USA, and Pune, India. DWF also acquired RCD in Spain and now has offices in Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia, Spain as part of its strategic growth plans.
DWF was the first UK legal business to achieve the ‘Disability Confident’ accreditation, which highlights the firm as an inclusive recruiter of disabled talent and is a Top 30 Employer for Working Families. The business also has its own charitable enterprise, the DWF Foundation, a registered charity aimed at providing funds and support to local charities and programmes focused on education, employability, health and wellbeing and homelessness.
Lawyer Profiles
| Photo | Name | Position | Profile |
|---|---|---|---|
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Louis Burke | Partner | View Profile |
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Edon Byrnes | Partner | View Profile |
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Dermot Casserly | Partner, Head of Employment (Ireland) | View Profile |
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Eimear Collins | Executive Partner (Dublin) | View Profile |
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Adrian Flynn | Partner | View Profile |
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Aidan Leonard | Claims Director – Ireland, Special Purpose Fund Manager | View Profile |
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Ross Little | Partner | View Profile |
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Lorna McAuliffe | Partner | View Profile |
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Michael Neary | Partner, Head of Real Estate (Dublin) | View Profile |
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Sinead Ryan | Director | View Profile |
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Daniel Scanlon | Partner | View Profile |
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Chris Wheeler | Partner | View Profile |
Diversity/Community
At DWF we are proud of our reputation as a supportive and inclusive employer. We aim to be an employer of choice to talent across generations and life stages by providing interventions that advance social inclusion and enable our colleagues to balance their work lives, while providing the development opportunities to enjoy fulfilling and rewarding careers. As a responsible business and force for good in society, we embed our culture and values at the heart of everything we do, recognising that our people not only want a great place to work, but take pride in creating it.
Our Global Diversity & Inclusion Strategy 2020 sets out how we will make diversity & inclusion truly part of the way we do business. The global strategy is driven by a Diversity & Inclusion Leadership Group comprised of 39 senior leaders and supported by a growing network of diversity champions. We have identified six priority strands integral to improving inclusion in our workplace, these are: Gender, LGBT+, Disability, Agile Working, Race & Ethnicity and Age. Our Executive Sponsors for each strand serve as visible advocates to help advance the understanding of diversity & inclusion in DWF and beyond.
DWF has taken a number of tangible steps towards attracting, supporting, developing and retaining a diverse workforce:
- The business has been ranked in the Top 100 of Stonewall’s Workplace Equality Index 2019 as well as a Stonewall Global Champion.
- Our partnership with Everywoman, which provides a global network of development resources, advice and inspiration for women at DWF, has enabled us to support the career progression of women into senior roles.
- We’re a Top 30 Employer for Working Families and recognised as a business that has integrated agile working into our organisational strategy and culture.
- The first legal business to achieve Clear Assured status and we are a Disability Confident Leader. Our inclusive recruitment practices have helped us identify and remove barriers that have the potential to exclude disabled talent.
- We are a member of The Employers Network for Equality & Inclusion (ENEI) and in 2018, we were one of only five organisations to achieve Gold Standard in TIDE, the ENEI evaluation and benchmarking tool which measures a business’s approach to diversity and inclusion in its workforce, leadership and strategy.
- Proud to use Rare Recruitments Contextual Recruitment System which allows us to consider academic achievements in the context in which they were gained.
- We are a Living Wage Employer and a signatory of both the UN Global Compact and the UN’s Women Empowerment Principles.
Our affinity networks, open to all, provide colleagues with an opportunity to become meaningfully involved in developing and driving our diversity initiatives and programmes. Our networks include: Out Front (our LGBT+ Network), This is Me (Our Gender Network), Race & Ethnicity, Carers, Working Families, Agile Working, Disability and Age. The Networks host educational and social events internally and with our clients.