FIRM PROFILE Maples & Calder:Maples & Calder came to Ireland in 2006 with an aggressive strategy - and it has worked
IF THE COUNTRY’S top-tier legal practices didn’t regard Maples & Calder as a threat when it entered the Irish market in 2006, perhaps they should have. The Cayman Islands-headquartered law firm wasted no time in launching an aggressive head-hunting campaign, poaching numerous market-leading partners and lawyers from A&L Goodbody, Matheson Ormsby Prentice and Arthur Cox. This strategy may not have endeared Maples to the competition, but it has helped the firm to continue growing during a period when retrenchment became the norm.
“When we came to Ireland, we had a plan to target and attract best-in-breed lawyers,” says managing partner Andrew Doyle, who himself left MOPs to join Maples in 2007. “Luckily we were able to do that.” The firm focused on recruiting people at partner level who were considered ‘go-to’ lawyers. “High-quality people do well in a boom but even better in a downturn because clients can’t afford not to go to them . . . It is critical to have those partners.”
In a game that’s all about people, it was certainly a coup to woo star lawyers from the dominant firms in the market, but surely this strategy engendered a degree of hostility towards Maples? “ I don’t think there’s any,” Doyle says. “When partners leave law firms, obviously there’s a degree of disappointment, but I think people accept that nowadays it’s just a fact of business life.”
Maples, which also has offices in London, Dubai and Hong Kong, was the first offshore law firm to dip its toe into the Irish market. In January 2006, it established an operation here through a merger with Binchy’s, a specialist Irish law firm with 40 staff. Despite the swift and severe downturn that followed, the firm has grown steadily to a current headcount of more than 175 employees. During the recession, many indigenous mid-tier firms have had to downsize, having scaled up their capacity excessively during the boom years. So how, besides cherry-picking some of Dublin’s top lawyers, has Maples managed to grow so rapidly in such difficult times?
Doyle says that being part of an international firm gives Maples a significant competitive advantage, as the Dublin office receives referrals from colleagues around the globe. “They send us clients when they want to effect transactions in Ireland and indeed where it may be possible to establish operations or [carry out] acquisitions in Ireland.”
Another key differentiating factors lies in the fact that when Maples entered the market in 2006, it did so with a clean slate. “When we came to Ireland we had no legacy issues,” he says. “We were able to build the firm in exactly the way that we wanted to . . . We had a plan, and the plan was to build a full service corporate and finance law firm operation at the top end of the legal market.”
The plan seems to have worked – unlike many of its competitors, the firm hasn’t had to refocus or realign its practice groups in light of market conditions.
Not surprisingly, given the firm’s experience in low-tax jurisdictions, Maples has built up a thriving investment fund servicing practice here. The firm came from nowhere to become the number two legal services provider to the Irish funds market, according to 2011 statistics published by Lipper.
Many of the larger firms hit by a fall-off in property transactions are now picking up work generated by the economic crisis. Maples is benefiting from this ill-wind too – the firm is active in areas such as financial services litigation, professional indemnity claims and construction disputes. Its insolvency and restructuring specialists are also kept busy. “We have advised on most of the significant restructurings in Ireland,” Doyle says.
Maples is also punching above its weight when it comes to providing legal advice to the National Asset Management Agency (Nama). Doyle is tight- lipped about his firms dealing’s with the State agency. However, figures released in February show Maples has earned just over €2million in fees from the agency, making it the fourth-highest-paid Nama adviser.
When asked if Maples is under pressure from clients in general to reduce fees, Doyle equivocates with business-speak that slides around specifics. “On fees, we are a very streamlined and focused law firm. We believe we have top-of-the-market lawyers and as a consequence we believe we provide value for money for our clients.” So is that a no then? “Clients are always looking for value for money and I think that’s exactly what we provide.”
So far Maples has been buffeted from the recession, so it’s not surprising that Doyle is upbeat about the firm’s future. “It was built in challenging times. As a consequence it was built in a way that will last.”