Major Irish firm Arthur Cox is set to absorb the rump of Dublin corporate firm Gerrard Scallan & O’Brien, as reported on www.thelawyer. com/lawyernews (15 July).
Three Gerrard Scallan partners – John Glacan, Bryan Strahan and Hugh O’Donnell – will join Arthur Cox, which is one of Ireland’s top-rated corporate firms.
Arthur Cox managing partner James O’Dwyer said: “There’ll be a transition period
and [Gerrard Scallan] will phase out. We’re taking key staff and portfolio clients.”
It is understood that some administrative staff from Gerrard Scallan will also join Arthur Cox. But it remains a mystery as to where the firm’s other three partners and a further two lawyers will end up.
O’Dwyer, who was designated sole spokesperson for the Gerrard Scallan lawyers, said he did not have any information on what would happen to the lawyers Arthur Cox did not make offers to. He added that he was bound by a confidentiality agreement.
On his rationale for the deal, O’Dwyer said: “We’ve known these people [Gerrard Scallan] for some time and done work for some of their clients. It was a logical extension of our practice.”
Gerrard Scallan has stead-ily lost influence in the Dublin market over the last 10 years, and it is understood that the firm also approached other Dublin firms.
The firm’s key client is UK giant CRH, which uses Gerrard Scallan for Irish development work.