Walkers to boost Ireland ranks by 25 by close of year

The firm, which opened in Ireland in October this year, said that after creating 25 positions in this calendar year it plans to it plans to increase its Ireland headcount by a further 25 jobs by the end of 2011.

According to Dublin managing partner Vicki Hazelden around two thirds of the 25 new employees will be lawyers. The firm is looking for lawyers to staff its investment funds, asset finance and structured finance teams. According to Hazeldon the firm will also start looking for lawyers for its insurance practice.

“Most of the new hires will be lawyers but we’re also beefing up our support staff,” said Hazelden. “We’re building teams around the three MOP [Matheson Ormsby Prentice] partners we hired so we’re looking for junior partners, senior associates and associates; we’re even hiring right down to the newly qualified level because there’s a lot of talent in the market.”

Walkers has also recently hired two tax lawyers for its Dublin office - associate Petrina Smyth from Maples and Calder and another as-yet unnamed lawyer.

Walkers launched in Dublin last month, taking partners Garry Ferguson, Ken Rush and Paul Farrell from MOP (26 August 2010).