Luring the lawyers
Lawyers familiar with complex financial products are in short supply in Ireland. And at least one local law firm is upping their pay.
Matheson Ormsby Prentice (MOP) has raised the financial rewards it's offering newly qualified, finance-focused lawyers in an effort to lure them through the door.
MOP's basic annual salary for newly qualified solicitors is usually €54k. But it's paying a whopping €62k to solicitors qualifying in areas such as structured finance, securitisation and asset management.
"This move reflects our own resourcing requirements and also reflects our strategy for the future in terms of where we see the most growth," said Liam Quirke, managing partner at MOP.
Will Dublin's other top firms - A&L Goodbody, Arthur Cox, McCann FitzGerald and William Fry - implement similar salary increases? We're waiting to see. At the moment, MOP seems to be the only firm to have made the move.
It has good reasons for being a first mover. MOP has one of the largest hedge fund practices in Ireland, and is the only Irish law firm with funds lawyers based in London to service the UK hedge fund community. It also acts for six of the 10 largest hedge fund managers in Europe, including the three largest.
