Tughans has been named Northern Ireland’s busiest corporate law firm, as it topped the Experian M&A and Real Estate Advisor League Table for an impressive fifth year in a row.

The Belfast-based firm advised on an outstanding 53 deals during 2019, with the total value of transactions amounting to £164m.

Head of Corporate, James Donnelly, said “We are delighted to be ranked as the most active commercial law firm in Northern Ireland. The profile and complexity of our work really stands out in the market and we are proud to have played a role in a significant share of the transactions making the headlines over the last year. Of course, underpinning those headlines is the ambition of our clients backed up by the outstanding dedication of our teams and this ranking is once again welcome recognition of that effort.

“Our deals involved businesses and assets of all sizes across many different sectors and to be the busiest legal advisors across a period of time that straddles the very obvious political challenges faced by businesses shows strong consistency in the context of a turbulent and changing market.”

Standout mandates during 2019 included:

• acting for Deloitte (as Administrators) on the sale of Wrightbus;
• acting for the Foresight Group in respect of its investment in the 352 Medical Group;
• acting for Invest Northern Ireland in relation to the establishment of its new £65M and £30M equity funds managed by Crescent Capital and Techstart.

Tughans’ Managing Partner Patrick Brown said, “This success reflects the talent within our Corporate Team under the leadership of James and his fellow Corporate Partner, John McGuckian, as well our trio of Real Estate Partners of David Jones, Rebecca Moffett, and Joe Moore. But it is also driven by the strength in depth of other departments such as Employment, Banking & Finance, Restructuring  and Contracts & Technology.

“To be the most active advisor in the region with such consistency, and over such a period of time is fantastic recognition, but the ranking only shows part of the picture. In addition to our transactional work, we have market leading teams in our Disputes, Construction, Planning, Environmental, Insurance, Public Law, Healthcare and Regulatory practices as well.”

The ranking comes in the wake of Tughans winning one of the most prestigious accolades in the legal profession, being named as Legal 500 Northern Ireland Law Firm of the Year 2020.

Patrick Brown said, “We are proud that our lawyers have been recognised with these awards, however it is important to acknowledge that this is only possible because of the success and ambition of our clients. Similarly, we value close connections with law firms in both the Republic of Ireland and Great Britain, and have a strong record in acting as NI counsel on multi-national transactions.

“We are very grateful for the support of our clients over the last five years and we look forward to supporting their continued success into the future.”

Pictured above Calendars of Success: Tughans celebrate being named NI’s busiest corporate law firm topping the Experian M&A and Real Estate Advisor League Table for a fifth year in a row. Pictured (l-r) are John McGuckian (Partner, Corporate), David Jones (Partner, Head of Real Estate), Patrick Brown (Managing Partner), Rebecca Moffett (Partner, Real Estate), and James Donnelly (Partner, Head of Corporate).