Arthur Cox

The London office of this leading Irish law firm advises on Irish law on a wide range of transactions, including banking and finance, investment funds, corporate and commercial work, tax, information technology and intellectual property. The office forms a key part of the firm’s international network and works closely with the Dublin, Belfast, New York and Silicon Valley offices.

The firm: Arthur Cox has been at the forefront of developments in the legal profession in Ireland for more than 90 years. Its reputation in all its offices is based on proven professional skills, a thorough understanding of client requirements, sound judgement and a practical approach to resolving commercial problems.

From the outset, the firm has striven to deliver superior levels of service, building relationships that grow over time and developing specialist industry knowledge to help clients achieve their goals. Arthur Cox offers breadth and depth across corporate and business law and has the resources to successfully manage and drive forward transactions on schedule. Its track record speaks for itself.

The London office has full-service capabilities in banking and finance, corporate law and tax in particular and is able to draw on the wide range of specialist services available elsewhere in the firm.

With over 350 legal staff across the firm and a total headcount of approximately 750, the practice provides a comprehensive service to an international client base ranging from multinational organisations, banks and financial institutions, technology companies and established global leaders to government agencies and new players in emerging industry sectors. A strong teamwork ethic and practical ‘can do’ approach to solving problems ensures a seamless, effective service.

The practice appreciates that clients operate in a constantly developing commercial environment. They require legal advisers who can help them meet new challenges. Arthur Cox invests in developing specialist industry knowledge in its people, so that they can combine legal skill with genuine understanding of the individual markets in which its clients operate. The firm’s commitment to clients goes further than simply responding to today’s issues. It takes a pro-active approach in helping them prepare to meet what lies ahead – both the challenges and the opportunities.

Types of work undertaken: The London office’s finance team focuses on all aspects of domestic and cross-border finance transactions and financial services. It acts for a wide range of financial institutions, funds, corporates, investment managers and private equity houses. Specialisms include all aspects of corporate, tech and fund lending and collateral and security structures, property finance as well as asset management including establishing funds and advising on their structures, drafting documentation and advising on cross-border financial services within the European Union. Restructuring and portfolio sales is a particular area of expertise, including general restructuring and reorganisations, debt and equity restructuring, intercreditor arrangements and agreements and financial restructuring, private equity acquisitions and financings. Structured finance expertise includes securitisations and repackagings. Fund lending advice is provided as well as expertise in media matters, including regulation, music, film and television. Derivatives expertise at the firm ranges from vanilla products to commodity, foreign exchange, inflation, index-linked, interest rate, credit and equity derivatives as well as repo and stock lending agreements across the spectrum of industry documents with related collateral arrangements, to more structured and complex transactions. All aspects of financial regulation are dealt with.

The corporate team focuses on all areas of corporate finance, including domestic and cross- border mergers and acquisitions, drawing on the firm’s pre-eminent reputation in Ireland in these areas. Joint ventures, private equity transactions and reorganisations and commercial agreements are handled. The intellectual property practice forms part of the firm’s overall technology and innovation group in the Dublin office and provides advice on areas such as patents, trade marks, copyright, industrial designs, confidentiality and related intellectual property matters.

The tax team advises domestic and international clients on the tax aspects of corporate re-domestications, mergers and acquisitions, securitisations, and a wide variety of structured finance, portfolio sales, distressed debt, property and intellectual property transactions.

Other offices: Belfast, Dublin, New York, Silicon Valley.