Investment funds

William Fry LLP

William Fry LLP still stands out for its experience in the ETF sector, along with private equity and private funds. It is further recognised for its regulatory expertise and its commitment to sustainability and SFDR. It represents a number of the top promoters to Irish domiciled funds by assets under management (AUM) and advises a significant market share of the largest fund structures in the jurisdiction. The firm routinely advises numerous large financial institutions. Vincent Coyne, an experienced partner in UCITS and alternative funds (especially ICAV structures), co-heads the team alongside James Phelan, who is also rated for UCITS and regulatory knowledge. Patricia Taylor heads the funds regulatory team and John Aherne is another key name. Sergey Dolomanov has extensive ETF experience, often representing some of the biggest financial institutions in the market, while Nessa Joyce and Clodagh Ruigrok were promoted to the partnership in 2024.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

‘The team are subject matter experts and have ears to the ground on the latest thinking and views of the Central Bank. The practice was able to call in their in-house AI expert to update the board on the area.’
‘James Phelan (partner) is a fantastic support to our business from a day-to-day perspective and in higher level, more strategic matters. He is extremely responsive, practical and solution orientated, and always available to engage on priority matters.'
'Nessa Joyce (partner) is excellent technically and always a pleasure to deal with. She will get things done in a pragmatic manner. ’
‘The team is extremely knowledgeable with respect to both Irish legislation and the broader EU legislation governing our funds. The team is proactive and engaged fully with our business. ’
‘Clodagh Ruigrok is a first class lawyer with a comprehensive knowledge of Irish and EU fund laws and the workings of the the fund management industry.'
‘Positive, responsive, experienced and great to work with.’
‘Vincent Coyne heads up a market leading funds practice that has seen significant growth in the last number of years. We have experience of Vincent advising clients objectively and diligently and steering them through complex and often difficult challenges. A particular characteristic of the William Fry funds practice is the scale and variety of their business and there is considerable strength in depth across the board, reflecting the broad spectrum of work they do.’
‘Vincent Coyne is a commercially astute and technically excellent practitioner.’

Key clients

Mercer
BlackRock
Legal & General
Sands Capital Funds plc
Lazard Asset Management
Mercer Global Investments Management
Comgest Asset Management
Barclays
Davy
IQEQ
Natixis Investment Managers
Milltrust International
Otus Capital Management
Bank of America
Colchester Global Investors

Work highlights

Advised on the establishment of BlackRock's suite of 17 iBonds exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Represented the Blue Revolution Fund on its second closing which involved introduction and negotiation of LP investments from EIF, ISIF and a German credit institution which together committed in excess of €45m to the fund.
Advised on the first ever Irish UCITS with exposure to carbon in bringing LGIM's L&G Energy Transition Commodities UCITS ETF to the market.