Matheson has elevated 13 lawyers to partnership in its latest promotion round, up by five from 2021. 

The firm, Ireland’s largest by headcount with around 330 lawyers, said the round brings its total number of partners and tax principals to 105. Four women were included in the latest cohort (30%), compared to last year when five (67%) received the nod in the firm’s eight-strong round. 

Matheson reported last year that 41% of its partnership was female, with The Lawyer ranking its gender split ratio as the fifth most gender-diverse partnership in Europe, and first in Ireland, in a 2021 report. 

The firm has four offices outside its home turf in London, New York, San Francisco and Palo Alto, but all of the new partners are based in Ireland. They cover 12 of the firm’s 30 practice groups, with structured finance the only group featured to gain more than one partner – Vincent McConnon and William Foot. The remaining practice areas – financial institutions, corporate restructuring and insolvency, asset management, property finance, EU competition and regulatory, tech and innovation, international business, employment, tax and healthcare – gained one partner apiece. 

Michael Jackson, managing partner of Matheson, said: “We are a business in which expertise and collaboration is recognised and rewarded at all levels and one which has embraced a new hybrid working model that has been designed in consultation with our colleagues across the firm.

“I congratulate our new partners on their appointments and look forward to working with them in their new roles as they continue to deliver for our clients and to mentor and develop the Matheson partners and leaders of the future.”

Matheson has made several efforts to improve its environmental, social and government (ESG) capabilities over the past year beyond its efforts to improve gender diversity, including the appointment of a dedicated pro bono partner in July and the establishment of a 12-partner ESG advisory group led by energy, natural resources, utilities and infrastructure practice head Garret Farrelly last March.

In November the firm also added a quartet of senior tech, data and regulatory lawyers to target tech transformation work. Davinia Brennan and Rory O’Keeffe joined the technology and innovation group as partners from A&L Goodbody and Accenture respectively, while Caroline Kearns joined the financial institutions group as a partner from DLA Piper alongside consultant Niamh Mullholland, who moved across from KPMG Ireland.

In other recent Irish legal news, offshore giant Ogier announced yesterday it is to merge with eight-partner Dublin firm Leman in a major – and rare – foray into an onshore market. 

The deal makes Ogier the latest of a procession of international law firms to launch in Ireland and follows on from Addleshaw Goddard's merger with 25-partner Dublin firm Eugene F Collins, which was announced in February. 

A full list of the promotions is as follows: 

Tomás Baily (Tax)

Ailbhe Dennehy (Employment, Pensions & Benefits)

William Foot (Structured Finance)

Kevin Gahan (Corporate Restructuring & Insolvency)

Anthony Gaskin (Asset Management)

Sarah Jayne Hanna (International Business)

Elaine Long (Financial Institutions) 

Vincent McConnon (Structured Finance)

Daniel Peart (Property Finance & Structured Finance)

Carlo Salizzo (Technology & Innovation)

Justine Sayers (Healthcare)

Sean Scally (Projects, Energy & Infrastructure)

Calum Warren (EU Competition & Regulatory)