Ireland: vital statistics-- In Northern Ireland there are 488 law firms and 1800 solicitors on the roll.-- In the Republic of Ireland there are 482 law firms and 6529 solicitors on the roll.TOM BLASS TALKS TO DUBLIN LAWYERS ABOUT THE PERIOD OF EXTRAORDINARY PROSPERITY THEY HAVE BEEN ENJOYING IN RECENT YEARSLittle symmetry characterises the legal markets of the Republic of Ireland and its northern neighbour.

Rather, the relationship resembles the elusive one between those whose mutual interests periodically fall in step.

For the moment, the parts being played are those of a rich relation (Eire), and its aspirant but struggling relative (Northern Ireland).

But the chasm beckons to be closed, and there is every chance that some of the magic of the 'Celtic Tiger' will rub off on its cousin.Often the beneficence of the EU is credited with Eire's economic renaissance.

Certainly, the Republic has enjoyed something of a 'darling' status within the EU, having benefited from heavy investment in industry and infrastructures, as well as generous development loans.

But EU funds are only part of the story, say local lawyers.

'Outsiders think that [the EU] is the only reason for our prosperity', says one.

'I'd say it accounted for one or two of our percentage points [of increased GDP] each year, but only one or two.'The Republic of Ireland has genuinely sold itself as a prime destination for inward investment.

Business now demands law firms with the strength and expertise to handle big-ticket listings and corporate deals.

At the top end, the market is dominated by five practices.

These include, in order of size: McCann FitzGerald, A&L Goodbody, Arthur Cox, William Fry, and Matheson Ormsby Prentice.

Of these firms, all but Arthur Cox have London offices.

But the 'second-tier' - firms such as Ivor Fitzpatrick & Co, Beauchamps, Mason Hayes & Curran, Dillon Eustace and PJ O'Driscoll - are all very much involved in the current glut of corporate activity.

It is a competitive market, but the flow of work shows no sign of slowing.Declan Moylan, a partner at Mason Hayes & Curran reflects that: 'Ireland is going through a period of extraordinary prosperity.

The areas of practice that have become most significant are of course, those that have mirrored the economy.

To a large extent this is inward investment - and those firms with a well-defined foreign policy will be doing very well'.William Fry partner Brian O'Donnell notes that ties between Irish firms and the US are getting stronger all the time.

He says: 'We're doing a lot of listings for Irish companies which - like the software company Iona, and a while ago, Waterford Wedgwood - want to list on Nasdaq and not on the London or Dublin stock exchanges'.

In ti me, Mr O'Donnell maintains, it wouldn't be beyond the realms of possibility that in the future there might be some kind of alliance between an American firm and an Irish one.Growth has its pains: Ireland has had to ease what John King, a partner at Dublin firm Ivor Fitzpatrick, describes as 'an infrastructural bottleneck'.

He observes: 'In the road, transport and water sectors there's still a lot to be done, but that'll bring a lot of work to lawyers'.

These are exactly the kinds of projects that commercial lawyers find themselves involved in when a country raises its profile in the international community.Another area is de-regulation.

When the Irish telecoms monopoly was broken up in December of last year, at least eight or nine Dublin firms received instructions from the many, largely foreign, telecoms operators bidding for the 25 licences issued by the regulator.

The experience taught the market several things.

One is that firms have to equip themselves to handle transactions in the IT and communications sector.

This is already happening, and for some firms, telecoms, e-commerce, and Internet-related issues are assuming new importance.

The other lesson drawn from telecoms de-regulation is that while the market was big enough to represent all concerned, it was, as Declan Moylan points out, only just big enough.

He says: 'The risk of conflicts is very high with only a small pool of law firms able to handle top level work'.The Big Five accountancy firms are also eyeing keenly the opportunity that Ireland offers.

The Dublin legal profession noted with interest the ability of PricewaterhouseCoopers to recruit Eddy Evans, a corporate partner at William Fry, to set up its own legal practice.

Others are thought not to be far behind.

One lawyer remarks that the accountants would have been keen to buy up the business of any one of Dublin's top eight law firms, although no-one so far has deemed it either wise or necessary.

Multi disciplinary partnerships are not currently permitted in the Republic.To date, only two Dublin firms - Arthur Cox and A&L Goodbody - have set up shop in Belfast.

Arthur Cox partner David O'Donoghue (in Dublin) says that the firm's workload north of the border is very active, and that the office is proving to be a good investment.

But other Dubliners do not see Belfast as being on their list of priorities.

Mr Moylan says: 'It's nothing political, it's just that it's a bit patchy'.

Mr O'Donnell adds: 'There's more work for us coming out of the British mainland'.The big Belfast firms - Cleaver Fulton & Rankin, McKinty & Wright, Elliot Duffy Garrett, and L'Estrange & Brett - each field a modest complement of between 20 and 28 lawyers.

But this might yet change.

The truth is that beside the meteoric rise of the Dublin market, anything less may not shine as bright, but can still shine nonetheless.

Patrick Cross at Cleaver Fulton & Rankin in Belfast says: 'Northern Ireland has developed greatly.

We've seen all the big supermarkets coming to Northern Ireland, telephone sales centres, the growth of heavy industry, and the hi-tech industries.

The legal market is very busy.

All the main Belfast firms are growing in size'.Alan Hewitt, a partner at L'Estrange & Brett concurs that the general trend is positive: 'The property market is very active, we've been very busy with PFI work'.

He says - and Mr Cross agrees - that Northern Ireland's commercial growth pre-dates the peace process, and to an extent remains independent of it.

'Obviously', he reflects, 'if the peace process continues - then of course that helps'.Bot h Mr Hewitt and Mr Cross have detected positive sea-change in the Northern Ireland market.

The interest of the big Dublin firms is a form of encouragement, as is the influx of lawyers who left Northern Ireland to qualify and practise elsewhere, but are returning to settle in Belfast or Derry.

They bring with them experience honed in the City, Scotland or New York, and help reduce the skills deficit that has accrued in the north throughout the boom of the south.Commercial growth in Northern Ireland has continued notwithstanding the lurching progress and occasional slips that have been a hallmark of the peace process.

It might not be too long before the north follows the success of the south.CONAL O'BOYLE EXAMINES THE KEY FACTORS BEHIND THE GROWTH IN COMMERCIAL LAW DEPARTMENTS IN EIRE'S LAW FIRMS'We've never had it so good.' That is the prevailing attitude among Ireland's 6,500 solicitors as they make hay while the economic sun shines.

The burgeoning Irish economy means that, possibly for the first time in the history of the Irish profession, there is full employment for solicitors.Economic growth during the last five years has been extraordinary by anyone's standards - but particularly by Irish ones.

According to European Commission figures, Irish gross domestic product grew by almost 12% last year.

This year the projected rate of increase is 9.3%.

Similarly, the rise in employment rates, averaging 4% a year in the period 1994-98, is unparalleled in countries that are members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).Of course, the rise in the nation's prosperity has been mirrored by an exponential rise in the number of legal transactions needed to fuel it - and in the numbers of lawyers required to complete those transactions.

Take the residential property market, for example.

Demand for housing has far outstripped supply for a number of years.

Local authorities cannot re-zone land for development quick enough to meet it, while property prices have figuratively gone through the roof.

This should be good news for solicitors but it is somewhat offset by fierce competition in the conveyancing market, with some members of the profession complaining that others are offering cut-price services and predicting problems further down the road when mistakes may come to light.But commercial property is where the real action is.

Office space in Dublin is at a premium, and commercial rents in the capital reflect this.

Dublin's skyline is dominated by huge cranes working late into the evening as crews rush to complete new office buildings to meet the demand from new and expanding businesses.According to Patricia McGovern, partner in medium-sized Dublin law firm LK Shields and vice-chair of the Irish Law Society's commercial law committee, the most obvious impact of the current boom on law firms has been the huge increase in staffing requirements.

LK Shields started life in 1988 with a staff of 12 people - now it has almost 70.Matheson Ormsby Prentice, one of the biggest law firms, has doubled in size during the last four years.

Its managing partner, Donal Roche, says that high quality staff are getting harder to find.

'We're increasingly looking to London to fill the gap', he adds.Paul Egan, a partner in another big Dublin firm, Mason Hayes & Curran, has personal experience of a mushrooming corporate department.

'Four years ago', he says, 'I used to sit down with my assistant and we were the corporate law department.

Now we've got ten lawyers who are corporate and that's not including the commercial lawye rs.' He compares the situation to the huge expansion of Scottish firms in the mid to late '80s in the wake of the oil boom there.

'At the moment most of the firms are going hell for leather to expand at the corporate end', says Mr Egan.

'And the area where there is probably the most legal activity is mergers and acquisitions.'This phenomenon has been replicated outside of Dublin.

For example, Frank Daly, managing partner of Cork-based Ronan Daly Jermyn, the biggest law firm outside the capital, says that his office has doubled in size in just three years.

It now employs 20 lawyers.

'The boom has helped everybody', he says.

Take-overs and management buy-outs have been the big growth area for the firm in recent months.But it is not just the size of the firms that has changed, it is also the nature and quality of the work.

As Ms McGovern puts it: 'Traditionally, most of the bigger law firms and second-tier law firms would always have been very commercially-oriented but it's fair to say that commercial law has now become much more diverse.

Whereas previously firms would talk about their litigation, conveyancing and commercial departments, now you have people talking about their corporate department, their financial services department and their IT department.

Commercial law has just become so complex'.She cites intellectual property as one particular growth area, and adds: 'It's difficult to determine whether this has come out of the economic boom or whether its just the increasing sophistication of the client.

Another key area where it's essential to have expertise is environmental law'.Mr Egan agrees, saying: 'Intellectual property and telecoms are probably the most active areas at the moment.

The firms that are growing most of all are the ones that have the telecoms and hi-tech clients, and in order to have those you need to have IT law competence'.Matheson Ormsby Prentice's Donal Roche says that all sections of his firm are extremely busy, particularly the mergers and acquisitions, banking, commercial property and tax departments.

But he too singles out the technology sector as the one to watch.

After all, Ireland is second only to the US as a software exporter.

And he adds: 'We grew our business by 40% last year, so that just shows you how strong the economy is over here'.Perhaps the most potent symbol of Ireland's economic regeneration is the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC), located in Dublin's docklands.

The brainchild of then Premier Charles Haughey, the IFSC opened its doors in 1987 amid a certain amount of scepticism.

Now some 4,000 people are employed in the centre, which houses half of the world's top 50 banks and is Europe's leading location for collective fund management.

It is also estimated that some 25% of the state's corporation tax yield comes from IFSC-related activities.

Not surprisingly, the top law practices were not slow to make their presence felt and the IFSC houses top firms A&L Goodbody, Arthur Cox, McCann FitzGerald, Matheson Ormsby Prentice and William Fry and medium-sized firm Dillon Eustace.'The IFSC', says Ms McGovern, 'is a unique little area in itself.

It's not really comparable to anything in the UK.

Most of the big firms have designated financial services units which have obviously grown up out of that particular area.'According to Mason Hayes & Curran's Paul Egan, the most significant difference between Dublin and other boom towns is that the lion's share of the legal work involved in doing business in Dublin has been kept in Dublin.

'The significant fact is that the Iri sh lawyers have managed to hold on to the work - so far.

What will happen in the future, I don't know.'One interesting twist to Ireland's legal success story is that the current boom has started to attract overseas competition which may be scenting rich pickings.

The first of these arrived last summer in the shape of US law firm Schiff Hardin & Waite, which opened an office in the capital, working out of an affiliated solicitors' firm McKeever Rowan.

The US firm cites the high level of US investment in Ireland as the main factor behind its decision to locate in Dublin.Some of the more pessimistically-inclined pundits have pointed to the collapse of the Asian Tiger economies two years ago and predicted a similar 'hard landing' for Ireland.

But as one leading economist pointed out recently: 'There is no economic law that says "the faster they grow, the harder they fall"'.The good times look set to roll for a while yet, and that should keep Irish legal eyes smiling.NICHOLAS MURRAY FINDS OUT WHAT OPPORTUNITIES THE IRISH LEGAL MARKETS OFFER TO ENGLISH AND WELSH LAW FIRMS'Now would be a good time for English firms to come over,' said one Dublin solicitor.

'There's a boom on here.' And many law firms have not been slow at following that.Last summer Denton Hall won a competitive tender against four City rivals to advise the Office of the Director of Telecommunications Regulations in Ireland (see page 25) on the creation of a licensing structure for telecommunications and the preparation of licences and authorisations for fixed and mobile network operators and service providers across the Republic.The City law firm, Devonshires has urged English firms to seize the opportunity for public-private partnership work in Ireland, an area being encouraged by the Irish government and one that firms with experience of the UK private finance initiative would be well placed to bid for.

Interest in Ireland is not only confined to members of the European Union (EU).City firm Kennedys, which also has an office in Belfast, has formed an association with Dublin firm O'Connor Walshe to help its work in Ireland.

Such alliances with local firms are seen as the best way of entering the Irish market in preference to setting up a separate office.

According to Nick Thomas of Kennedys, the legal system in the Irish Republic is more like the English system as opposed to the one in Northern Ireland, which he describes as 'stuck in a 1926 timewarp' with procedures that have not changed as rapidly as those in the south.It is remarkably easy for English lawyers to practise in Ireland, and vice versa.

There are no examinations to sit.

All it takes to obtain a certificate of competence, quips one Dublin lawyer, is '12 pieces of paper and £200'.

There is not even a requirement under the professional rules for solicitors to have practised for three years before setting up their own practice.Ireland has enthusiastically embraced the European Union freedoms and has an openness and a modern outlook that encourages new entrants into the market.

High levels of inward investment encouraged by the government have attracted commercial lawyers to what is still a relatively small financial sector compared with the UK, and one where City lawyers have always played a role.

And in the wake of the exposure of a series of official corruption scandals - the most notorious including former Premier Charles Haughey - there is a keenness to be transparent and to avoid the slightest hint of favouritism in the award of contracts.

This is good news for overseas players.The Iri sh legal profession is well regarded as highly skilled and capable.

However, says Nick Thoma, 'You do have to learn to do things slightly differently'.

Access to barristers, for example, differs from that in England and Wales.

There are no chambers, only individual barristers.

And the rules of engagement in litigation are different.It is a smaller world, says Mark Johnson of Devonshires, and 'it's a very democratic country'.

Politicians are accessible and open and Dublin lawyers in the legal quarter of the city frequently bump into ministers.

In that open atmosphere of the legal establishment there is no sense that English lawyers are encroaching on anyone's turf or are resented in any way.One English firm that has decided to set up on its own without a local partnership arrangement is Masons.

When it opened an office in Dublin in the summer of 1997 it was the first overseas law firm to open a wholly independent office in Ireland.

Its specialist expertise in construction and engineering, electronically linked to the firm's offices around the world, enables it to claim that it offers 'international experience and knowledge at a local level and at competitive rates'.

The lawyers working at the Dublin office were trained and qualified in Ireland and they make the point that although there appear to be marked similarities between the UK and Irish systems there are also important differences.

'Those are the things that lead to negligence actions,' says Masons's Dublin-based partner Dudley Solan.

He doubts there is any resentment of overseas law firms, simply because there is so much work around.

'People are used to the idea that this is the EU and there's freedom of movement,' he says.In addition to work that English firms are actively seeking through being based in Ireland, there are firms - particularly in northern cities such as Liverpool and Manchester with long-established Irish communities and Irish connections - which do work for Irish clients.

Perhaps surprisingly, in view of those links, this work is quite modest in extent.

Noel Fagan, an Irish lawyer who is a partner at Hill Dickinson in Liverpool, observes: 'Most Liverpool firms do relatively little work for Irish clients despite the fact that the population of Liverpool has so much Irish blood'.

His firm, which probably does more Irish work than any other in the city, has done shipping and insurance litigation for Irish clients, but even this is not a major part of his work.

Addleshaw Booth has attracted Irish work at its Manchester and Leeds offices in debt recovery, commercial litigation, trademark work, pensions advice, and general commercial work, but according to the firm's spokesman: 'It is quite a small percentage of our overall client portfolio'.

But there are developing links between the Liverpool, and Dublin law societies - recently extended to include Belfast - which involve alternating conferences in the three cities at which information and contacts are shared.

Perhaps this is the future for long-term expansion of work in both directions.One London solicitor who acts regularly for Irish clients is Cliona O'Tuama.

She helps many Irish citizens who have assets in the UK with tax and trusts and estate planning issues.

She adds that many English solicitors are surprised by the way in which solicitors in Ireland are known to their clients as local community figures and this breeds a certain kind of loyalty.

'Irish people are much more reliant on their solicitors,' she suggests.

This can lead to a preference for using the same firm for a range of issues and less shopping around, meaning a limited scope for English law firms trying to set up general practices in Ireland.If the Celtic tiger continues to roar and the building boom continues to develop the Dublin skyline, then there would seem to be no limit to the opportunities for English firms in Ireland.THE LEGAL ADVISOR WHO ACTED FOR PRIVATE LEE CLEGG EXPERIENCED AT FIRST HAND THE EFFECT OF IRISH POLITICS ON LAW.

JON ROBINS MET HIMNotorious trials, such as that of Private Lee Clegg, often take on a life of their own.

The deaths of two catholic teenage joyriders after being fired at by British soldiers at a road block in West Belfast in 1990 came to symbolise for many commentators the conflict in Northern Ireland.Of course Simon McKay, at that time a 20-year-old aspiring - but unqualified - paralegal lawyer at Yorkshire law firm Chadwick Lawrence, had little idea of the nine long years of controversy that would ensue.

Pte Clegg's parents asked Mr McKay - as a family friend who knew something about the law - to find out what was happening to their son.

Last month Mr McKay walked out of a Belfast Crown Court having cleared his client of the murder conviction.

Immediately nationalist condemnation was re-ignited.The events took place on a September evening in 1990 when a stolen Vauxhall Astra approached a road block manned by eight members of the Parachute Regiment on the Upper Glen Road, West Belfast.

Pte Clegg and others opened fire, claiming self-defence.

Two catholic teenagers, Martin Peake, 17, and Karen Reilly, 18, were killed.

Scientific tests failed to establish who fired the bullet which killed Mr Peake, but identified Pte Clegg's bullet which had hit Ms Reilly.Old adversaries fell behind the traditional battle-lines.

A campaign, supported by parts of the British media, rallied round Pte Clegg and campaigned for his release.

He was a model soldier, it was argued, doing a difficult job in an intolerable situation.

The response of nationalists in Ireland and many liberal commentators elsewhere was that the conviction was long overdue.

Pte Clegg was only one of four British soldiers ever convicted of murder, they argued; all had been freed early, and all had rejoined the army.Critics' views hardened when it was accepted by the trial judge that Pte Clegg's colleagues had hit the leg of another soldier as 'evidence' that the joyriders' car hit them.

A tasteless effigy of a bullet-ridden Astra made by other soldiers was discovered which further inflamed the situation.Mr McKay was originally approached by Pte Clegg's parents in July 1991 informally to advise - or 'translate' as he puts it - on the legal process.

At the original trial in 1993 Mr McKay says he was not surprised when Pte Clegg was sentenced to life.At that point he says no defence argument was offered to rebut the prosecution's case that he had fired after the car had passed and not in self defence.

The case went to the Court of Appeal the following year, but Mr McKay did not rate its chances of success very highly and 'candidly' told the parents so.Mr McKay began visiting his client in prison in his own time and with his own money, and pays tribute to the way Pte Clegg handled a total of four and a half years in prison ('a real survivor.

.

.

he got the psychology just right').

Following the dismissal of the case by the Court of Appeal, Mr McKay formally took on the case, under the supervision of partner Robert Brackup, in July 1994.

Later that year there was an unsuccessful appeal to the House of Lords.Pte Clegg's early release on licence at the discretion o f John Major's government in 1995 sparked off three nights of rioting, petrol bombs and burnt-out cars on the streets of Belfast and Londonderry.The defence team's luck changed last year when, in a second appeal, the judge quashed the conviction after new forensic evidence was put forward attacking the basis of the original conviction.

A retrial was ordered.

The prosecution argument had been that the 'Clegg' bullet entered the back of the car after it passed and, consequently, was not in self-defence.

The argument assumed that the bullet would not fragment en route, but new evidence demonstrated that it was likely it would have done.To illustrate the point, the defence team used a virtual computer programme which Mr McKay had first seen used in US courts depicting an aeroplane crash in Florida.

According to Mr McKay, it was the first and last time such IT had been used in courts in the UK.

The night was re-enacted with crash test dummies standing in for the passengers - to 'unnerving effect', recalls Mr McKay.After a 13-week trial Mr Justice Kerr concluded in March's knife edge judgment that the forensic argument was compelling and cleared Pte Clegg of murder.

But the judge also lambasted much of the soldier's evidence as a 'farrago of untruths and impossible claims'.

He concluded that it was 'very likely' he did shoot from behind but he could not be absolutely sure, and so he was entitled to be acquitted.Despite this Mr McKay is adamant that the original conviction was wrong and his client was the victim of a miscarriage of justice.

The 'bottom line', he says, was that the prosecution case was based on 'extremely flawed' scientific evidence.It was a 'terrific feeling' leaving Belfast Crown Court last month, McKay recalls.

But he adds: 'All the way through the case, at every hurdle, I was always confronted by the fact that the tragic event could have been avoided'.

Perhaps not by Pte Clegg, he continues, but by senior officials.Understandably, Mr McKay bitterly resents the criticism that he was an 'establishment' lawyer shipped over from England to do the job.

He lived in Belfast until he was ten, and describes himself as an Irishman who still '[feels] strongly about his roots'.

His father was Catholic, his mother Protestant, and he converted to catholicism at the age of 18.But the client's interests at all times, he insists, remained paramount even in the face of considerable hostility.

Mr McKay recounts being abused and spat at during a reconstruction of events at the scene of the shooting.

The riots on Pte's Clegg's release, he says, were particularly distressing.

But he says the unrest had nothing to do with his client.So what happens now that Pte Clegg has been cleared? Actually it is not quite over as Mr McKay intends to appeal against the soldier's GBH conviction.

He observes wryly that many colleagues have described the case as a career-maker.

In fact without the pressures of the Pte Clegg case Mr McKay says he could have qualified three years ago.

Instead he is still doing the legal practice course, attending Leeds Metropolitan University in the evenings.

Qualified or not, the 29-year-old paralegal's career continues to flourish and two years ago he started a civil liberties practice at Chadwick Lawrence which now represents approximately 50 life sentence prisoners.