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As in other areas of practice Maples continues to build and strengthen its team. The 2010 hire of Liam Carney was a positive sign and the firm has been steadily gaining traction.

Last year highlighted the firm's growing strength in aircraft related financing and leasing, with examples including acting for Investec Bank on the expansion of its leasing platform and acting for CHC Helicopter on various finding and leasing matters.

According to one client "In terms of scale, Maples don't necessarily have the depth in all relevant practice areas. However, I don't think there is a team in Dublin that understands the needs of technology companies and technology investors...better."

A client agrees: "They are always very responsive, and their advice is a great blend of legal soundness and commercial pragmatism."

Having entered the Irish market with the intention of becoming a full service offering, Maples and Calder is beginning to gain traction in moving towards that aim and is diversifying from its traditional strength in investment funds. The addition of seven associates this year is further evidence of the firm's ambition.

Nollaig Murphy heads up the capital markets offering which has picked up a few notable debt and structured finance matters in the last 12 months.

Deals
As part of a heavyweight Irish corporate restructuring in 2011, Nollaig Murphy led a team advising Bingham McCutchen on the refinancing of €500 million guaranteed notes issued by Quinn Group and guaranteed by various Quinn Group subsidiaries. This complex deal involved the appointment of share receivers to the entire group with the combined value of the notes and bank syndicate debt totalling €1.2 billion.

In renewables, David Maughan led a team advising Dolmen Stockbrokers on Irish legal and regulatory issues relating to the placing and issuance of €40 million loan notes issued by Mainstream Renewable Power Mezzanine Finance.

Meanwhile one heavyweight deal in November 2011 saw the firm advise Guggenheim (as investment manager) and 5180 CLO LP (as issuer) on the issuance of a $1.2 billion CLO. This was a novel deal involving a Delaware issuer and an Irish incorporated company and one of the largest public CLOs to be brought to the market in 2011.

Away from Ireland Maples is best known for its funds practice, primarily an offshore firm the team is very familiar with a variety of fund structures and the systems of different jurisdictions. It also picks up a fair deal of work from its existing Cayman client base.

Barry McGrath leads the Dublin team, which continues to expand with a host of associate hires from rivals this year. "Huge commitment to volume – extremely competitive on fee estimates," was one client's opinion.

Some other clients though do question the firm's strength in depth and the level of partner access provided. "They have done well but the partners are on the road so much you have to wonder about the level of client support in the Dublin office," says one. But even peers admit "Maples have made a massive impact on the market, they've done really well."

Deals
In an impressive mandate from Alliance Bernstein, Peter Stapleton and his team established a $250 million Irish regulated investment limited partnership (ILP) in April 2012. The use of the ILP structure remains rare in Ireland and involves a charitable donation aspect, which is unique to Irish funds.

Meanwhile, Stephen Carty led a team advising PineBridge Investments on setting up a non-UCITS (Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities) $100 million retail fund in September 2011. This enables foreign institutional investors to gain exposure to the Chinese domestic equities market. Only a limited number of funds have successfully obtained the requisite license.

In addition, Carty assisted Amundi Alternative Investments on the establishment of a $200 million fund for BlueBay Asset Management on a novel Amundi QIF (qualifying investor fund) platform. Meanwhile, Barry McGrath instructed GFS Management (Ireland) on setting up a $2 billion managed account platform for Guggenheim Investment Partners.

In another highlight, the firm advised Marshall Wace on setting up the first UCITS IV cross-border merger of an Irish fund into a Luxembourg UCITS structure.

With Edward Miller leading the corporate team, Maples has begun to gain traction in the market.

One client told us: "Colm Rafferty I find to be excellent. A really pragmatic lawyer who focuses on the client objectives and gives sensible, business focused, advice." Another says, "you now with Colm there are not going to be re-drafts...as a result, they are value for money."

Last year one of the largest transactions saw them act for a consortium including the Carlyle Group on a bid to acquire nationalised bank EBS as part of the state's attempt to reorganise the banking industry.

Elsewhere the team acted for Greyhound recycling and Recovery on the acquisition of a domestic waste business in Dublin and advised Saaspoint and their shareholders, including Salesforce, on the acquisition of the tech firm by Appirio.

The team led by Paul Dobbyn picked up a role on one of the largest restructurings in the market last year advising the noteholders in relation to the refinancing of €500 million guaranteed notes issued by the Quinn Group.

On another substantial deal the team acted for the lenders in the restructuring of Eircom's €3.2 billion debt.