Cayman Islands based offshore firm, Walkers, has had an office in Dublin since 2010 and its global managing partner is Ingrid Pierce. The firm’s international network includes 10 offices across Europe, the Americas, Asia and the Middle East.  

Highlights 

In the decade since the firm launched in Ireland it has diversified its domestic practice and now has individuals specialising in the range of work covered by Ireland’s ranking tables, however fund formation and finance work remain its core strengths. 

In asset finance the firm worked on deals for clients linked to the aviation and investment management sector. 

In banking and finance the firm worked for a mix of financing types including ESG related financing for clients from the banking, financial servicers and real estate sectors. 

In debt capital markets the firm worked on note issues for clients linked with financial services. 

In structured finance and securitisation work the firm worked especially on CLOs and securitisations for clients linked with banking and financial services. 

In financial services regulatory the firm worked on regulatory matters for clients linked with investment management and financial services. 

In investment funds the firm works on mainly fund establishment work. 

In M&A the firm assisted clients from financial services and aviation among others on a range of transactions including mergers, joint ventures and acquisitions. 

In restructuring and insolvency the firm worked on a variety of types of deals for clients in the aviation, financial services and public sectors. 

Testimonials

Asset finance 

“Walkers is a one stop shop for our legal as well our company secretarial and regulatory needs. Above all the people stand out for us because they are extremely client focused and attentive and understand our business.” 

“The team are very responsive and take responsibility for getting their parts of the deal done without prompting.” 

Financial services regulatory 

“They are blunt, clear, professional and very helpful.” 

“The team at Walkers are quick to respond; transparent in what they are able to deliver; and clear in the advice that they give.” 

“Personal touch, last minute availability, professionalism, relationship, support.” 

“The work developed by the Walkers team is not only professional and appropriate allowing an international client to fully understand the requirements of the jurisdiction to adapt to the specific needs of the country, which makes a big difference in the possibility of achieving success in the company's expansion plans.” 

“They are highly professional and show a high degree of expertise. Their people are also very helpful to work with.” 

Investment funds: Hedge funds 

“In addition to advisory assistance, Walkers keeps us up to date on industry trends and news. They are very responsive and helpful in the face of changing legislation, and they are always flexible to meet at difficult hours (working with time zones across the world).” 

Investment funds: Private equity funds 

“Walkers are very approachable and responsive and provide us with a tailored service having regard to the nature of our fund management operations in Ireland. They have very close links with local industry associations and a growing asset management and investment funds client base, which allows them to provide us with more market colour and views on best practice.”   

“Excellent insights, expertise, professional staff and personal individual contributions were outstanding - Eimear Keane in particular was exceptional to work with.” 

“Clear knowledge of our needs and expectations.” 

“Walkers team are exceptionally strong in terms of their service. Each team member are personnel and proactive in their approach to matters. What stands out is the market intel and way of delivering the detail in a straightforward and easy to digest manner. Also I would say each one of the team members are personable and a pleasure to deal with. This includes the support staff which is a testament to the firm.” 

“Walkers Ireland is very responsive and provides their work within the requested timeframe. What makes Walkers Ireland stand out is the attention they pay to details since they always deliver detailed explanations and responses to queries.” 

Investment funds: Real estate funds 

“Practical solutions, focused and efficient.” 

Investment funds: Registered funds 

“The team is well established and very good, they found a creative solution to our situation and helped to carry along all of the other parties.” 

“I would highlight the quality of the materials they produced, their excellent engagement with all stakeholders and the ease of dealings with them.” 

Investment funds: Retail funds 

“We thoroughly enjoy working with Nick and his team. Nick's experience enables him and his team to give both a technical and GC/in-house pragmatic view on matters. The team are also very responsive which is important given the demanding nature of the work we do. In addition, we thoroughly enjoy working with the team. They are a real pleasure to work with.” 

“They are very responsive to our requests. No ask is too much for them. They take full ownership and drive the outcomes. Dedicated partners and support that understand our structures and culture intimately.” 

“Accessible. Practical proposals & solutions.” 

“They took the whole process out of our hands and knew what was required to obtain regulatory approval.” 

“Pragmatic approach to dealing with regulatory requirements. The partner always tries to assist us with changes in the most efficient and cost-effective manner while making sure we are in line with industry best practices.” 

“The level of knowledge and engagement in the broader industry means that they provide detailed and proactive support on all aspects. They respond to all requests and queries in a timely manner and are proactive in bring new developments to our attention.” 

M&A 

“Walkers are very responsive, commercially minded and accessible in the provision of advice.” 

“We use Walkers because :(i) extensive local and technical expertise in their specific jurisdictions, (ii) top class lawyers, most of whom have magic circle experience - you immediately feel like you are in good hands, (iii) a highly responsive and personal service, (iv) well managed co-ordination between their international offices, which is particularly important in multi-jurisdictional transactions, and (v) we can trust them in front of some of our most prized clients.” 

“Very thorough and responsive.” 

“Very professional and knowledgeable. They get their head around the commercial rationale for doing the deal very quickly, which makes them very pragmatic in their legal approach which is very important.” 

“Personal, professional, responsive, provided clear legal advice in a timely manner.” 

Private equity 

“Practical, efficient, comprehensive and very fast.” 

Damien Barnaville 

“Strong all-rounder. Good business manner. No nonsense/ practical.” 

Aylin Barry 

“Proactive, taken responsibility for implementing our workflow.” 

Nicholas Blake Knox 

“He is very proactive and is actively engaged in the industry body so he can provide very timely updates on current matters and bring our concerns to industry forums.”  

“Nicholas is an excellent lawyer and is at the forefront in the industry in terms of the private asset requirements and development of the regulatory environment in this regard. This is hugely valuable in fund structuring and in market developing.” 

“Nick is able to give from a technical legal view and a pragmatic GC view that helps us cut through the issues.” 

“Nick has a practical and commercial outlook, which may emanate from his in-house background, which is valued by clients. He has a positive attitude in the challenges and is very plugged in with industry.”

James Denham 

“We have been particularly impressed by James in relation to his Cayman Islands expertise. James has been an important source of support at Walkers, and in our view should be on the partnership track and identified as an up and coming star. We have yet to come across a problem James cannot solve, and for more routine work, he is extremely reliable, an excellent communicator and exceptionally easy to work with. We have no hesitation in highly commending him.” 

Michael Dyulgerov 

“Listens carefully and knows what is required to get the assignment done.” 

“Quick to respond to questions, clear in responses.” 

Niall Esler  

“Niall is very well regarded by his clients and goes the extra mile for them in all instances.” 

“Niall has a strong ability to listen to us as a client before providing clever, bespoke, strategic solutions that enable us to address the concern we might have raised.” 

“Always available. Direct and supportive. Honest. Superb communicator and excellent client relationship manager."

Shane Hickey 

“Shane, is always on point, providing regular updates with respect to filings with the Central Bank. In terms of responding to comments, he drives this and provides appropriate responses and actively with us engages with us to resolve the comments.” 

Eimear Keane 

“She's very knowledgeable in the areas that I have dealt with her on and is also a great communicator.” 

“She is accessible, commercial and understands the interactions needed to succeed.” 

“Eimear is extremely attentive to any concerns we bring up and consistently and thoughtfully considers any proposals we have regarding fund classification and disclosures. If we bring thoughts regarding workarounds/creative solutions or changes in projects, Eimear is great about hearing things out and being supportive while considering all options and providing realistic feedback. She makes clients feel heard and supported.”  

“Fantastic technical knowledge and insightful industry views. Dedicated, exceptionally hard-working and fantastic interpersonal skills.”   

“Eimear knows exactly our requirements and always delivers.” 

“Eimear is very attentive and focused on delivered pragmatic solutions to the UCITS Fund. She is very knowledgeable and agile in dealing with queries and requests.” 

“Great drafting skills, good to collaborate with, reactive to problems and very knowledgeable on Irish Funds law.” 

Emer Lyons 

“Emer, is always on point, providing regular updates with respect to filings with the Central Bank. In terms of responding to comments, she drives this and provides appropriate responses and actively with us engages with us to resolve the comments.” 

Shane Martin 

“He has an interesting analysis of the problems brought to his attention and gives a very good insight to propose solutions for the problems that he observes.”  

“Shane is a strong and respected advocate for the regulated financial services industry in Ireland. The depth of his knowledge, and the clarity with which he gives guidance to us as his client, is remarkable and shared readily.” 

“Very personable. Always available. Excellent relationship builder. Trusted advisor.” 

“Understands the client's needs, providing advice with clear and honest answers to achieve the company's objectives.” 

Aongus McCarthy 

“He is very responsive to our requests and has an excellent understanding of our structure. He always has our best interests at heart.” 

“Excellent communicator, solutions oriented and practical.” 

“Aongus is technically excellent. He has developed a deep understanding of our business and proactively advises on current and new Irish and EU legislation relevant to our business in a way that is simple and easy to understand, which is a skill that in my experience is very rare. As a result of this, he is a trusted advisor to the business. Aongus is also a pleasure to work with and highly responsive. We are delighted to have a partner of this calibre advising the business. In addition to this, Aongus is excellent and managing the full relationship between our firm and other teams across Walkers.”  

“His responsiveness, management of deadlines and attention to detailed responses are Aongus' key strengths.”  

“Knows our business well and provides strong advices and guidance on key matters.” 

“Aongus is very responsive, capably manages a broad range of matters and workstreams and has developed a substantial amount of experience with private funds.” 

Eoin Ryan 

“Eoin is an excellent corporate lawyer. He is exceptionally diligent and thorough and has a deep knowledge of Irish corporate law matters. He listens and is attentive to all our concerns and queries and always responsive. Eoin is both professional and personable and has been a pleasure to work with over the years on a wide range of corporate matters.” 

“Eoin understands what needs to be done and gets it done without prompting.  He is always available and coordinates his team excellently.” 

“Detailed knowledge of corporate law, good communicator, solution focused, very quick to respond.” 

“Eoin Ryan has a detailed knowledge of Irish company law, he is solution focused and quick to respond. I would highly recommend Eoin, he is a pleasure to work with.” 

“Eoin is very attuned to the needs of our business and our risk tolerance. He steers us on corporate law matters with great assurance and he has a great technical knowledge of Irish corporate law and is very responsive, accessible and understanding of our commercial drivers.”  

“Eoin exhibits a profound understanding of Irish corporate/company law and the transactional legal landscape generally. He has a unique ability to distill complex legal concepts into easily understandable advice, and is solution-orientated. His attention to detail is impeccable, he is a good communicator, he is always prompt in his responses and ensures that they are clear and comprehensible. I am very happy to recommend him.” 

“Extremely thorough and very responsive.” 

“Eoin is very commercially focused and easy to deal with. He always achieves deadlines set and is very responsive to clients needs. He is also very good at problem solving.” 

“Understood our requests, we never need to doubt his advice for us. represented us very well in dealing with our purchaser. Very attentive to key points and detail required.” 

Maria Pule 

“Our team thoroughly enjoy working with Maria. Maria is incredibly responsive and able to give  us pragmatic advice and advice around market practice.” 

Robert Upton 

“Very thorough and knowledgeable.” 

Key clients 

Key clients of the firm in finance work include Air India, CDPQ, Castlelake, Citibank, Deutsche Bank, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America, Hertz  and Securitas Group. 

Key clients of the firm in capital markets include Securitas Group, Volkswagen, M&G Investment Management, ThinCats and Banco Santander. 

Key clients of the firm in investment management include PIMCO Global Advisors Ireland, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, W&W Asset Management Ireland, Marathon Asset Management and PGIM. 

Key clients of the firm in M&A include Airborne, CDPQ, Lease Corporation International, Lagers and CKAH. 

Key clients of the firm in restructuring and insolvency include Saltchuk Aviation, Hertz Global Holdings, Grant Thornton, Financial Services Compensation Scheme and Kirby Healy.