FIRM PROFILE LK SHIELDS:In recent years, trainee lawyers have been on the front line when it came to cutbacks, but law firm LK Shields is reversing the trend, writes CAROLINE MADDEN
THERE WAS A time when trainees in professions such as law could rest assured that a well-paid permanent job awaited them at the end of their apprenticeship. However, when the recession struck and work dried up, aspiring lawyers found themselves on the front line when it came to cutbacks, with many firms no longer able to offer entry-level positions or to retain newly-qualified solicitors.
Dublin law firm LK Shields made the news in 2008 when it cut trainee pay levels significantly, saying that the only other choice would have been to reduce the number of trainees.
The firm also had to implement several redundancies in its commercial property division. However, if LK Shields is anything to go by, the tide may be turning in terms of employment prospects for the upcoming generation of solicitors.
“Since then , we’ve taken on a number of people and have plans to take on more people in areas that have grown in the last number of years and where we see potential,” says managing director Hugh Garvey, stressing that the firm is focused on retaining its trainees. Just recently, two employees joined the firm’s business department as associate solicitors upon completing their apprenticeships, while a third joined the litigation and dispute resolution unit.
“I was a trainee here, and many of the partners did traineeships here and came up through the ranks,” Garvey says. “Absolutely on occasion we do buy in additional resources and particular skills, but the focus has been to train and retain.”
Garvey, who became managing partner in 2005, jokes about being a “blow-in”, as he has only been with LK Shields for 23 of its 24 years in existence. He took over the reins from Laurence K Shields, who founded the firm in 1988 and who has just retired. The practice has undergone significant change since its early days in an office on the corner of Merrion Square and Holles Street, now occupying six Georgian buildings on Upper Mount Street and employing 125 staff.
There’s no doubt that every managing partner in the Irish legal sector has had a challenge on their hands in steering their firms through the recession, but just how hard has LK Shields been hit by its exposure to the property downturn? Garvey says that during the good years, property became a bigger part of the business, but he is adamant that they were not overexposed to this sector. “The impact of the property recession wasn’t as dramatic as it could have been,” he says. When the firm started out in the “dim and dark days” of the late 1980s, it had a commercial focus, in that its main practice areas were mergers and acquisitions, and commercial litigation. “That, in fairness, has remained the focus.”
Garvey is unwaveringly upbeat, never slipping off-message. While he concedes that the current economic climate is difficult, he insists it’s full of opportunities. “There are transactions happening in the Irish market, some of them are domestically funded and domestically focused; others are international. We see value in the Irish market and have aspirations to grow.”
The firm has advised on numerous deals in recent months, including the establishment by CLG Developments of a joint venture with the Balfour Beatty Group resulting in a €400m contract with Bord Gáis Network. The practice also acted for Dublin social media agency Simply Zesty which hit the headlines in March when it was acquired by UTV New Media.
A lot of work is being generated by the funds and financial services area, while the firm also has “big plans” to focus on competition and employment law, as well as IP services. Restructuring and insolvency work has been part of its repertoire since the 1990s, and not surprisingly it continues to be a part of its practice now. Banking is an area that has grown over the past two years, he says, boosted by refinancing, enforcement and Nama-related work.
There has been much speculation that the downturn will lead to significant consolidation in the legal sector. Would LK Shields ever consider a merger or takeover?
“We’d always be open to that,” Garvey says, adding that the practice is always looking for those types of opportunities “if the synergies exist”. However, so far, they haven’t seen anything that has whetted their appetite enough to make a move.
As for the wider legal sector, and the reforms being proposed for the legal professions, he believes that change is inevitable and says he is “amenable” to this. He points out that reforms have proved beneficial in other countries. However, ever the lawyer, he adds a caveat: “What I’d like us to do is have a level of change that doesn’t take us too far out of what has been done and what has worked elsewhere.”