Currently wearing the managing partner hat, Widger spent 12 years as head of A&L Goodbody’s corporate department where he advised Irish and international public and private corporates, financial institutions, insurance companies, private equity and venture capital funds.

His resume includes advising Glenveagh Properties on its €550 million initial public offering (IPO) on the Irish and London stock exchanges and Pfizer on its proposed $160 billion merger with Allergan.

As head of the firm, Widger currently has a largely executive role but still provides strategic advice to clients and remains involved in transaction work.

He is also a lifer at the firm, joining as a trainee in 1992 and never leaving.

Garrett has been a cornerstone of William Fry for four decades, and her commitment to the firm included a six-year stint as managing partner, which made her the first female managing partner of a Big Six firm in Ireland.

She is regarded as one of Ireland’s leading corporate lawyers and has advised on numerous transactions such as the Irish Times’ acquisition of Landmark Media Group, including the Irish Examiner, and the sale of Pomo Search (Holdings) Ltd to Google. She also advised Amgen on its $28.3 billion (€25.77bn) takeover of global biotech firm Horizon Therapeutics, headquartered in Dublin. She has also played a significant role in Irish corporate life.

Last year she was appointed to the board of the National Treasury Management Agency and has served on the board of the Institute of Directors.

Lawlor specialises in mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and equity capital markets transactions as well as on corporate advisory work. He has worked on domestic and cross-border transactions in a number of industries including pharma, healthcare, tech, financial services, agri-food and drink, waste management, energy, logistics and betting and gaming sectors. It was a big coup for EY Law to secure Lawlor along with Conor O’Dwyer, another leading corporate lawyer, earlier this year.

Lawlor left McCann FitzGerald after nearly 25 years, including 14 as a senior equity partner and is quoted on his new firm’s website as saying that EY’s ability to partner with market-leading advisors provides a “differentiated offering to clients to help them solve some of their most complex and strategic issues”.

“Superb — commercial, personable, capable, and tough” was the IFLR1000’s verdict on Rafferty, the head of Irish corporate practice in Maples.

Confessing to Silicon Republic in 2020 that he had “no interest” in the law during his studies, it took first-hand experience in the real world of business to fully engage him in his craft.

A leading figure in M&A and corporate finance in the tech sector, especially to start-ups, Rafferty is on the steering group of Scale Ireland, the advocacy group acting as a bridge between start-ups and government. “He gives sensible, to-the-point business-focused advice.

He’s also totally professional and a pleasure to work with,” said Brian Caulfield, the chair of Scale Ireland.

Making partner in 2017, just seven years after qualifying at McCann, Murphy made his name acting for both institutional investors and developers in some hugely significant Irish real estate deals. A graduate of University College Cork and University College London, he advised Nama on the corporate side of Project Jewel and Project Tolka — the latter deal including the Burlington Plaza office complex on Dublin’s Burlington Road — two of the agency’s biggest loan sale transactions.

Advising AIB on its €3.4 billion IPO in June 2017 ahead of its listing in Dublin and London sits among the highlights of Murphy’s 14-year McCann FitzGerald career.

Keogh has an exciting few years ahead of him as he takes over as William Fry’s newest managing partner next month, filling the spot occupied by Owen Sullivan, a leading commercial litigator who will retire as partner but remain in the firm as a consultant. Keogh has been head of Fry’s corporate and M&A department since 2020 and he specialises in transactional corporate work with a particular emphasis on private equity.

In announcing Keogh’s elevation to managing partner in July, the firm said he advised clients on two out of the four largest M&A deals in Ireland so far this year. Keogh is a lifer with the firm, training there before making partner in 2005. “You don’t have to be a rocket scientist but you do have to be good at reading the room,” he said earlier this year when discussing the importance of people skills with the media.