Invest NI: Building on our legal success

Northern Ireland has a growing reputation as a location of choice for international legal services investment.

As part of efforts to continue to build on this reputation, Invest Northern Ireland supported four Northern Ireland legal firms to exhibit at the International Bar Association annual conference in Vienna last month, the largest gathering of the international legal community in the world.

Speaking on behalf of The Bar of Northern Ireland, Chairman Gerry McAlinden QC said “We look forward to working with Invest Northern Ireland to identify and pursue other opportunities in 2016 to promote the Northern Ireland Legal Services market and the potential for export.”

Olive Hill, Invest NI’s Director of Trade said: “Continuing to grow Northern Ireland’s legal services sector through increased internationalisation is vital to the growth of our economy and so we were delighted to support local legal firms to participate in the IBA Conference this year.

“Feedback from this year’s participating companies has been excellent and all are actively following up on leads and relationships forged. We are keen to build on this momentum and create further growth opportunities for export-focused lawyers and are currently developing plans to attend the IBA Conference in Washington DC in September 2016.

“Our established linkages, on the ground networks and cultural compatibility with the US suggest that next year’s conference will offer some exciting opportunities to promote Northern Ireland’s legal services sector.”

Legal firms who took part included, Cleaver Fulton Rankin, Forde Campbell and John McKee & Son. Legal software provider Briefed also took part and The Bar of Northern Ireland and The Law Society of Northern Ireland also attended.