Summary: The law firm of Baker & McKenzie has announced that it has chosen Belfast, Northern Ireland as the location for its newest legal services center.
The site for the second global services center of the law firm Baker & McKenzie LLP will be in Belfast, Northern Ireland, according to Bloomberg.
The first global services center for the firm opened in Manila back in 2000. The law firm is in the midst of recruiting staff members for its Belfast location and should begin operations within the next month.
In a statement from Eduardo Leite, the chair of the firm’s executive committee, the second center will be “an extension of our commitment to improve quality and increase efficiency.”
By the end of the first year of operation, there should be some 120 people working at the center. After three years, the total number of staffers should reach 250. The center will be responsible for performing legal and back-office operations. It will also “facilitate round the clock services across time zones,” according to the statement.
The law firm said that two-thirds of the professionals at the center will work in business support and one-third will be legal staff.
“One of the compelling reasons for choosing Belfast was the availability of a high-quality, well-educated workforce,” said Paul Rawlinson, Baker & McKenzie’s London managing partner.
The statement said that the firm expects lawyers in Belfast to provide “broad legal process support for a range of cross-border transactions and disputes” because English law is the law of choice in many large cross-border issues and because Northern Ireland is a jurisdiction of common law.
Attorney looking for a job change in Ireland can visit here for live attorney job openings.