Fry up, Eversheds down

Dominic Carman

Lessons from a failed merger

When the news broke last December that William Fry and Eversheds Sutherland Ireland were in early-stage merger talks, a significant shake-up of the Irish legal market was eagerly anticipated. Commentators spoke of further consolidation, particularly between mid-market players. Only a fortnight earlier, ByrneWallace and LK Shields had announced a merger with effect from 1 January 2025. As the seventh largest Dublin-based law firm, Byrne Wallace Shields LLP now has 220 lawyers. But the potential Fry-Eversheds union would be altogether different: the first time that the local practice of an international firm planned to join a large independent Irish firm. It would, therefore, be a landmark deal – audacious in scope and scale. How the story entered the public domain was also different. Without either firm’s approval, news of the incipient merger was leaked – apparently, at a Christmas party – forcing both firms to issue statements in an attempt to eliminate further speculation and control the narrative.