American law firm DLA Piper has appointed four new partners in its Dublin office, with two joining from William Fry and the other two from Dillon Eustace.

Kate Curneen will join DLA Piper’s finance and projects practice from Dillion Eustace, where she has been partner since 2016, along with colleague Sean Murray who has been a partner specialising in tax since 2008.

The two joining from William Fry are John Magee and Graham Quinn, where both have been partners since 2016. Magee specialises in technology, data privacy, data breach and cybersecurity. Quinn advises on all aspects of commercial property law, including acquisitions and disposals, commercial leasing and real estate finance.

DLA Piper country manager David Carthy (pictured) said: "I am delighted that DLA Piper is driving the evolution of the Irish legal market. This has helped us differentiate ourselves from existing Irish law firms, which in turn has helped us win new client relationships, attract talent and build a full-service team, with more strategic hires planned in the coming months.”

DLA Piper has also hired three new legal directors: intellectual property and technology lawyer Treena Dunlea-Peatross from Bird & Bird in London, corporate lawyer Caroline Kearns from Norton Rose Fulbright of London, and finance and projects lawyer Liam Mills from William Fry. The new hires bring DLA Piper's Dublin office to eleven partners.

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Meanwhile, William Fry has appointed Brian Butterwick (pictured above) as a partner in the firm's Corporate/M&A department. He joins from the London office of international firm Shearman & Sterling where he has worked for the last five years. His experience includes seven years with Norton Rose Fulbright.

Butterwick has experience advising clients on public and private mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures, with a particular focus on cross-border transactions, and also representing both issuers and underwriters in IPOs and secondary equity offerings.

Shane O'Donnell, Head of Corporate/M&A, commented: “Our continued investment in the best people underlines our commitment to the delivery of consistently excellent results for our clients.”

The firm’s other recent lateral hires include Lyn Brennan (Banking & Finance), Ian Devlin (Employment & Benefits) and John Aherne (Asset Management & Investment Funds).