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25 September 2025
Categories: Movers & Shakers , Profession
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DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

DWF, the global provider of integrated legal and business services, has made 19 appointments to its Belfast office, bolstering key practice areas with new partners, directors, solicitors, and trainees. Among the senior hires, Deborah Archer has joined as partner in the finance and restructuring team, bringing more than 20 years of experience advising banks, corporates and investors on complex transactions.

Archer, who is dual qualified in Northern Ireland, England and Wales, said she was ‘delighted to be joining DWF at such an exciting time for the Belfast office’. She added that the firm’s global reach offered ‘a unique opportunity to grow the finance and restructuring team locally and across jurisdictions’ and that she looked forward to working with colleagues to deliver ‘innovative, commercial solutions’.

The senior team also welcomes Jonathan Simpson as director in employment and Julie-Ann McCaffrey as director in the infrastructure, construction and energy team. Alongside them, four newly qualified solicitors have joined practice groups ranging from catastrophic personal injury to real estate, with seven new trainees also starting their contracts.

Julie Galbraith, managing partner of DWF in Belfast, said she was ‘thrilled to welcome all our new colleagues’ and described the appointments as ‘significant investment in our people and capability across key practice areas’. She added their expertise would support clients ‘locally, across the island of Ireland and globally’.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Gateley Legal—Jack Kelly

Gateley Legal—Jack Kelly

Gateley Legal expands Midlands residential development team

Gibson Dunn—Richard Surtees

Gibson Dunn—Richard Surtees

Gibson Dunn adds employee benefits and executive compensation practice in London with partner Richard Surtees

Laytons ETL—Alec Cameron

Laytons ETL—Alec Cameron

Laytons ETL appoints new partner and head of intellectual property disputes

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