DQ Advocates Celebrates Another Successful Year in Legal 500

DQ Advocates have gained top tier rankings across a number of key business areas in the newly-released Legal 500 UK directory – the esteemed benchmark within the legal profession.

Considered an important reference guide to the legal sector, the acclaimed analysis is based on a combination of feedback from a quarter of a million in-house peers, clients and independent assessment of a variety of factors.

‘Employment’ and ‘Private Client, Trusts and Tax’ were two areas where DQ received ringing endorsements in tier one.

The firm’s multi-faceted Employment team is spearheaded by director Leanne McKeown who is named a Leading Partner, while there are also acknowledgements for Mark Emery (Head of Insolvency and Restructuring), who is active in employment litigation, Joshua Quinn (Associate Director), who frequently handles unfair dismissal and discrimination claims, and Jessica McManus (Senior Associate) who manages various contentious and non-contentious matters.

DQ’s Employment division is described as one which has an excellent reputation with a track record for delivering results which makes them ‘highly desirable partners for businesses seeking legal representation’.

DQ‘s dedicated Private Client and Trusts team also retained its tier one status, praised for its ’wide and varied’ workload on behalf of leading banks, law firms, trustee providers and accounting practices.

Among the testimonials received, DQ is commended for its wide and varied advisory service covering a range of legal, tax and regulatory matters - bringing ‘a unique perspective on matters’ and providing ‘practical, workable solutions'.

There was once again a first-class endorsement for Annemarie Hughes (Senior Counsel), again named in The Legal 500 Hall of Fame - reserved for law firm partners who are at the pinnacle of the profession - with colleague Donna Matthews (Senior Counsel) again ranked as a ‘Next Generation’ partner.

Annemarie Hughes once more received a second entry in the Hall of Fame in the Insurance and Pension category.

Tier two status was also earned in five other categories - ‘Banking, Finance & Capital Markets’, ‘Corporate & Commercial’, ‘Dispute Resolution’, ‘Insurance & Pensions’ and ‘Shipping and Aviation’.

Among the responsive and skilled team individually acknowledged in Banking, Finance & Capital Markets were Managing Director Mark Dougherty and Donna Matthews - both active in the ship financing space, acting for some of the largest maritime lenders.

Donna, Mark and department head Andrew Harding also feature as leading associates and partners respectively in the firm’s Corporate and Commercial division.

With the company regularly acting for clients on a range of issues across all levels of the Isle of Man judiciary system, the DQ Dispute Resolution team was praised for its outstanding levels of expertise and exemplary service with Mark Emery named as a ‘Next Generation’ partner.

The accolades continue in Shipping and Aviation where very strong industry knowledge was endorsed by peers and clients with Donna Matthews and Mark Dougherty both featured.

In total, there are 15 individual honours comprising eight members of the team included in the prestigious industry directory, with impressive client feedback and recommendations.

Managing Director Mark Dougherty said: ‘This is Team DQ at its very best and demonstrates the strength and dedication of our entire staff.

‘It is not only the individuals who have been named and personally recommended in their own specialist areas, but also their colleagues who play their own part in ensuring DQ collectively delivers a full spectrum of work and can handle the most complex and innovative issues.

‘It is that strength and depth of the practice that makes a law firm stand out from the crowd and I congratulate the team individually and collectively for what they have achieved which is down to sheer hard work.

‘A sincere thank you also to all those who complimented our services.’