The offshore magic circle is the set of the largest multi-jurisdictional

law firm A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise consumer, clients (individuals or corporations) about their legal rights and Obligation, respon ...

s who specialise in offshore financial centres, especially the laws of the

British Overseas Territories The British Overseas Territories (BOTs) or alternatively referred to as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs) are the fourteen dependent territory, territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom that, ...

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory, and the largest by population. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located so ...

, and

British Virgin Islands The British Virgin Islands (BVI), officially the Virgin Islands, are a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean, to the east of Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands, US Virgin Islands and north-west ...

, and the

Crown dependencies The Crown Dependencies are three dependent territory, offshore island territories in the British Islands that are self-governing possessions of the The Crown, British Crown: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, both lo ...

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

Guernsey Guernsey ( ; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; ) is the second-largest island in the Channel Islands, located west of the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy. It is the largest island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which includes five other inhabited isl ...

and The Isle of Man. The same firms are also increasingly advising on the laws of onshore financial centres, especially

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

and

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

Definition

The term is a derivation of the widely recognised London ' magic circle' of top law firms, and is widely used in the offshore legal industry. The term has also become used to describe the offshore legal industry in a more pejorative sense (e.g. when the general media reports on

Paradise Papers The Paradise Papers are a set of over 13.4 million confidential electronic documents relating to offshore investments that were leaked to the German reporters Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer, from the newspaper'' Süddeutsche Z ...

–type offshore financial scandals), and is therefore more sparingly used, or found, in major legal publications (e.g. ''Legal Business''). There is no consensus definition over which firms belong in the offshore magic circle. A 2008 article in the publication ''Legal Business'' (Issue 181, ''Offshore Review'', February 2008) suggested a list, which has been repeated by others, and is simply the top 10 offshore law firms, but excluding Gibraltar–specialist Hassans. File:Ugland_House.jpg,

Maples and Calder Maples Group (previously Maples and Calder) is a multi-jurisdictional firm providing legal and financial services, headquartered in the Cayman Islands. It has offices in many financial centres around the world, including several tax neutral jur ...

is the largest offshore law firm by number of lawyers. File:Harney Westwood & Riegels.jpg, Head offices of

Harney Westwood & Riegels Harney Westwood & Riegels (or Harneys) is a global offshore law firm that provides advice on British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Bermuda and Anguilla law to an international client base that includes law firms, financial ...

. File:Walkers Cayman Building (Front).jpg, Walkers' head office in the Cayman Islands

Criticism

In the wider legal community, it has been suggested that the 'magic circle' label for offshore firms is self-promoting. Not only does the group suggested by ''Legal Business'' seem large (with nine firms, as opposed to the five firms in the original London magic circle), but it also appears to contain a fairly high percentage of all the specialist offshore law firms, including almost all the significant

Channel Islands The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They are divided into two Crown Dependencies: the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, ...

firms. The major offshore firms do not use the 'magic circle' terminology. Edward Fennell, a legal columnist for ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', has expressed dim views of law firms designating themselves as part of an offshore magic circle. However, the concept of an offshore magic circle is actively promoted by legal recruitment consultants who hope to persuade London lawyers to spend a few years working in an offshore jurisdiction.

Endorsement

The ''Chambers'' legal directory in its 2008 edition, recognised the move towards multi-jurisdictional specialist offshore firms, and included a new ranking for global offshore specialist firms, rather than by jurisdiction. Arguably this was the first defined "offshore magic circle", although the directory did not use the term. That ''Chambers'' list included the same names as the list produced by "Legal Business" in its 2008 ''Offshore Review'' article. In addition, ''Chambers'' stated that single-jurisdiction offshore specialist firms (e.g. Hassans), no matter how good, would not be considered in this new Global – Offshore category. ''

The Lawyer ''The Lawyer'' is a legal business information product for law firm leaders, commercial lawyers, barristers A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advoc ...

'' magazine produces a list of the top twenty offshore law firms by number of partners, published each February.

Multi-jurisdiction firms

The following table sets out the offshore jurisdictions in which the principal multi-jurisdictional offshore firms practise law (correct as of March 2020). The table does not list 'sales' offices, where the firms do not practise the local law (typically, they will have an office in London, Zurich, and/or other large onshore centres, but will not practise English or Swiss law). However, Ireland and Luxembourg are included in this table, as several firms have moved into practising law in those two "midshore" jurisdictions, especially with regards funds, where they compete with large onshore firms like Matheson. * Carey Olsen was formed by the merger of two roughly equivalent sized firms from Jersey and Guernsey. Mourant Ozannes was formed by a merger of firms from Jersey, Guernsey and the Cayman Islands.

Notes

References

External links

Chambers Law Firms OFFSHORE – GLOBAL–WIDEIfcforum.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Offshore Magic Circle Offshore Magic Circle Law firms