For years Belfast has been host to a core number of established law firms whose hegemony has rarely been challenged. A limited marketplace has historically been carved up among a crop of leading firms, with transactional leaders including Carson McDowell, L’Estrange & Brett and the local arm of Dublin giant Arthur Cox.
Yet the market found itself home to a rare new entrant in April this year, when corporate finance boutique Stafford Thompson Johnston (STJ) was launched with the avowed intention of competing directly with the major commercial practices in Belfast.
