Offshore magic circle is the set of the largest multi-jurisdictional law firms who specialise in tax havens (especially the Caribbean triad of Bermuda-Cayman-BVI, and the Channel Islands duo of Jersey-Guernsey), and increasingly in modern corporate tax havens (especially Dublin, Singapore and Luxembourg).
Video Offshore magic circle
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 prejorative sense (e.g. when the general media reports on paradise papers-type offshore financial scandals), and is therefore more sparingly used, or found, in major legal publications (e.g. "Legal Business").
There is no agreed consensus or definition over which firms belong in the offshore magic circle. A 2008 article in "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.
The 2017 study published in Nature into offshore financial centres (see Conduit and Sink OFCs), outlined the depth of legal corporate connections between classic "offshore" tax havens (called Sink OFCs), and emerging modern "onshore" corporate tax havens, (called Conduit OFCs).
The study highlights how dense the legal relationships have become between modern economies and "offshore" tax havens via Conduit OFCs, and the rise in offshore magic circle firms setting up offices in modern corporate tax havens like Dublin.
Maps Offshore magic circle
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 firms.
The major offshore firms do not use the 'magic circle' terminology. Edward Fennell, a legal columnist for The Times, 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 it's 2008 Offshore Review article. In addition, Chambers stated that single-jurisdiction offshore specialist firms (i.e. Hassans), no matter how good, would not be considered in this new Global - Offshore category.
The Lawyer 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 have offices (correct as at June 2016). The table does not list "sales" offices, such as London, Zurich, Dubai or Hong Kong. Dublin is included in this table due to the move of Maples, and of Walkers, into the "onshore" corporate tax haven sector, where they now compete with the main Irish law firms who specialise in taxation (e.g. Matheson (law firm), A&L Goodbody and Dillon Eustace).
* 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.
See also
References
External links
- Chambers Law Firms OFFSHORE - GLOBAL-WIDE
- Ifcforum.org
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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