Remember the fear that NAMA was going to turn into a gravy train for professionals? Here’s the breakdown of the €21.68m of legal fees paid by the Agency in 2012. All aboard!
| Row Labels | Sum of Amount€k |
| McCann Fitzgerald | 2,007 |
| A&L Goodbody Solicitors | 1,495 |
| Arthur Cox | 1,401 |
| Hogan Lovells International | 1,287 |
| William Fry Solicitors | 1,246 |
| Eversheds O’Donnell Sweeney | 1,185 |
| DLA Piper UK | 1,019 |
| Simmons & Simmons | 840 |
| Byrne Wallace | 714 |
| Matheson Ormsby Prentice | 662 |
| Maples And Calder | 623 |
| Beauchamps Solicitors | 512 |
| Taylor Wessing | 446 |
| Wragge & Co | 442 |
| Ronan Daly Jermyn Solicitors | 414 |
| Paul Sreenan | 396 |
| Servulo & Associados | 393 |
| Gartlan Furey Solicitors | 382 |
| Cian Ferriter | 375 |
| Hayes Solicitors | 304 |
| Eugene F Collins | 290 |
| Stroock & Stroock & Lavan | 275 |
| Whitney Moore Solicitors | 260 |
| Quarles & Brady | 222 |
| McCarter & English | 221 |
| Arthur Cox Northern Ireland | 201 |
| Gordons Commercial Solicitors | 190 |
| Lavelle Coleman Solicitors | 178 |
| K & L Gates | 167 |
| Addleshaw Goddard | 131 |
| Allen & Overy | 126 |
| DLA Piper (Paris) | 125 |
| Snr Denton Uk | 125 |
| Mason Hayes + Curran | 114 |
| Alfred Thornton & Company | 112 |
| Eversheds | 109 |
| Taylor Wessing (Paris) | 100 |
| Altana | 98 |
| Appleby (Isle Of Man) | 92 |
| Mc Dowell Purcell Solicitors | 91 |
| A & L Goodbody Northern Ireland | 82 |
| John McKee & Son Solicitors | 72 |
| Cassels Brock & Blackwell | 72 |
| Tughans Solicitors | 71 |
| Bedell Cristin | 64 |
| Andrew Crean-Lynch Solicitors | 64 |
| Cms Cameron Mckenna | 60 |
| Windels Marx Lane & Mittendorf | 58 |
| Graf Von Westphalen | 57 |
| Olswang | 54 |
| Ogier | 51 |
| Parker, Hudson, Rainer & Dobbs | 46 |
| Linklaters | 44 |
| Elvinger, Hoss & Prussen | 42 |
| Barry C. Galvin & Son Solicitors | 40 |
| James Doherty BL | 39 |
| G O Nuallain & Co | 38 |
| Wildgen | 38 |
| Taylor Wessing (Munchen) | 37 |
| LK Shields Solicitors | 36 |
| DLA Piper UK (Manchester) | 36 |
| Private Security (Ireland) Limited | 34 |
| EC Harris Built Asset Consultancy | 32 |
| Vieira De Almeida & Associados | 32 |
| Mary Fay BL | 28 |
| Mark Sanfey | 26 |
| Appleby (British Virgin Islands) | 25 |
| Allen & Gledhill | 22 |
| Michael McDowell S.C | 22 |
| J.W. ODonovan Solicitors | 21 |
| Taylor Wessing (Hamburg) | 21 |
| Ciaran Lewis | 21 |
| Deacy Gilligan Ltd. | 19 |
| Hibernian Legal International Ltd | 19 |
| Andrew Fitzpatrick BL | 19 |
| John Breslin BL | 19 |
| Eoin Mccullough | 19 |
| Taylor Wessing LLP | 19 |
| Nathy Dunleavy | 18 |
| Herbert Smith Paris | 18 |
| Landwell Pricewaterhousecoopers Tax&Legal Services | 18 |
| Carey Olsen | 18 |
| Quarles & Brady LLP | 18 |
| Owen Hickey Senior Counsel | 17 |
| Herrick Feinstein | 17 |
| Garrigues | 17 |
| Rossa Fanning BL | 16 |
| Tods Murray | 16 |
| Knight Frank (Dublin) | 16 |
| Jarlath Ryan | 15 |
| P.J. O Driscoll & Sons | 15 |
| Herbert Smith | 15 |
| DLA Piper UK LLP (Germany) | 15 |
| Allen & Overy (Aisa) Pte Ltd | 14 |
| Garcia-Torrent & Garcia Cueto | 14 |
| Robert Fitzpatrick BL | 14 |
| Control Solutions | 14 |
| A.C. Forde & Co Solicitors | 13 |
| Boyanov & Co | 13 |
| IFM Trust Limited | 13 |
| JLT Ireland | 13 |
| Peden & Reid Solicitors | 12 |
| DWF | 12 |
| Arendt & Medernach | 12 |
| Allen & Overy | 12 |
| O’Flynn Exhams Solicitors | 12 |
| Carson Mcdowell | 11 |
| William Abrahamson, BL | 10 |
| Camilleri Preziosi | 10 |
| Malone O Regan Environmental Services Ltd | 10 |
| Orpen Franks Solicitors | 10 |
| Cains | 10 |
| Mckenna Durkan Solicitors | 10 |
| Lopez Balina – Miras S.C.P. | 9 |
| Cort & Cort | 9 |
| Clifford Chance | 9 |
| Wierzbowski Eversheds | 9 |
| Karole Cuddihy BL | 9 |
| JPA Brenson Lawlor Limited | 9 |
| Dillon Eustace | 8 |
| Aon Risk Solutions | 8 |
| Uria Menedez | 8 |
| Loyens & Loeff | 8 |
| Forgo, Damjanovic & Partners Law Firm | 8 |
| Gore & Grimes Solicitors | 7 |
| DLA Piper (Poland) | 7 |
| Kelly Walsh Property Advisors & Agents | 7 |
| Simmons & Simmons Llp (Amsterdam) | 7 |
| Gavin Ralston Senior Counsel | 7 |
| CB Richard Ellis (Gbp) Ltd | 7 |
| First Ireland Risk Management | 6 |
| Vision Net | 6 |
| C&H Jefferson Solicitors | 6 |
| Kane Tuohy Solicitors | 6 |
| Shook Lin & Bok Llp | 6 |
| Cyril Oneill | 6 |
| McGill Planning Ltd | 6 |
| Abacus II | 5 |
| Bernadette Kirby | 5 |
| Sanderson Weatherall Llp | 5 |
| Peter Fitzpatrick & Company | 5 |
| Walkers | 4 |
| DLA Piper UK LLP (Belgium) | 4 |
| Woods Hogan Solicitors | 4 |
| DMH Stallard Llp | 4 |
| Triay & Triay | 4 |
| Aspect Consulting | 4 |
| John Redmond | 4 |
| Carrroll Kelly & Oconnor Solicitors | 4 |
| Salans & Associes | 4 |
| Stevens & Bolton Llp | 4 |
| Loncar & Andric | 3 |
| Ronan Kennedy BL | 3 |
| John Spain Associates | 3 |
| Miley & Miley Solicitors | 3 |
| Kromann Reumert | 3 |
| Millar McCall Wylie Llp | 3 |
| McGuire Desmond Solicitors | 3 |
| K Tech Security Ltd | 3 |
| Eoin Clifford | 3 |
| Cheeswrights Notories Public | 3 |
| ICSA Software International | 3 |
| Appleby (St Helier- Jersey) | 3 |
| Lambert Smith Hampton | 2 |
| Kingsbury | 2 |
| Nabarro | 2 |
| Corporate Access (Legal Services) Ltd | 2 |
| Burges Salmon Llp | 2 |
| DLA Piper Prague Llp | 2 |
| Davis Langdon | 2 |
| Turley Associates Ltd | 2 |
| Polish Properties Sp.Z.O.O | 2 |
| DLA Piper UK | 2 |
| Gaftarnik, Le Douarin & Associes | 2 |
| MMP Project Management | 2 |
| RB Legal Services Limited | 1 |
| Richard Kearney Engineering Ltd. | 1 |
| BJ Associes Sarl | 1 |
| Rochford Brady Legal Services Ltd | 1 |
| Cassels Brock & Blackwell | 1 |
| MKB Russells Solicitors | 1 |
| DLA Piper Uk LLP (Liverpool) | 1 |
| BTO Brechin Tidal Oatts Solicitors | 1 |
| BTW Shiells Commercial Property Consultants | 1 |
| Walsh Associates | 1 |
| Gwen Malone | 1 |
| TLT LLP | 1 |
| Marston Book Services Ltd | 1 |
| Grand Total | 21,668 |
NAMA says that the €21.68m comprises three distinct elements, there’s €3.28m which NAMA has charged to its own accounts for its own activities, there’s €0.68m in due diligence costs which NAMA expects to charge the banks and there’s an almost laughable €17.7m which NAMA says it hopes to recover from its developers.
Top of the table is McCann Fitzgerald whose fees from NAMA topped €2m. There are law firms all over the globe including McCarter and English, which was paid €221,000 and you’ll recall this is the US law firm engaged by NAMA in pursuit of Sean Dunne and his wife Gayle. NAMA has in the past assured us that it has a reasonable prospect of recovering the sums charged to the developers but with most developers severely under water, you’d have to be skeptical. And remember that whilst NAMA gets away with convincing its auditors that these sums chargeable to developers are really recoverable then NAMA is allowed keep these costs off its books so it doesn’t affect profit.
There are firms from exotic locales like the British Virgin Islands, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man as well as Asia and central Europe and in the UK, DLA Piper was paid €1,019,000 in 2012.
NAMA paid two Dublin barristers almost €400,000 each (!) Paul Sreenan was paid €396,000. Here’s Paul at the Law Library having a little smile.
And a somewhat more serious Cian Ferriter who was only paid €375,000.
The information was provided in a response to parliamentary question from the Sinn Fein finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty, by the Minister for Finance Michael Noonan. The PQ is available here, I’m not copying it below because of formatting issues.
NAMA Wine Lake 
Not much spent outside the Pale.
The little twerp Paul Sreenan even went to King’s College London for his legal education. I guess good old Ireland is not good enough for erudition but it is plenty good enough for hoards of cash. Looks like Arran Square in the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Thank you NWL, this post says it all in its absolute and most pathetic vulgarity. No personal offense to Esquire Ferriter, but his photo looks like a mug shot from the drunk tank.