Business

American legal giant announces major Belfast expansion and recruitment drive

The new offices of American legal firm Axiom in Belfast on Great Victoria Street can house 350 staff. Picture by Hugh Russell
The new offices of American legal firm Axiom in Belfast on Great Victoria Street can house 350 staff. Picture by Hugh Russell The new offices of American legal firm Axiom in Belfast on Great Victoria Street can house 350 staff. Picture by Hugh Russell

AMERICAN legal giant Axiom has announced its third expansion in Belfast in just five years, with a new 'Centre of Excellence' set to create up to 167 new jobs.

The alternative legal services provider, which has offices across three continents, launched its Belfast operations in 2012 and the new centre will accommodate up to 350 team members and legal professionals within the Lincoln building on Great Victoria Street.

This is an increase in capacity of 130 on its former home within the Scottish Provident Building at Donegall Place.

The expansion, supported by support of £727,500 from Invest NI, coincides with further jobs being to be created over the next two years to fill the new larger premises.

The firm, which employs 183 people in Belfast, has also confirmed that over the past year, a full quarter of Belfast employees have received promotions to more senior positions necessitating the hiring of new law graduates.

Invest NI previously provided £1.1m investment in 2012 to create 102 jobs by 2014, with a target of an extra 97 jobs by March 2020 set to be exceeded.

Invest NI's director of technology and services Brian Dologhan said the growth of the Axiom was "extremely encouraging".

“Over the last five years Axiom has created valuable legal services employment opportunities in high quality roles to service FTSE 100 companies around the globe from Belfast. Its growth to date is extremely encouraging and reflects the continued expansion of Northern lreland’s legal services cluster which offers innovative delivery models and world-class technology solutions.”

Al Giles, executive vice president at Axiom said the company's "unprecedented growth" in Belfast represents the "perfect confluence of client demand, market demographics, unique delivery model and our distinctively different culture”.

“Our journey to Belfast was strategic, not accidental. Axiom’s robust hiring and continued plans to do so are a testament to the quality of legal professionals in Northern Ireland," he added.