Clifford Chance (CC), Herbert Smith Freehills, Simmons & Simmons and DLA Piper have joined the rank of firms funding lawyers to join the roll of solicitors in the Republic of Ireland as the UK prepares to leave the European Union (EU).

Prior to the UK referendum last month, Legal Week revealed that UK-qualified lawyers from firms including Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Slaughter and May, Allen & Overy and Hogan Lovells had already begun applying to the Law Society of Ireland. The moves were triggered by fears UK lawyers would find it more difficult to practise EU law in the event of Brexit if they were not registered in an EU country.

CC has now confirmed it also applied for Irish registration for all of its English-qualified competition partners in both London and Brussels before the referendum. The firm has 17 competition lawyers, including six partners, in the UK and Belgian capitals, according to its website.

The Ireland application process entails a one-off charge of €300 (£237) to be admitted to the roll, as well as an annual cost of roughly €2,000 (£1,614) to qualify as a practising solicitor.

For CC then the total cost of registering these 34 lawyers would amount to roughly £10,000. The firm declined to comment on whether CC had funded these lawyers to qualify as a practising solicitor yet. If it did, this would cost around £68,000 per year altogether.

A spokesperson for the firm said the move was "a precautionary measure" relating to access to European courts and privilege, and the fact that CC had anticipated the Irish authorities would face "a deluge of applications from lawyers in the event of a Leave vote".

UK-qualified competition lawyers are particularly concerned about the UK's impending EU exit as it could mean losing their rights to EU professional legal privilege and the right to plead before the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.

CC head of competition Alex Nourry said that Brexit would create "more work", adding: "You'll no longer have a one-stop shop for mergers and anticompetitive conduct. The UK will be subject to investigations both in Brussels and London.

"In the short term, things are likely to get more complicated and that's going to mean more work but overall, I think that the increase in uncertainty arising from Brexit won't be welcomed by business."

Several other top 15 UK firms have also started funding lawyers to apply in Ireland.

HSF has funded a handful of UK qualified lawyers in London to apply to the roll. They do not yet have practising certificates but a spokesperson said the firm was "working towards that".

Before the Brexit result, both DLA Piper and CMS Cameron McKenna said they were not considering funding UK-qualified lawyers to apply to the roll. However, in DLA's case a spokesperson said the firm has now funded "some lawyers" to join the roll but declined to comment further.

CMS said the firm was now considering registering "a small number of lawyers".

Simmons is in the early stages of registering UK-qualified lawyers in Ireland. The firm is aiming to fund a handful of lawyers from its competition, financial markets and intellectual property practices to join the roll.

Simmons managing partner Jeremy Hoyland said: "We are going through the process. I think it's a sensible and defensive move to register. In uncertain times you hope for the best and plan for the worst. However, it should not logically follow that law firms need to establish in Ireland. That's a completely different ballgame."

A spokesperson for Clyde & Co said the firm was "actively considering" registering its lawyers in Ireland.

Pinsent Masons said the firm has "not yet taken a decision on registering solicitors in Ireland and nothing is ruled out".

Eversheds said the firm was "considering which of our lawyers would benefit from registration in another EU jurisdiction to ensure, amongst other things, the preservation of privilege in work involving EU investigations". However, it added that the firm is already well placed as, unlike any other UK top 50 firm apart from Kennedys, it has a Dublin office. "Our teams in the UK and Ireland will continue to collaborate closely and, as part of that exercise, we may wish to register other lawyers with particular specialisms," the firm added.

Out of the remaining UK top 15 by revenue, Hogan Lovells and Slaughter and May said they had not changed their position on Irish registrations, while Linklaters and Freshfields declined to comment. A&O, Norton Rose Fulbright, and Ashurst did not respond to requests for comments.

Legal Week also contacted the top US law firms in the City for comment.

Latham & Watkins said it had no plans currently to register any UK-qualified lawyers in Ireland.

Mayer Brown said it had not done so yet but was "keeping the option under review".

White & Case declined to comment on Ireland specifically but a spokesperson said: "We're continuing to assess the implications of the leave vote, and this issue is currently under review."

Jones Day, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, K&L Gates, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, Gibson Dunn, Kirkland & Ellis and Shearman & Sterling declined to comment.