International firms may be taking a more hard-headed look at some of their overseas offices at the moment, but interest in Ireland only seems set to increase as growing numbers of firms look to open in Dublin to position themselves for life after Brexit.

Simmons & Simmons last week became the third international firm to confirm launch plans in the Irish Republic, following the lead of Pinsent Masons and Covington & Burling, while DLA Piper is also keeping a close eye the market.

Plummeting deal volumes in the UK, Europe and globally suggest anything firms can do to hedge themselves against the instability is likely to be a good thing.

Latham & Watkins recently told Legal Week about its plans to do just that, setting out ambitious targets to double its London litigation headcount during the next three to five years.

Elsewhere, insurance firms dominated many of the headlines last week, with news Hill Dickinson had agreed to sell its £23m insurance business to Keoghs, while BLM is hiring 33 lawyers from Slater and Gordon's troubled UK business, and Kennedys ramps up its international expansion.

Meanwhile, Legal Week had news of its own with the acquisition by our parent company ALM of Global Leaders in Law, the international general counsel forum led by strategist and executive coach Meena Heath – a move that should benefit our in-house readers worldwide through new content and networking opportunities.

Here's the best of the rest on Legal Week during the past week: