When John Perry was approached by Ogier’s practice manager in Ireland, John Hogan, about launching a brand-new tax practice for the firm in Ireland, the opportunity felt like a natural step in his career — and a challenge he couldn’t resist.

Perry, who joined the international law firm as tax partner in March, brings over two decades of experience in tax and financial services. 

Having trained with PwC and most recently serving as a partner in Deloitte, his career has straddled both the accountancy and legal sectors. 

“I actually did a secondment to a law firm during my training,” Perry says. “So, I was familiar with the law firms. And then this opportunity arose… It is an opportunity to start something new.”

And new is no understatement. 

Until now, Ogier had no tax practice in its Dublin office, although a precedent had been set with a similar operation in the firm’s Luxembourg division. 

In Ireland, Perry’s remit is to build that capability from the ground up, incorporating tax into Ogier’s financial services offering.

It is the latest in a number of transformations for Ogier. Since merging with Lemans Solicitors — known for its strengths in real estate and litigation — the firm has been steadily expanding across investment management, structured finance, banking, and aviation.

“My background is in financial services,” Perry says. “I came on board to support the launch of that financial services practice.”

Over his career, Perry’s client base has spanned asset managers, financial institutions, trustees, private equity providers, fund administrators, and aviation lessors — all sectors that form the foundation of Ogier’s own strategic push in Ireland.

The model being built is a full lifecycle service — from transaction structuring and legal execution to ongoing administration and tax compliance. “The services that we are going to be offering are tax consultancy — so a lot of the transactions we do on the legal side, and providing tax advice, almost being an internal tax counsel for those deals,” he says.

There’s also a long-tail element to the new offering. “We also have the corporate administration and fund administration practice, which will provide tax compliance services and tax reporting for our clients,” he says.

According to Perry: “It’s a full-service law firm and corporate administration practice that can provide services from the full life cycle of the transaction – be it SPV administration, fund administration, or whatever support.”

The power of people

John Perry calls me on a call from the Channel Island of Jersey, a global leader in financial services and an island that he has lived on previously. 

As well as the Big Four experience, he also brings academic experience. He was appointed as an Assistant Professor at Dublin City University and is a member of the Adjunct Faculty at University College Dublin. He has also participated in the committees of several industry bodies, including Irish Funds and the Irish Debt Securities Association.

The fact that he is in Jersey when we speak says much about the international aspect of his new role.

This appealed to him when he joined. 

Another appeal, he says, was the talent already assembled within Ogier’s Irish operation.

“One of the things that attracted me to the role as well is that John had gone out and hired some of the key players in investment management, in structured finance from some of the leading firms around Ireland,” he says. “Coming from the likes of Maples, Matheson, Arthur Cox.”

“And then on the administration side, taking on teams who had been doing this for twenty-plus years in Apex and other places. So, we have a very experienced group of people coming together at the same time, trying to do the same thing. Everybody is kind of on the same page.”

That shared ambition, he says, has created “a real entrepreneurial spirit” within the office.

The policy playbook

With Budget 2026 approaching, Perry is acutely conscious of the national tax conversation, especially in sectors like aviation leasing and funds administration — two areas where Ireland already plays a global role.

“There are three themes that are coming out of all the submissions, which I agree with,” he says, referring to the pre-Budget submissions that have been publicly disclosed. 

“One is around keeping Ireland competitive… making sure that we have either the products, or the incentives there for people to invest in Ireland.”

Second is simplicity. “There has been a huge amount of change in the last couple of years with BEPS, international tax reform. Ireland, as a good citizen, has implemented all of those… but what that has created is a huge complex landscape for businesses,” he says.

He gives a clear example: “Interest deductibility. We have a number of anti-avoidance legislation around using loans to reduce tax liabilities… and then we brought in the interest limitation rules… all very complex in different areas. If you could just simplify that… not to change the focus of the legislation, but just to make it more workable.”

According to Perry, the third theme is certainty. “Because of the very volatile macroeconomic environment, businesses generally just want certainty. Whatever that tax rate is, or what they have to meet.”

He references specifically the aviation sector. “When they go to import into the US, they are waiting a long time to get parts into the engines of the aircraft, because simply they don’t know what import duty to pay,” he explains. 

“It’s not that they have a huge concern about paying what the duty is — it’s that people on the ground aren’t certain what to apply. So there is a delay… and it’s having a real impact on their business,” he says.

Ireland’s competitive edge 

Ireland’s position in the global funds market is strong — but Perry warns that it can’t rest on its laurels, particularly in alternatives and private asset classes.

“There is an issue with the Investment Limited Partnership (ILP),” he says. 

“Where the ILP is considered transparent, but dividends paid from a subsidiary have to withhold tax of 20 per cent up to the ILP. Effectively, what you want is to ensure that there is no tax leakage as you would in other funds.”

“This has happened as a kind of anomaly,” he adds. “The suggestion is to try and make sure that exemption comes in… so that we can compete with the likes of Luxembourg to attract this investment.”

He also believes Ireland’s domestic investor base is being underserved. “There is a general consensus in the industry that the funds regime for Irish investors is very complex. And in fact, is averse to Irish investors investing in funds,” Perry says.

I ask why does this matter? “That money could then be used as non-bank finance for investments into property or loan origination for businesses here locally. But that is not happening… It’s overly burdensome.”

Global footprint, local commitment

The way Perry sees it, Ogier is casting its net widely in terms of prospective clients – from private equity giants to mid-market players.

“In investment management, we’re looking at the large players in the field… M&G Investments, KKRs,” says Perry. “When you look at structured finance, again, they would be some of the larger players — like Blackstone and others.”

But Ogier isn’t just playing at the top of the market. “When you move into banking and finance, that’s where the small and medium-sized enterprises come in,” he says. “We can provide services here locally for M&A deals… which would be smaller than the hundred-million-euro deal size.”

“We would see ourselves as being unique in that market because of the type of services that we can provide.”

Reading the geopolitical signals

Perry is also watching developments in the US with caution. One area of concern: proposed legislation from Donald Trump that could penalise countries like Ireland for implementing OECD tax measures. 

“At the start of the year, we saw a lot of deals stopping and waiting to see because of the volatility. One of the things that I flagged there was that Bill is countries that implement certain OECD, tax changes, which Trump feels are against US policy. So, things like top-up tax under Pillar Two or the Digital Service Tax,” he says.

“If you are a country that implements those, which Ireland is one and the UK is another, he is going to implement a withholding tax on investment. Five per cent every year for four years so you get up to 20 per cent. 

“So, what does that mean? If I am an Irish investor and I invest in a US company there is currently a standard withholding tax of 30 per cent. Now, you could potentially get that down to 15 per cent or 5 per cent if you rely on double taxation between Ireland and the US, which we have a very good one actually.”

He adds: “But you are still creeping up to between 35 per cent and 50 per cent, if that Bill goes through. Which is not unique to Ireland. It is across the board for, these countries which now might see a movement of investment away from the US, because if you invest a million into a US stock and suddenly half your investment from dividends is gone you will find somewhere else to put your money.”

The future

Perry’s message is clear: Ogier may be new to Ireland’s tax market, but it’s here with global ambition, local expertise — and a clear vision.

“We are an international firm in 13 different offices. There are 1,200 of us. So, we can provide solutions across jurisdictions,” he says. “We are really jurisdictionally agnostic.”

Ogier and Ireland

Commenting on the appointment, John Hogan, Ogier’s practice partner in Ireland, said: “John’s experience and knowledge of Ireland’s tax framework, combined with his involvement in industry bodies, will be of enormous benefit to our clients across our core services. His addition comes at an exciting time for Ogier in Ireland, continuing the recent expansion of our structured finance and investment funds services.”

He added: “Ireland has become one of the largest exporters of financial services in the EU. It’s the global hub for commercial aviation leasing and financing and is on target to become the largest fund domicile in Europe by 2030 — if not sooner. At Ogier, we are seeing huge client demand for our expertise in these key growth areas. John’s appointment enhances our ability to provide clients with the right ecosystem of essential services and strengthens Ogier’s presence in the Irish market.”

In his new role, Ogier said Perry will be working alongside dedicated funds lawyers, including partners Oisin McClenaghan and Jennifer Dobbyn, as well as senior industry professionals in Ogier Global’s new fund administration team in Ireland, including Jeff Pamplin, head of fund administration, and Nichola Costello, head of transfer agency. 

The law firm said integrated tax advice is also a crucial part of Ogier’s structured finance services in Ireland, which recently welcomed Eoin Hamill to the legal partnership. Hamill joins Banking and Finance partners Richard Kelly and Laura Holtham in supporting clients on a range of fund finance, debt capital markets, and structured finance matters.

Working alongside Ogier Global’s head of debt capital markets, Michael Carroll, the team provides legal and administrative support to clients with the formation and administration of asset finance, debt issuance and securitisation vehicles. 

This is sponsored content and has been produced in association with Ogier.