Carey Olsen is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year.
Founded in Guernsey in 1898, the original firm was named Carey and served as a trusted legal adviser to a wide range of local clients for over 100 years. Today the firm is one of the world’s largest offshore law firms, with 74 partners, 300 lawyers and 600 staff across a network of nine offices advising on Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Guernsey and Jersey law.
How it all started
Advocate (later Sir) Victor Carey started his legal career in Guernsey as a single principal in 1898. During the first 100 years the firm developed and expanded with other practitioners including Sir Victor Carey’s son, Michael Carey and then grandson (de Vic Carey, later Sir de Vic Carey) who, like his grandfather before him, became Bailiff of Guernsey – as did Sir Graham Dorey another former partner. In 1973, the firm joined forces with the practice of Advocate John Langlois to form Carey Langlois, which became one of Guernsey’s largest law firms. In 2003, Carey Langlois merged with Jersey law firm Olsen’s to become Carey Olsen. In recent years the firm has opened offices in London, the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Hong Kong and Singapore to cover all key financial markets and time zones.
Carey Olsen today
Carey Olsen today remains a full-service law firm and is very proud of its Guernsey roots and its contribution to the Bailiwick community through various sponsorships and charitable initiatives. It is also a keen supporter of many local and international industry associations. There are currently 130 staff and 17 partners at the Guernsey firm, with many specialist lawyers advising both local and international clients across various practice areas. Eight Carey Olsen staff have clocked up over 40 years’ service with the record standing at 49 years of employment for one employee, who joined straight from school in 1968.
Recognition
Carey Olsen is the only Guernsey law firm to achieve top rankings across all eight practice areas in The Legal 500 UK 2024 edition and in all five practice areas in Chambers UK 2023 edition, the leading independent legal research publications.
The firm has also won numerous industry awards including more recently:
· ‘Best Offshore Law Firm’ 2023 – eprivate client Excellence Awards
· ‘Offshore Law Firm of the Year’ 2023 – Chambers HNW Awards
· ‘Affiliate of the Year’ Awards, 2023 – Association of Real Estate Funds Awards
· ‘Offshore Law Firm of the Year’ 2022 – The Lawyer European Awards
The future
Tom Carey was appointed managing partner of the Guernsey office in July 2023 so as the firm heads into the next chapter of its history and the next 125 years, there will be a ‘Carey’ at the helm.
To find out more about Carey Olsen visit www.careyolsen.com
