Cains is one of the largest and oldest law firm

Law firm

A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to represent clients in civil or criminal cases, business transactions, and other...

s in the Isle of Man

Isle of Man

The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...

. Its precise date of founding is not certain, but the firm claims to be over 100 years old. It reached its peak immediately prior to the global financial crisis in 2008, when it had more than 30 lawyers and a similar number of support and fiduciary staff, located in its head office in Douglas

Douglas, Isle of Man

right|thumb|250px|Douglas Promenade, which runs nearly the entire length of beachfront in Douglasright|thumb|250px|Sea terminal in DouglasDouglas is the capital and largest town of the Isle of Man, with a population of 26,218 people . It is located at the mouth of the River Douglas, and a sweeping...

 and its branch offices in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 and Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

.

Prior to the crisis, the firm had increasingly departed from its traditional domestic market to concentrate on high-value capital markets work, principally the AIM

Alternative Investment Market

AIM is a sub-market of the London Stock Exchange, allowing smaller companies to float shares with a more flexible regulatory system than is applicable to the main market....

 listing of India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n businesses. Following a series of ad hoc redundancies in 2008 and 2009, it presently has 24 lawyers, of whom 6 are directors (partners).

It is rated as tier 1 by both Legal 500 and Chambers legal directories

Cains won the 2007 Legal Week award and the 2008 Lawyer

The Lawyer

The Lawyer is a weekly British magazine for commercial lawyers and corporate directors, first published in 1981. It is owned by Centaur Media plc....

award for top offshore law firm.

The firm is regulated by the Isle of Man Law Society

Isle of Man Law Society

The Isle of Man Law Society is the professional body in respect of the advocates' profession in the Isle of Man.The Society is the longest established professional body in the Isle of Man, formed by the Law Society Act 1859 passed by Tynwald while the island's capital was still at Castletown...

.

External links

• Cains to open Asian branch, Legal Week website.
• Chambers and Partners Firm Profile