Ireland joining the EEC in 1973 was a monumental step, placing a marginal offshore island into the common market and the heart of Europe. Aware the move would have a profound effect on Ireland’s laws, corporate law firm McCann Fitzgerald set up a satellite office in Brussels to keep its clients in the loop. It was a pioneering move, the first time an Irish practice put boots on the ground in a foreign jurisdiction.  Other Dublin law firms soon followed suit, expanding into the financial capitals of New York and London and more recently the West coast US tech hubs…