Maples Group

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title: "Maples Group" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1962-establishments-in-the-cayman-islands", "corporate-tax-avoidance", "foreign-law-firms-with-offices-in-hong-kong", "law-firms-established-in-1962", "law-firms-of-the-cayman-islands", "offshore-magic-circle", "tax-avoidance"] description: "Offshore magic circle tax law firm" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maples_Group" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Offshore magic circle tax law firm ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox law firm"]

Field	Value
firm_name	Maples Group
headquarters	Ugland House
121 South Church Street
George Town, Cayman Islands
num_offices	17
offices	Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, Dublin, London, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Jersey
num_lawyers	330
practice_areas	Tax law
key_people	Jonathan Green (Managing Partner)
date_founded	1962 McDonald & Maples
founder	Jim McDonald
John Maples
company_type	Limited liability partnership
logo	Maples Group logo.svg
homepage
::

| firm_name = Maples Group | headquarters = Ugland House 121 South Church Street George Town, Cayman Islands | num_offices = 17 | offices = Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, Dublin, London, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Jersey | num_lawyers= 330 | practice_areas = Tax law | key_people = Jonathan Green (Managing Partner) | revenue = | profit_per_equity_partner = | date_founded = 1962 McDonald & Maples | founder = Jim McDonald John Maples | company_type = Limited liability partnership | logo = Maples Group logo.svg | homepage = Maples Group (previously Maples and Calder) is a multi-jurisdictional firm providing legal and financial services, headquartered in the Cayman Islands. It has offices in many financial centres around the world, including several tax neutral jurisdictions. Its law firm is a member of the offshore magic circle, and specialises in advising on the laws of the Cayman Islands, Ireland, Luxembourg, Jersey and the British Virgin Islands, across a range of legal services including commercial litigation, intellectual property, sport, and finance, in which the firm has a focus on the structuring of tax efficient legal structures (or vehicles).

History

MacDonald and Maples was founded by Jim MacDonald and John Maples. MacDonald later retired and Douglas Calder joined as a partner, resulting in the name of the firm being changed to Maples and Calder. Today it is referred to simply as Maples and is headquartered in Ugland House in the Cayman Islands.

The Cayman Islands office was opened in the early 1960s, followed by the Hong Kong office in 1995. Three years later, the London office opened its doors, with the British Virgin Islands and Dubai office establishing a presence in 2004 and 2005 respectively. Maples and Calder opened a Dublin office in 2006. 2012 saw the opening of a second office in Asia, when their Singapore office opened in September 2012.

Jonathan Green is the firm's global managing partner and is based in the Cayman Islands office.

The firm rebranded from "Maples and Calder" to the "Maples Group" in 2019.

Practice areas

The principal focus is on tax management (e.g. structuring and domiciling of tax vehicles, corporate transactions for IP–based and Debt–based erosion and profit shifting (or BEPS) actions). Maples and Calder also offers a range of other tax focused legal services, including providing advice on major infrastructure and property development projects (domiciled in offshore tax havens or corporate tax havens), and the establishment and structuring of a "physical presence" in tax havens such as the Cayman Islands and Dublin, including business licensing, real estate, immigration and employment law.

In 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama, described the headquarters of the Maples Group, Ugland House, the then legal home of 12,000 U.S. corporations as: "That's either the biggest building in the world or the biggest tax scam in the world".

Awards

Maples Group has maintained its position as the largest Cayman Islands law firm, holding top rankings for finance, corporate, investment funds and litigation in legal directories such as Chambers and Partners, Legal 500, and Practical Law Company (PLC), and is the only offshore magic circle law firm to ever achieve Tier 1 in every category of the International Financial Law Review (IFLR).

Locations

Maples Group maintains a multi-jurisdictional network of offices in leading Caribbean and Channel Islands offshore tax havens such as the Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, Dubai, and Jersey. As with other offshore magic circle law firms, Maples and Calder have also opened up offices in the major corporate tax havens, and particularly Dublin and Singapore (see Conduit and Sink OFCs).

References

References

1. Maples and Calder. (9 June 2012). "Founding Partner passes".
2. "Maples boosts offshore presence in Singapore".
3. "Maples Group - Jonathan Green's Profile".
4. . (January 28, 2019). ["Maples and Calder bundles up global offerings"](https://www.lawsociety.ie/gazette/Top-Stories/maples-and-calder-bundles-up-global-offering/). *Law Society Gazette of Ireland*.
5. Madison Marriage. (10 November 2017). "Offshore Magic Circle law firms fear Paradise Papers fallout". [[Financial Times]].
6. "Maples and Calder in Bloomberg Business Week".
7. (19 June 2012). "Law firm specialising in tax havens to create 75 jobs in Dublin". [[TheJournal.ie]].
8. (March 2009). "Tax Spotlight worries the Cayman Islands". [[BBC]].
9. Simon Bowers. (2 November 2015). "US overtakes Caymans and Singapore as haven for assets of super-rich". [[The Guardian]].
10. "Maples and Calder".
11. "The offshore law firm elite".
12. "Who's Who Legal Profile".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::