Nick Nichola hands over the reins to Jason Opperman after nearly two decades at the helm
A new regional managing partner is set to lead K&L Gates Australia as inaugural managing partner Nick Nichola steps down after 18 years at the helm.
Partner Jason Opperman has been tapped to ascend to the leadership role with the end of Nichola’s current term on 30 June. The Sydney-based lawyer led the firm’s restructuring and insolvency practice as well as its finance practice area.
“I am elated to have been appointed to this role and feel energised by the enormous potential of our Australian offices, which are terrifically well placed for the future and tremendously well respected by both clients and colleagues across K&L Gates' fully integrated global platform”, he said. “I am excited by the prospect of what can be achieved in the next 10 years and beyond. I see tremendous opportunity given the strategic role Australia continues to play regionally and across the global economy, and I am committed to leading and empowering our people to seize that opportunity”.
Opperman has spent more than 20 years working with the biggest banks and financial institutions in Australia. He has tackled insolvency, turnaround, special situations and securities enforcement matters, and is renowned for his cross-border insolvency expertise.
“Jason is a supremely accomplished lawyer and extremely hard worker who is very focused on attracting and coordinating great talent and attracting and servicing great clients in Australia and beyond”, global managing partner Jim Segerdahl said. “He is fully committed to advancing our firm and its Australian offices, as well as the professional satisfaction and opportunities for all of our colleagues, and to doing so in a collaborative and communicative fashion”.
On vacating the regional managing partner role, Nichola will stay with K&L Gates Australia as a partner. Segerdahl describes Nichola’s time at the helm as “remarkable” and “transformative”.
“Nick is one of a kind, and all of us who have had the pleasure of getting to know him are grateful for the experience. Our firm is in a far better place than it would be without Nick’s special touch and strategic vision, and we are pleased that he will continue to play a key role within our firm as well as in the Australian leadership transition”, Segerdahl said.
Nichola described being able to lead the firm’s Australia branch as “an important career highlight”.
“It has been an honour and privilege to hold the position of regional managing partner, Australia. I consider it an important career highlight to have led K&L Gates' entry, consolidation, and expansion into the Australian market. The firm has gone through a tremendous period of growth and repositioning in the past decade and is, I believe, ideally placed to continue its trajectory”, he said.
