Maddison Hardiman, Matthew Roberts, Mitch Robertson also elevated
DLA Piper has announced the promotion of five lawyers across the Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney offices to the global law firm’s partnership, effective 1 May 2026: Sarah Birkett, Conor Dolphin, Maddison Hardiman, Matthew Roberts, and Mitch Robertson.
“These promotions recognise lawyers who are already making a strong impact with clients and within the firm,” said Shane Bilardi, DLA Piper’s Australian managing partner, in a news release.
The Australian promotions were part of DLA Piper’s recent round of promotions to its global partnership. This year, the batch of elevations impacted 62 lawyers, including 24 in the US, 14 in Continental Europe, nine in the UK, and six in Canada.
“We are deliberately investing in areas where our clients are driving transformation and dealing with change, whether that is the energy transition, technology‑driven change or managing growth in complex markets,” Bilardi said in the firm’s news release.
Apart from these promotions, DLA Piper highlighted its recent announcement of the addition of Nikki van der Meer, a liquefied natural gas and energy lawyer, as a Perth-based partner as of 2 June 2026.
Birkett is an intellectual property and technology partner and head of DLA Piper’s Australian data, privacy, and cybersecurity practice. She has assisted with high‑risk and business‑critical technology and compliance issues.
Dolphin’s work has covered private mergers and acquisitions, private equity, venture capital, corporate restructurings, governance and commercial matters. His client base in Australia and beyond has spanned the technology, pharma, healthcare, and energy sectors.
He will remain as a senior associate (partner-elect) until his eligibility for partnership in Australia in the third quarter of this year.
As a corporate lawyer, Hardiman has worked across the renewable energy and infrastructure sectors. He has guided renewable energy project developers, financial sponsors, buyers, and sellers throughout the full lifecycle of energy and infrastructure projects and transactions.
With experience in the energy and natural resources sector, Roberts has advised on the early‑stage development of hard‑rock exploration and mining projects.
His assistance has spanned the full lifecycle, including securing tenure, handling regulatory approvals, structuring commercial arrangements, and interacting with government agencies, regulators, native title parties, and other land users.
As an employment lawyer, Robertson has helped domestic and international organisations with sensitive and business‑critical workforce strategy, employment risk, and workplace adjustments across the energy and resources, retail, technology, transport, and logistics sectors.
