Norton Rose Fulbright promotes 42 in mostly-female Aussie round

The latest promotions at Norton Rose Fulbright in Australia have been dominated by women.

Sixty-nine percent of the 42 lawyers promoted to special counsel (14) and senior associate (28) are women.

The promotions are from across several practice areas in the firm’s Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney offices.

“This new group of senior lawyers will play an important role in helping to drive the continued growth and success of our business for the benefit of our Australian and global clients. Each has made a strong case for promotion, and it is particularly pleasing to see our strong mentoring program for female lawyers result in nearly 70 per cent of these new roles going to women,” commented Wayne Spanner, Norton Rose Fulbright managing partner in Australia.

Those promoted are:

Banking and finance

• Melissa Gardiner (Special counsel, Perth)
• Ben Fisher (Senior associate, Banking turnaround and insolvency, Sydney)
• Kellie Link (Senior associate, Financial restructuring and insolvency, Perth)
• Gareth Munnick (Senior associate, Sydney)
• Nadia Randello (Senior associate, Banking turnaround and insolvency, Sydney)
• Jenna Scott (Senior associate, Financial restructuring and insolvency, Melbourne)
• Cate Shirley (Senior associate, Sydney)
• Hoda Solaymani-Jamal (Senior associate, Financial restructuring and insolvency, Melbourne)

Construction and engineering

• Luke van Grieken (Special counsel, Melbourne)
• Ilinka Manojlovic (Special counsel, Sydney)
• James Weirick (Special counsel, Sydney)
• Stephanie Cameron (Senior associate, Melbourne)
• Kim Wilson (Senior associate, Melbourne)
• Corporate, M&A and securities
• Tatiana Gotvig (Special counsel, Sydney)
• Edward Odendaal (Senior associate, Sydney)
• William Nicolson (Senior associate, Sydney)
• Rohan Sridhar (Senior associate, Melbourne)

Dispute resolution and litigation

• Prue Egan (Special counsel, Sydney)
• Jack Pembroke-Birss (Special counsel, Sydney)
• Peter Richard (Special counsel, Sydney)
• Caitlin Brown (Senior associate, Melbourne)
• Jethro Ellinghaus (Senior associate, Melbourne)
• Lauren Gamble (Senior associate, Brisbane)
• Lauren Gore (Senior associate, Perth)
• Jenna Relton (Senior associate, Sydney)

Employment and labour

• Annika Martz (Special counsel, Sydney)
• Joanna MacKenzie (Senior associate, Sydney)

Environment and planning

• Sonali Seneviratne (Senior associate, Sydney)

Insurance

• Brooke Grealy (Special counsel, Melbourne)
• Sarah Metcalfe (Special counsel, Melbourne)
• Lauren Ritchie (Special counsel, Melbourne)
• Riley Gay (Senior associate, Melbourne)
• Mary-Kate Rankin (Senior associate, Sydney)
• Katie Sutherland (Senior associate, Melbourne)
• Melissa Tan (Senior associate, Sydney)

Intellectual Property

• Rebecca Brenikov (Senior associate, Sydney)
• Kerri Lambrianidis (Senior associate, Melbourne)
• Harrison Ottaway (Senior associate, Melbourne)
• Alyson Poole (Senior associate, Sydney)

Real estate

• Malerie Durham (Special counsel, Perth)
• Kara Brands (Senior associate, Sydney)

Tax

• Adam Smith (Special counsel, Melbourne)

US law firm M&A heading for record year
The number of mergers and acquisitions in the legal profession in the US is heading for a record high.

At the midpoint of 2018 there have been 51 US law firm mergers with 21 of those in the second quarter.

The figures from Altman Weil MergerLine reveal that the Q2 deals were mostly regional firm combinations and although 81% of the deals involved smaller firms, those involving larger firms were significant.

"We've gotten used to the constant drumbeat of law firm combinations, but what's new is the size of some firms being acquired," says Altman Weil principal Eric Seeger. “Already this year, four US law firms, each with over a hundred lawyers, have traded their independence for the security and heft of a larger platform. That says a lot about the intensity of market competition in 2018."

There was just one cross-border deal; the 1,500-lawyer, AmLaw 100 law firm Littler Mendelson added a new European office by acquiring 8-lawyer Dutch labor and employment boutique CLINT in Amsterdam.

LOD makes appointment to drive managed solutions
The managed solutions division of Lawyers on Demand will be led by its newly-appointed Service Development Director.

Nigel Rea joins from LexisNexis but trained in business development at Allen & Overy.

Increased demand from clients for managed solutions - teams of lawyers augmented by technology, data and project management – means this area of LOD’s business is expected to be a major growth area for the firm.