ALB 10.4 by Thomson Reuters ALB

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS

ALB CAREERS GUIDE: SALARY & STATE BY STATE ANALYSIS

AUSTRALASIAN

LEGAL BUSINESS

www.legalbusinessonline.com ISSUE 10.4 MAY 2012

MAY 2012 CAREERS GUIDE

Linklaters > < Allens Allens> <Linklaters

INSURANCE WOMEN IN LAW

NEITHER ARTHUR NOR MARTHA Is Allens hedging its bets? 2012 ALB AWARDS:

SPECIAL PROFILE:

INSURANCE LAW:

PAGE 58

PAGE 20

PAGE 24

Revealed: the judges’ finalists in each category

Philippa Stone, Freehills: Keeping up with the Stones

Around the firms; expert comentary

ISSUE 10.4 ISSUE 10.1

Congratulations!

DAVID HOLDEN

NICK HEGAN

BRONWYN CARRUTHERS

DEEMPLE BUDHIA

MEI FERN JOHNSON

Russell McVeagh is delighted to welcome five new partners. David Holden – Infrastructure/PPP, Bronwyn Carruthers – Resource Management, Deemple Budhia – Finance, Mei Fern Johnson and Nick Hegan – both Corporate Advisory Group, were all formerly associates of the firm. Mei Fern and Nick are based in the firm’s Wellington office, David, Bronwyn and Deemple are in Auckland.

www.russellmcveagh.com AU C K L A N D V E RO C E N T R E 4 8 S H O R T L A N D S T R E E T P O B OX 8 AU C K L A N D N E W Z E A L A N D DX C X 1 0 0 8 5 T E L E P H O N E 6 4 9 3 67 8 0 0 0 FA X 6 4 9 3 67 8 1 63

W E L L I N G TO N VO DA FO N E O N T H E Q UAY 15 7 L A M B TO N Q UAY P O B OX 1 0 -2 1 4 W E L L I N G TO N N E W Z E A L A N D DX S X 1 1 1 8 9 P H O N E 6 4 4 4 9 9 9 555 FA X 6 4 4 4 9 9 9 55 6

CONTENTS

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

“IF I WAS SOLELY AN M&A LAWYER I WOULD HAVE HAD A LEAN TIME IN 2009. ON THE OTHER HAND, IF I’D BEEN SOLELY AN ECM LAWYER I WOULDN’T HAVE HAD MUCH TO DO IN THE LAST TWO YEARS, PARTICULARLY AFTER ALL THE RAISINGS IN 2009…” Philippa Stone, Freehills

NEWS DEALS

COVER STORY

LEAGUE TABLES

ALLENS LINKLATERS Does Allens’ new alliance raise more questions than answers? ALB investigates.

In case you missed it…..

THE MONTH’S TOP HEADLINES FROM WWW.LEGALBUSINESSONLINE.COM

AUSTRALIAN HEADLINES

ASIA HEADLINES

STORY OF THE MONTH

ASIA STORY OF THE MONTH

Allens unveils Linklaters alliance Allens Arthur Robinson has unveiled a new alliance with Magic Circle firm Linklaters. The arrangement will see the firms retain their separate identities and partnerships in Australia and the UK, but form an integrated joint venture in Asia and a separate structure in Indonesia for regulatory reasons. However, the joint venture will focus on energy, resources and infrastructure work only and Asia practices outside these areas will continue to operate in their current form.

Watch out Mallies: Chinese lawyers swear allegiance to the Communist Party In a move which has provoked much ironic comment directed at King & Wood Mallesons in Australia, the Chinese Ministry of Justice has introduced a requirement that lawyers swear allegiance to the Communist Party. The measure will apply to newly qualified lawyers and lawyers renewing their practice certificates. The Ministry said that the oath was necessary to “firmly establish among the vast circle of lawyers faith in socialism with Chinese characteristics.”

5 April

Brisbane, Perth next for Colin Biggers & Paisley CBP managing partner Dunstan de Souza has foreshadowed more growth for CBP with a target of 40 partners by the start of next year. The Sydney-based firm will merge with Monahan + Rowell in Melbourne on June 1 and will ultimately also look to grow its geographical presence in Brisbane and Perth, according to de Souza.

3 April

AMP GC mandates outsourcing AMP general counsel Brian Salter has said that firms which do not have an LPO offering will be unlikely to secure major litigation work at his company. “I don’t necessarily mean an Indian or offshore alternative but a specialist provider for litigation,” he said. Salter has also spoken to his team about engaging a firm for litigation that is not on the panel, such as Corrs Chambers Westgarth, as a result of them having not one, but two LPO agreements. “I have indicated to my people that we would consider them, for our next major piece of litigation,” said Salter.

2 April

McCullough Robertson eyes Sydney growth In a reversal of the usual trend of Sydney and Melbourne firms heading North, McCullough Roberston has revealed that it has prioritised Sydney as its next growth market. The Brisbane firm moved into new Sydney premises earlier this year and told ALB that it expects to accommodate up to 36 lawyers there. Real estate partner Brett Hawkins has relocated to Sydney.

4 April

Hong Kong: RPC poaches Clyde & Co partners The Hong Kong office of Clyde & Co is in disarray following the poaching of four partners by London-based RPC in order to launch an Hong Kong office. Three other Hong Kong partners have left Clyde & Co for Bird & Bird and Simmons & Simmons.

19 March

Chinese firm enters New York Chinese firm Yingke has announced the opening of an office in New York. The primary purpose of the office will be to assist clients in identifying suitable U.S. legal advisors and the firm does not expect to provide U.S. advice itself.

16 March

Clifford Chance Asia managing partner arrested after car crash Clifford Chance Asia head Peter Charlton has been arrested on suspicion of drink driving after being involved in a traffic accident in Hong Kong. Formal charges are yet to be laid and Legal Week has reported that Charlton is back at work at Clifford Chance.

8 March

Indonesia tightens screws on foreign miners While the Australian government has been criticised for introducing the new mining tax, other countries appear to be following suit. Indonesia has issued a presidential decree instructing foreign mining investors to reduce their share ownership to 49 percent within 10 years from the date of production commencement at prescribed mining projects. Some lawyers have spoken against the change, arguing that they will close the door on foreign investment.

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ALB SPECIAL FOCUS

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

WIMIN IN LAW

WIMMYN IN LAW

WOMEN IN LAW THIS MONTH, ALB ATTEMPTS TO TAKE THE “MEN” OUT OF THE EQUATION AND SPEAKS WITH SOME HIGH PROFILE WOMEN ABOUT DIVERSITY AND FEMALE PARTICIPATION AT THE HIGHEST LEVELS OF THE PROFESSION.

t is with some trepidation that ALB set about approaching firms for an in-depth look at the issue of female participation in the legal profession. Frankly, there is an element of embarrassment at play here: turning up at Freehills to ask top flight M&A specialist Philippa Stone about the sisterhood, for example, was not a moment likely to feature in the ALB annals of journalistic excellence. For the record, Stone accepted the request for commentary with due grace and you can read her thoughts on diversity – as well as M&A and capital markets – later in this issue. We hope we got the balance right. Diversity is a topic which lends itself to difficulties with perception. It is easy to take a headline diversity metric – for example, the percentage of females at partnership level – and to use it to build the case that corporate law firms are actively discriminating against women. The statistics (see table at right) seem to support this theory, with women clearly under-represented at the partnership level at all the top firms. This pattern is well known; the criticisms against law firms and indeed corporate Australasia at large are familiar. Add to the mix the occasional high profile sexual harassment case and there is a real concern about how the current generation of female law graduates

perceive the profession and their own career prospects within it. We hope that by inviting high profile women to comment on their own experiences of the profession, we can provide some kind of counterpoint. This is not a comprehensive analysis by any means, but it is a start. We have followed the lead of some of our rival publications by publishing statistics, firm by firm, on female partnership representation. We do this with some reluctance – the increasing prevalence of these kinds of tables carries the risk that firms will be tempted to skew their promotions with a view to improving their diversity metrics, a practice which is ultimately in the interests of neither the firm nor the person being promoted. However, that metaphorical horse has already left the stable and perhaps it is sufficient to publish this information with a clear caveat that we offer neither commendation nor criticism of any firm’s performance. Discrimination may be one possible explanation for a low level of female participation, but it is only one of many.Justice Julie Ward, one of our interviewees for this feature, makes some valuable observations about the more subtle explanatory factors which may warrant more attention. Over the years, ALB itself has been accused of having a distinctly male bias, with one reader memorably writing in to describe ALB as “a big law firm wank”. It is not clear which noun “big” was qualifying, but we get the general message. The dominance of the suits in ALB is partly due to the high level of airtime given to managing partners and CEPs: with some notable exceptions such as Henry Davis York’s Sharon Cook, these individuals are almost inevitably male. However, we do recognise that the “it is what it is” defence is hardly a complete response in this context and hope that this feature will be the start of a sustained attempt to reflect the full diversity of the profession in ALB. We won’t be publishing any tables or metrics about our efforts – but the intent is there.

ALB SPECIAL FOCUS

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

DIVERSITY METRICS AT LARGE FIRMS ALB approached all firms on the ALB 30 list of Australia and New Zealand’s largest law firms. Not all firms on the list responded to the survey and it should be noted that there may be firms with higher diversity and more generous parental leave allowances than those indicated here – omission from this list is not intended to be a commentary on firm performance. Number of partners as at March 2012

Number of female partners

% female

Paid parental leave allowance (in weeks) Note: These figures represent the maximum allowance at each firm, at full pay. Eligibility may depend on length of continuous service

Allens Arthur Robinson

178

18 weeks

Ashurst

178

18 weeks

Bell Gully

not disclosed

Buddle Findlay

12 weeks

Chapman Tripp

12 weeks

Clayton Utz

18 weeks

Corrs Chambers Westgarth

122

18 weeks

DLA Piper

112

14 weeks

Freehills

191

18 weeks

Gadens

133

0 - 14 weeks*

Gilbert + Tobin

18 weeks

Henry Davis York

12 weeks

Holding Redlich

16 weeks

Hunt & Hunt

12 weeks

HWL Ebsworth

142

18 weeks

King & Wood Mallesons

159

18 weeks

Lander & Rogers

20 weeks**

Maddocks

12 weeks

McCullough Robertson

12 weeks

Minter Ellison

230

14 weeks

Moray & Agnew

12 weeks

Norton Rose

148

18 weeks

Sparke Helmore

14 weeks

Firm Name

*varies between states **on a sliding scale depending on years of continuous service. 18 weeks after five years and 20 weeks after 10 years.

WOMEN IN LAW

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

WOMEN IN LAW Q&A: JUSTICE JULIE WARD, NSWSC JUSTICE JULIE WARD OF THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES SPEAKS WITH ALB ABOUT DIVERSITY AND PARTICULARLY FEMALE PARTICIPATION IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION.

ALB: How well are Australian law firms performing against diversity and female participation objectives? JW: I am not able to comment on the performance of Australian law firms against diversity objectives generally – as opposed to diversity objectives in relation to the participation of women in the profession – although my involvement in recruitment of legal staff while I was a partner of Mallesons Stephen Jaques (now King & Wood Mallesons) would lead me to conclude that law firms have for some time been concerned to ensure diversity in terms not only of gender but also of other attributes of their lawyers. The importance of diversity in the community being mirrored in the legal profession cannot be underestimated, just as the import of diversity on the bench in the public acceptance of the administration of justice has been recognised – see the discussion by the Hon Dyson Heydon writing extra-judicially in Rediscovering Rhetoric. In terms of the participation of women in the legal profession and the performance of law firms against that objective there has been a very recent and comprehensive attempt to measure this. The Thought Leadership initiative of the Law Society of New South Wales in 2011 was to spearhead a programme

focussing on the advancement of women in the legal profession. A report was published in December 2011, analysing the statistics on the participation of women at a senior level in law firms in New South Wales, commenting on the anecdotal and survey evidence as to the underlying reasons for those statistics and making recommendations for further review. Relevantly, as at the time the report was published, the statistics in New South Wales (and there seems no reason to suggest that these would be vastly different or worse than those in other jurisdictions in Australia) suggest that while, overall, there has been an increase in the proportion of women in the legal profession since 2005, and there has been some change over that period in the participation of women at a senior level in law firms, there remains a pattern whereby over time more women leave private practice than do their male counterparts. Statistically, the number of female partners in mid tier to large law firms remains somewhere between just under 20 percent and 25 percent. Henry Davis York consistently performs at the upper end of that range and receives well deserved accolades as an Employer of Choice for Women and, perhaps not coincidentally, is the only one of the large law firms to have a female managing partner in recent years. Statistics, however, never tell the whole story. What I consider to be the most encouraging aspect of the performance of Australian law firms in relation to the issue of female participation in the profession is the fact that this issue is so prominently on the agenda of a large number of those firms. There is no easy answer to the question why women at senior associate level in the legal profession are not progressing to partnership at the same rate as the men. My observation is that this cannot be dismissed as solely attributable to conscious or unconscious discrimination (although that may well be a factor) but that it also is attributable to factors

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

WOMEN IN LAW

such as the structure of law firms and the expectations placed on lawyers working within them. Sharon Cook, the managing partner of Henry Davis York advocates the need to change the “male prism” through which performance in law firms is assessed.

Photography by Thilo Pulch

Is there evidence of direct discrimination against women in Australian law firms and if so is it widespread? JW: I am not aware of widespread instances of direct discrimination against women in Australian law firms. That is not to say that from time to time there may not be such instances. However, had there been a widespread practice in this regard I would have expected it to have been the subject of public comment by now. Of the limited number of cases in which claims of that kind are reported, it could not be said that there is widespread evidence of direct discrimination. Further, in the absence of positive findings of direct discrimination, it is difficult to draw conclusions as to what underlies complaints of discrimination. Is it arguable that women are under-represented at senior levels of corporate Australia because they choose not to seek those roles? JW: According to figures compiled by the Australian Institute of Company Directors, as at January 2012, women now make up 13.5 percent of ASX200 directorships. The institute’s chief executive, John Colvin, has been quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald as saying that the size of the move – 29 percent of ASX200 appointments last year were women, compared with 25 percent the year before – had surprised him. “You are talking about 30 percent of all new board appointments being female and I think that is an extraordinary change in the way this has worked,” he said. “The directors themselves have got behind it, changing the culture of their own boards and that sends a message not just in their own companies, but I think Australia-wide. They haven’t been given the credit they deserve.” I note that there are organisations that now actively promote the appointment of women to senior management and Board roles and the debate as to the need or otherwise for mandatory quotas supports the conclusion that there is a perception of underrepresentation that needs to be addressed. Anecdotally, I am aware of the difficulties that can be faced by senior women in the corporate world seeking Board and other positions and the call for stronger networking in order to enable women to take up such opportunities. As to whether this is due to a choice not to pursue those roles, I am not really in a position to comment save that I am aware of women who are seeking such roles and have not had the easiest of times finding them. If the position is analogous to that of senior lawyers in private practice, then I think choice is likely to be a real contributing factor. The generation of women after me has, probably quite sensibly,

“What I consider to be the most encouraging aspect of the performance of Australian law firms in relation to the issue of female participation in the profession is the fact that this issue is so prominently on the agenda of a large number of those firms.” tended to eschew the suggestion that women can be and do all things. Certainly, it is not uncommon for senior female practitioners to look for part time and flexible working arrangements when they have family responsibilities (increasing numbers of men do too, I hasten to add). Is there anything about typical professional services firm model that is inherently biased against female participation at senior levels? JW: Sharon Cook’s paper at the launch of the Thought Initiative report seems to me to

WOMEN IN LAW

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

be apposite here. She speaks of the male prism of leadership that can constrain the promotion of women – namely, the 24/7 work ethic; the stigmatism of flexibility; the attitude to the expression of emotion; emphasis on numeracy and billings; and the emphasis on attributes stereotypically seen as positive attributes for men (but not always seen as equally positive for women), such as exaggerated or aggressive forms of communication; and the collegiate (or other) styles adopted in the workplace. It seems to me that there is a risk inherent in generalisation as to factors such as these – namely, that it reinforces the stereotypical thinking that may make it difficult for women to progress in the first place. However, the ready acceptance by audiences largely comprised of women as to a number of those factors suggests that there is a male prism of leadership that is alive and kicking and that exhibits one or other of the above features. Structural barriers to promotion are more demonstrable – the cost of childcare; the level of parental leave available in the workplace; the support or otherwise of flexible work practices; and the presence or

Women in Law

Our Women in Leadership

otherwise of performance indicators that value contributions other than simply financial contributions within the law firms. Are M&A corporate practices male dominated and, if so, is this a problem? JW: My observation is that the corporate work place within law firms has changed and that it is no longer the case that M&A/financial or corporate practices are dominated by male lawyers. To the extent that it is the case then the downside is the potential impact on female participation or promotion within those groups if this leads to a lack of role models and networking opportunities within the group – although again there is nothing to suggest that men cannot be excellent role models for their female counterparts. How would you describe representation of women at the judicial level? JW: What can I say? The former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the Hon James Spigelman AO QC, said at his farewell ceremony that the increased representation of women on the Supreme Court bench was one of his achievements in office. There are certainly far more women in judicial office now than has been the case in the past. It takes no more than a look at the composition of the High Court bench to show how things have changed. However, when I posed this question to a senior judicial officer, the response was an automatic “there are not enough”. Suffice it to say, that when asked to describe the representation of women at a judicial level, my answer would be “improving”.

Diana Lohrisch Graduate 1998 Partner 2005 Head of Food and Agribusiness group 2008 – current Executive member 2009 – 2011

Winning awards means so much more to us than just having another plaque to put on the wall. The awards are recognition of some long held beliefs which are central to our culture. At McCullough Robertson we believe in providing early opportunity and challenging our people to be the

Australasian Law Awards

Brisbane | Sydney | Newcastle

www.mccullough.com.au

Kristen Podagiel Graduate 2001 Partner 2007 Executive member 2011 – current

best. We recognise potential and reward ability. We’re proud of the citations we’ve won for Employer of Choice for Women. But we’re even prouder of the many achievements of our people. From graduate to partnership to leadership, McCullough Robertson is an employer of choice for all.

IN-HOUSE ISSUES

AUSTRALASIAN L AW AWA RD S 2012 24 MAY 2012, SYDNEY’S PRESTIGIOUS TOWN HALL

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visit www.albawards.com for more info

PROFILE

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

SPECIAL PROFILE: PHILIPPA STONE, FREEHILLS

KEEPING UP WITH THE STONES EVEN RIVAL FIRMS GRUDGINGLY ADMIT THAT FREEHILLS’ PHILIPPA STONE IS ONE OF THE LEADING LIGHTS OF THE PROFESSION. SHE SPEAKS WITH ALB ABOUT EQUITY RAISINGS, M&A AND DIVERSITY IN THE AUSTRALIAN MARKET.

ALB: You’ve been described as a leading advisor in not only the equity markets (ECM) space, but also M&A. How do these two areas interact with each other? PS: They are different skills but there are significant overlaps – for example the disclosure requirements for an equity issue are basically identical to those applying to a scrip merger. Also, you often get ECM in an M&A context – the need for equity often follows an M&A transaction. In fact, one of the fun things is structuring financing to maximise efficiency in connection with an acquisition, particularly in a competitive bidding situation. I started as an M&A lawyer. Then my practice became predominantly ECM, but I continued to do major M&A throughout that time, and in the past couple of years there has been significantly more M&A than ECM. I think it’s common in the Australian market for people to do both, perhaps more so than overseas. There’s less opportunity for extreme specialisation in Australia.

If I was solely an M&A lawyer I would have had a lean time in 2009. On the other hand, if I’d been solely an ECM lawyer I wouldn’t have had much to do in the last two years, particularly after all the raisings in 2009 – those issuers are now well capitalised, and the recovery of the debt markets has also ensured they don’t need to come back to the equity market. ALB: A number of ECM/M& A lawyers have been disappointed with the level of work on offer so far this year. What has been your experience? PS: It depends on the sector. For example resources, and particularly coal, has been extremely active. There has been much more M&A than equity markets work, although we have had a spate of hybrid offerings over the last few weeks. The hybrids we have done this year have been interesting because many are designed in the same way as an institutional hybrid we did for Santos about a year and a half ago, which at the time was quite novel and qualified for 100 percent equity credit for ratings purposes. Some of the recent ones also have that feature, but are being sold to retail investors. We’re still seeing interest from clients in M&A, especially foreign interest in Australian assets and also a cautious resurgence in acquisitions by Australian companies. I’ve found M&A to be strong over the last couple of years, but with little associated ECM work because the acquirers are mostly from offshore, so any required equity has been raised overseas.

Photography by Thilo Pulch

PROFILE

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

IN-HOUSE Q&A

In your opinion, why have in-house lawyers become an increasingly indispensable part of an organisation?

ALB: Has the arrival of Chi-X in Australia made much impact on the market and the way you advise clients? PS: There are no companies listed on Chi-X, but Chi-X is trading ASX200 stocks. Because there are no listings on Chi-X, there is no change to compliance with listing rules and those sorts of matters, although issues may arise in terms of the market integrity rules. And Chi-X is also relevant in terms of trading volumes when you are using volume weighted average prices or conversion formulae. When you’re talking about the market, you’re not just talking about the ASX price – if you want to get a more representative price you have to take Chi-X into account.

The changes to the economic and legal landscape has in my view seen an increase in an organisation’s need to have a greater understanding and ability to manage and respond to the day to day legal matters, non-financial risks and regulatory compliance issues. Therefore, organisations are making in-house lawyers an increasingly indispensable advisor that will not only assist them to manage the day to day regulatory compliance matter, legal issues, and risks, but also be a resource that can provide effective advice to assist its senior management or executive team to make informed strategic choices within an acceptable legal and risk profile. Secondly, while an organisation may indentify its need to better understand and effectively manage its day to day legal matters and risks, the current economic landscape also demands that this must be done efficiently, by keeping the bottom line in check. Therefore, those organisations that traditionally outsourced their legal matters to external law firms have indentified that by virtue of the in-house lawyer gaining an intimate understanding of the business, such as what drives the bottom line, pressure points ,and strategy, they are able to provide the valued advice within the desired business efficiencies. The challenge for the in-house lawyer of course is to find the balance between providing effective advice with cost efficiencies and getting the organisation to understand this balance.

ALB: What trends have you seen in the listing of companies? PS: There is no doubt that there has been very little listing activity in Australia over the past few years, with the resources sector being one of the only bright spots. We acted on the Aston Resources IPO, which is one of the larger ones in recent times, and which has been very successful. Even outside this sector most of the IPOs that have been successful have some exposure to resources. Australia offers reasonable multiples for mining companies in the development phase, and in many cases better multiples than foreign markets, although we often find that issuers who are considering an ASX listing may also have considered Toronto or Hong Kong as alternatives. People can also dual list, but the market will always determine which is the most natural market and then liquidity will always go there. Unless there are very specific reasons for the dual listing it is often more trouble than it is worth.

Katherine Clark Legal Counsel

Clark Rubber Franchising

In recent times, the role of the General Counsel has diversified into a multi-faceted role, (where the General Counsel can wear the ‘hat’ of Lawyer, Legal Manager, Compliance Manager, and Company Secretary). In your opinion, do you believe this has increased your risk profile?

Without a doubt. As in-house lawyers are becoming the trusted advisor and not the hurdle to overcome, there is an increasing pressure for them to become involved in other non-legal commercial roles within an organisation. Commonly, these non-legal roles, such as Compliance Manager or Company Secretary bore some natural connection to the in-house lawyer’s role. However, some organisations are asking their in-house lawyers to step up to perform other roles and/or functions that are traditionally not related to the legal or compliance function, such as performing some of the functions of the Human Resource Manager. Essentially undertaking even greater commercial functions within the business, and the more commercial functions the in-house lawyer is asked to undertake only further increases the risk of the in-house lawyer’s independence being brought into question and therefore, increasing the risk of any professional privilege being lost.

In your opinion, what do you consider to be the main challenges you will face in 2012 ?

Maintaining a balance in managing the organisation’s legal resources effectively in order to manage the ever increasing legal issues and risks, and respond to regulatory compliance matters on behalf of the organisation efficiently. JLegal is a global specialist legal recruitment consultancy focused solely on providing recruitment solutions to the legal profession.For a confidential discussion about your career, contact one of our senior consultants today. www.jlegal.com

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ALB: International firms appear to be arguing that they are better placed to serve Australian corporates because they bring global expertise to the table. What is the counter-argument, from the point of view of an Australian top tier advisor? PS: I don’t think that’s right, particularly in the area of regulated M&A or capital markets work, where you really do need specifically Australian expertise. It’s not a case of applying, for example New York law to an Australian situation. We’ve got a very black letter set of takeover laws, as well as a highly specific Takeovers Panel overlay, which now has a deep history of decisions. Australian ECM laws and practice are quite different here too. ALB: Practice areas such as banking & finance and corporate are sometimes perceived to be male dominated. Is this perception accurate in your view? PS: There’s no divide of that kind at Freehills. I couldn’t say whether that’s the case at other firms, although perhaps it’s true that on transactions, you’re more likely to have a male on the other side of the table. ALB: Do you believe there are any obstacles preventing women from achieving their full potential in corporate law firms? PS: More than half of our lawyers at the senior associate and special counsel level and close to half of our recent partner promotions are women. But we really don’t think that way about it, and I think that’s the right way to be. Women succeed at Freehills because they are good, not because there is a quota.Whether you’re

PROFILE

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

“PEOPLE CAN ALSO DUAL LIST, BUT THE MARKET WILL ALWAYS DETERMINE WHICH IS THE MOST NATURAL MARKET AND THEN LIQUIDITY WILL ALWAYS GO THERE. UNLESS THERE ARE VERY SPECIFIC REASONS FOR THE DUAL LISTING IT IS OFTEN MORE TROUBLE THAN IT IS WORTH.” male or female is not an important issue in Freehills. I’ve never experienced discrimination in all my time at Freehills – it’s not that sort of place. To give you an example, I am on one of the floors where there are a number of partners specialising in regulated M&A and ECM work. Walking around the floor from my office, the next partners’ offices that you would come to would be Nicola Yeomans, Rebecca Maslen-Stannage and Fiona Gardiner-Hill, with Rebecca and Fiona being among our most senior M&A partners, along with others like Tony Damian and Andrew Pike. ALB: Top tier lawyers are well known for working long hours. Realistically, is this likely to change in the foreseeable future?

PS: We love what we do, but it can be high pressure and the hours are part of that. However, we do manage some flexibility and we don’t work hard all the time. We have some lawyers who work part time, and also everyone has times when they need to be home at four in the afternoon, or they need to work from home. We try to make sure we always have a team on each matter that provides coverage and instant response to the client, but still allows people in the team to have some flexibility – it’s a balance. We never get it exactly right, but we try. ALB: It appears that some clients are requiring law firms to demonstrate some kind of diversity policy before they engage that firm. Have you seen much of this in your practice area? PS: I haven’t seen a great deal of it, however it does come up with government work and occasionally on formal panel processes.

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INSURANCE

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

INSURANCE:

Still primed for growth WHILE INSURANCE MAY HAVE BEEN THE WEAKEST LINK IN MANY LARGE LAW FIRMS, THOSE STILL IN THE GAME ARE REAPING THE BENEFITS OF STICKING WITH THE INDUSTRY, WRITES OLIVIA COLLINGS

INSURANCE

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

INSURANCE LEGAL MARKET SNAPSHOT Number of partners

Number of lawyers + partners

Colin Biggers & Paisley (CBP)

12*

53*

Directors & officers, financial institutions, health and medical, product liability, professional indemnity, reinsurance

Curwoods Lawyers

Directors & officers, public risk, professional indemnity, property & industrial, motor vehicle (CTP), workplace insurance, life and disability, financial lines

DLA Piper

250

Insurance, reinsurance and litigation

Accident compensation, professional negligence, insurance litigation and indemnity disputes, risk and claims management

Moray & Agnew

206

Directors & officers, catastrophic claims, motor vehicle law, financial lines, professional indemnity, property & ISR claims, public & product liability

Sparke Helmore

150

Policy interpretation, claims management, litigation, industrial and safety law, class actions, aviation, and general liability, directors & officers, professional indemnity

Wotton + Kearney

Construction and contract works, directors and officers, professional indemnity, property, public and products liability, reinsurance and regulation, trade and transport, Industrial Special Risks (ISR)

Firm

Herbert Geer

Key focus areas

* all figures in table relate to insurance specialists only.

he insurance legal sector is going through what can only be described as busy period on the back of natural disasters, financial collapses, an aggressive plaintiff market and a volatile economy. Insurance firms and practices across the country are expecting the market conditions to produce higher revenues and growing headcounts in this financial year as in other recent years. According to managing partner at Colin Biggers & Paisley (CBP), Dunstan de Souza, the firm’s insurance practice will expect to see revenue increase 40 percent at least this financial year on the back of seven new insurance partners, a majority of whom will come from Monahan + Rowell in Melbourne which is set to merge with CBP on June 1. De Souza says the insurance group has seen marginal increases in revenue for the past several years. Specialist insurance law firms Curwoods and Wotton + Kearney are also expecting revenue growth in the 2012 financial year, after several years of significant growth. “We are on track for revenue growth of nine percent,” said managing partner at Curwoods, Scott Kennedy. This is a conservative growth increase for the firm, which has in the past five years seen year on year revenue increase of more than 15 percent. At Herbert Geer workplace and insurance practice head Cameron Roberts is expecting “incremental increases” in revenue this year. “We are a growing practice, as we are expanding into new areas of work,” he says. The practice has picked up several new clients in the past year, and is expecting additional clients later in the year as a result of some panel reviews currently underway and on the horizon. Sparke Helmore’s insurance group, the largest practice in the firm, has also seen more demand for advice and as a result is expecting further revenue growth this financial year. National insurance and risk group head Rhett Slocombe says the practice generates approximately 60 percent of the firm’s fees, despite

accounting for less than 50 percent of the partnership. He is expecting the practice to grow even more in the next 12 months as a result of the change in the claims environment. “Our growth is a reflection of the growth in professional indemnity, D&O and commercial lines claims,” he says. “We have also picked up a number of significant panel appointments.” International law firm, DLA Piper’s insurance group is also expecting a buoyant year across the Asia Pacific region. “Our practice is continuing to experience revenue growth with a strong pipeline of work in litigation, regulatory and corporate insurance,” says Australian-based DLA Piper Michael Down. “A key driver of growth flows from our integration with DLA Piper last year, as the insurance sector is one of six global sectors of focus for our firm.” Australian partner John Goulios was seconded late last year by the Singapore office of DLA Piper to assist with the growth and development of the insurance practice across the Asia-Pacific region according to the firm. BURGEONING PRACTICES The two core reasons for insurance firms and practices increasing revenue are more clients and more work from existing clients according to those in the field. Little surprise when one considers the multitude of events impacting on

INSURANCE

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

workload to the financial lines claims, as well as Employment Practices Liability (EPL) claims and property liability claims. “Economic conditions and the financial situation since 2008, has contributed to that – more claims against banks, financial institutions and brokers,” he says. According to Kennedy, all practice areas have experienced increased activity levels during this financial year. “The most significant increase in activity by volume has been in Comprehensive Third Party (CTP) and Workers Compensation. Commercial and professional indemnity have grown, but through larger more complex matters,” he states. “CTP and workers compensation will also continue to grow as areas as they are being focused on by plaintiff law firms.” Roberts says the insurance industry always picks up when the economy slows, as it has in recent years. Added to this is the fact that Australia and New Zealand have been hit with major national disasters in the past three years. ”Natural disasters will always generate work for insurance lawyers,” he states. “I would imagine growth in work associated with the spate of disasters here in recent years in the coming year.” Price also expects more work to arise in the property area as a result of natural disasters: “The most likely area where we will see an increase in work is in the property related classes of business. Recovery actions arising out of the Queensland floods and the New Zealand earthquakes are the drivers behind this.”

Cathyrn Prowse – Colin Biggers & Paisley

insurers in the past five years including the global financial crisis, natural disasters, changes in legislation and a slowing domestic economy. “Financial lines claims, particularly involving financial planners and valuers, are very much on the rise as losses start to crystallise,” says Wotton + Kearney chief operating officer Andrew Price. “And I suspect that it will continue for some time.” Slocombe also attributes the increased

PEOPLE POWER With all this revenue growth and additional work it’s unsurprising that insurance firms and practices are increasing their head counts. “Our lawyer headcount will increase approximately 20 percent this financial year,” says Price. The firm added two new partners at the start of the 2012 financial year, but Price says the firm prefers organic growth at the upper levels. “That’s not to say we wouldn’t look at lateral hires,” states Price. “However, the business case would need to be compelling and the prospective partner the right fit culturally.” At the more junior levels of legal practice the firm has had significant success of late recruiting lawyers from litigation practices in large firms. The firm increased its head count from 40 lawyers in December 2010 to 62 lawyers at present.

1/3You. At the centre of everything we do. Winner - Best Law Firm ($50m - $200m revenue) in the BRW Client Choice Awards 2011 Winner - Employer of Choice in the ALB Awards 2011 Winner - Melbourne Law Firm of the Year in the ALB Law Awards 2011

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INSURANCE

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

Curwoods has also been busy recruiting as a result of new work flowing through the door. Since July last year it has added 13 fee earners and 12 support staff, including special counsel Emma O’Connor who joined from Sparke Helmore. Similar to Wotton + Kearney, Curwoods seeks to promote staff internally into senior roles, ahead of lateral recruitment. “Our strategy is to grow organically by providing the structure and support for lawyers to develop their own client base,” states Kennedy. “The retention rate is currently 90 percent, and we don’t anticipate any lateral partner hires in the next 12 months.” As part of its commitment to organic growth the firm runs a preparation for partnership program for senior lawyers in the firm. At Herbert Geer organic growth and lateral recruitment are employed to help service the insurance practice’s growing workload according to Roberts. The firm recently promoted Mary MacLeod to partner ranks, while also laterally recruiting special counsel Georgina Hedges from WorkSafe Victoria. “We find that it has not been necessary to recruit partners laterally,” says Roberts. However, MacLeod had only been at the firm since mid 2010, having also joined from WorkSafe Victoria. The practice’s partner numbers have been steady at seven since June last year, but Roberts expects to make a number of promotions in the associate ranks in the coming year and in addition has recruited three graduates for the insurance practice, which represents a significant increase on other years. “This is because we are expecting growth and we want skilled lawyers for the work coming through,” he says. In addition to the new partners joining from Monahan + Rowell, CBP has appointed DLA Piper senior associate Cathryn Prowse as

a partner in Melbourne, while in Sydney Kennedy’s partner Adrian Howie has also joined the team. De Souza has plans to add more partners through internal promotions within the next 12 to 18 months. “Our organic growth is particularly important,” he states. However, while insurance firms are committed to organic growth, finding enough suitable three-to- five year lawyers is a challenge faced by all firms in the market. “We are looking to put on new staff at the lawyer level across the country all the time,” says Slocombe. “Our ability to recruit good three-to-five year lawyers is in many ways one of the barriers to expanding our practice.” Kennedy has also found this to be an issue, but doesn’t think it’s a problem limited to the insurance law fraternity. “The difficulty retaining three-to-five year lawyers is not necessarily exclusive to insurance practices, it is more a reflection on the legal industry as a whole,” he says. “The challenge for the insurance sector is to educate young professionals that the industry as a whole offers outstanding career opportunities both working in a law firm or with an insurer.”

Wotton + Kearney

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INSURANCE

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

THE D&O DILEMMA THE SCOPE FOR ACTIONS AGAINST DIRECTORS AND OFFICERS IS EXPANDING, WRITES SPARKE HELMORE SPECIAL COUNSEL MARK DOEPEL

orporate collapse is a matter of serious concern. Employees can become unemployed and face losing superannuation benefits; secured and unsecured creditors can face an exposure to outstanding indebtedness; and shareholders can face a total loss of capital investment. Without a doubt, the scope for actions against directors and officers, and their subsequent liability, is expanding. In James Hardie Industries NV v Australian Securities and Investments Commission (2010) 274 ALR 85, the Court of Appeal upheld Gzell J’s first instance decision that the James Hardie Group contravened the Corporations Act by releasing a materially misleading ASX announcement about the adequacy of funding set aside to compensate asbestos victims. While the appeal dismissed non-executive directors from liability, Mr Shafron (General Counsel and Company Secretary) and Mr Morley (Chief Financial Officer) were still held to have breached their duty of care and diligence by approving and releasing a statement that was false, or misleading and deceptive, and capable of having an adverse effect on the company and

the market. We note the matter is currently reserved before the High Court. In Australian Securities and Investments Commission v Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (2011) 274 ALR 731, the Full Federal Court found that Fortescue misled the market and failed to comply with its continuous disclosure obligations regarding announcements to the ASX and the media in 2004. Andrew Forrest was held to have breached his director’s duty of care and due diligence by allowing Fortescue to breach its continuous disclosure obligations, and the court rejected the defence of a ‘business judgment rule’. The Centro case also exemplifies this increasing liability. ASIC launched civil penalty proceedings in 2009 against seven current and former directors and the former CFO of the Centro group. The judge found that responsibility for financial statements rests with directors, that the directors’ duty of competence requires them to have the ability to read and understand the financial statements, and that directors must be in a position to guide and monitor the management of the company. These decisions, and others, serve to increase directors and officers’ need for D&O cover. They are also likely to trigger a change in the preconditions of cover to limit insurers’ exposure, which will make securing cover more onerous for corporations. Insurers are likely to evaluate the conditions directors must satisfy before D&O insurance is granted. For example, they may restrict the number of boards that each director can sit on. Alternatively, they may require warranties from board members sitting on multiple boards that they are able to obtain, digest and understand the large volume of material required to discharge their duties as directors. Based on the Centro decision, insurers may also require corporations ensure their boards fulfil specific experience requirements or criteria, or have a necessary cross-section of skills, such as accounting qualifications. While corporate collapses are clearly of interest to government regulators, such as ASIC and APRA, others are also seeking more direct monetary recompense. In the past few years, there has been a marked rise in Australian class actions against directors and officers–facilitated by the emergence of permitted litigation funding. The real target of these actions can be the proceeds of the insurance policy that sits underneath the operations of the directors and officers of the company. Commonly liquidators’ and receivers’ reports identify a D&O policy as the sole remaining asset of a company. The rising numbers of class actions are putting pressure on the D&O insurance market. As a result, the cost of D&O premiums is likely to rise. Counsel for the defendants in Centro predicted the ultimate decision would lead to the emptying of boardrooms in Australia overnight. That didn’t happen, but directors now rely on D&O insurance that’s likely to become more expensive and difficult to secure.

INSURANCE

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

A CLAUSE FOR CONCERN CARTER NEWELL PARTNER PATRICK MEAD EXPLORES THE ISSUE OF CONTRACT WORKS INSURANCE IN MAJOR PROJECTS – AND THE RISE OF THE LONDON MARKET DEFECT EXCLUSIONS

ontract Works and Contractor’s All Risk Policies comprise a critical component of risk allocation under modern construction contracts. Recovery under these policies can provide fertile ground for dispute, particularly when property is allegedly damaged in consequence of defective workmanship, material or design. While coverage for each instance of loss is normally determined by reference to the particular policy wording, there had been a series of case authorities in Australia in relation to commonly encountered exclusion clauses which were instructive when advising on the likely attitude of the courts to such claims. Increasingly however, Contract Works policies utilised in Major Projects (whether written locally or by UK underwriters) are incorporating one of two ‘sets’ of Exclusion Clauses derived from UK industry bodies. While there is a limited but growing body of jurisprudence in relation to the interpretation of these clauses in the UK, there is very little, if any, reported judicial consideration of the operation of these clauses in the Australian context. This gives rise to a degree of uncertainty as to how courts in this country may interpret such clauses, particularly as it is sometimes difficult to discern the legal basis upon which to give effect to what is presumed to be the drafter’s intention. A second issue which may be of concern to local insurers are attempts on behalf of some major insureds by their intermediaries, to modify these so called ‘London Market’ clauses.

These two issues, which should be of interest to insurance, risk and legal advisors of parties involved in major projects are touched on briefly below. LONDON MARKET DESIGN CLAUSES AND THE LONDON ENGINEERING GROUP ‘DEFECTS WORDING’ The London Market design clauses offer five distinct levels of coverage against defects in design, materials and workmanship. These clauses are also becoming increasingly common in contract works policies emanating from Australian underwriters. By way of background, the current DE clauses were introduced in 1995 by a committee of leading building and civil engineering underwriters which revised the originals. They provide different levels of cover from 1 to 5 – 1 being no defect cover to 5 providing significant cover with respect to defects in design, plans, specifications, materials or workmanship. As a UK Court has noted in relation to the operation of the commonly encountered DE3 exclusion: “What is important to note is that the exclusion is not of loss or damage caused by a defect in workmanship, etc…Provided the insurer can show that the property was in a defective condition, the exclusion applies.” The London Engineering Group ‘defects wording’ is also commonly in use in both the UK and Australian market, and provides three distinct levels of coverage. The LEG 2 clause operates differently to the DE3 clause (although they are presumed to serve a similar function). It provides in part: “The Insurer shall not be liable in respect of: All costs rendered necessary by defects of material, workmanship, design, plan or specification…” [with a proviso in relation to subsequent covered damage consequential to the earlier excluded damage]. There is no substantive judicial authority on the construction of this clause in either the UK or Australia. This is unfortunate given the serious financial consequences which can arise as a result of damage to the contract works caused by an excluded defect. MODIFIED EXCLUSIONS The writer has recently encountered modified versions of these exclusions:

Carter Newell Lawyersâ&#x20AC;Ś a specialist law firm.

Insurance constructIon & engIneerIng resources corporate commercIal property lItIgatIon & DIspute resolutIon avIatIon

L A W Y E R S cn/180-alB

INSURANCE 1. This policy does not cover: ( i) Design, Plan, Specification, Materials or Workmanship (DE5 1995)… or at the election of the Primary Insured, whether or not involving physical loss or damage that has already occurred during the Period of Insurance: (ii) Design, Plan, Specification, Materials or Workmanship (DE3 1995)… eductible for DE5 $500,000 and for D DE3 $200,000. The obvious concern with an exclusion in these terms is that it militates somewhat against the very notion of insurance being designed to guard against events which are in the nature of a fortuity. Certainly the idea of choosing differing levels of cover prior to policy inception or of paying a higher deductible so as to reduce the premium payable are well entrenched, but this is quite a different notion to affording an insured the option of electing what is essentially a higher level of cover (different in nature altogether) by payment of an increased deductible after the event giving rise to the loss. 2. Defects (LEG 3/06) all costs rendered necessary by defects of material, workmanship, design, plan

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

or specification, however should Damage…. occur to any portion of the Insured Property containing the said defects the cost of replacement or rectification which is hereby excluded is that cost incurred to improve the smallest component part of the original material, workmanship, design, plan or specification immediately affected… The difference between this clause and the LEG 3 clause upon which it is based, is that it purports to limit the ‘improvement’ or ‘betterment’ component of the exclusion to the smallest component part. The notion of a “component part” is derived from the DE4 exclusion in which it is utilised in a different respect and for a well recognised purpose. In the DE4 exclusion it is utilised in order to delimit the extent of the defective workmanship or design so as to increase the Insured’s recovery on the basis that the balance of the damage (other than that to the smallest component part which contains the defect), is resultant damage and thus falls within the proviso to the exclusion. This purported modified LEG 3 exclusion, which seeks to invoke this notion so as to confine the operation of the betterment “claw back” to the smallest component part, is something which would be of concern to insurers. It would potentially provide a broader level of cover for defective design than that which is available under traditional PI policies, which do not allow for recovery of “betterment”. CONCLUSION Leaving aside the issue of the modifications to the clauses, there has been a notable trend by some to seek to include an exclusion in LEG 3 or DE5 form, beyond the limited circumstances for which they were originally intended. Advisors should be alive to this and understand the potential implications of this trend.

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Appointments

Brought to you by recruitment made easy

PARTNER APPOINTMENTS Name

Practice area

Going from

Going to

Anthony Borgese

Technology and telecoms

HWL Ebsworth

Minter Ellison

Ayman Guirguis

Competition

Ashurst Australia

Corrs Chambers Westgarth

Catherine Hallgath

Property

Swaab Attorneys

Mills Oakley

Nick Lodder

Banking & finance

Minter Ellison Rudd Watts

Wynn Williams

Michael Nixon

Property

Norton Rose

Mills Oakley

Rob Noakes

M&A

Kensington Swan

Wynn Williams

Cathryn Prowse

Insurance

DLA Piper

Monahan + Rowell (CBP)

Michelle Segaert

Corporate

WHL Ebsworth

Sparke Helmore

Nick Taylor

Competition

Gilbert + Tobin

Jones Day

Rosemary WaldronHartfield

Insurance

Sparke Helmore

Moray & Agnew

Mark Wenn

Commercial litigation

Leonard Legal

Mills Oakley

construction, engineering, packaging, property and retail businesses. He has been a key adviser to ExxonMobil, Visy Industries, Hewlett Packard, Leighton Contractors and Stockland, among many other leading international organisations. Guirguis is the second competition partner to leave Ashurst Australia since the merger was announced formerly in September.

MINTERS ADDS IT GURU

Minter Ellison has appointed technology and telecoms specialist Anthony Borgese as a partner. Borgese, most recently at HWL Ebsworth, was previously a partner at Anthony Borgese Mallesons (now King & Wood Mallesons) for 10 years. Minters has been active in the recruitment of IT and telecommunications expertise following the loss of former practice co-head Keith Robinson to Freehills last year. Borgese is the ninth hire by the team in the past 12 months. HWL Ebsworth

Norton Rose

Mills Oakley

Swaab Attorneys

Mills Oakley

Leonard Legal

Mills Oakley

MILLS OAKLEY ADDS A TRIO OF PARTNERS

Mills Oakley has appointed three new partners across Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. The new partners Michael Nixon, Catherine Hallgath and Mark Wenn are all lateral hires. Nixon has joined as a partner in the firm’s Brisbane property practice. He comes to Mills Oakley from Norton Rose where he was in the Catherine Hallgath commercial real estate team. He acts for large institutional investors on real estate asset investment and development, the acquisition and disposal of shopping centres and a range of corporate transactions. Hallgath has joined Mills Michael Nixon Oakley’s Sydney property team from Swaab Attorneys where she was also a partner. As a specialist in property law who has worked with a number of leading Australian and Asian property owners Hallgath has considerable expertise in the acquisition Mark Wenn and sale of commercial office

blocks, leasing, leasing disputes and tenant advisory services. Lastly, Wenn joins Mills Oakley’s Melbourne office from Leonard Legal, as a partner in the commercial litigation team. He has litigation experience in the areas of banking and finance, personal property securities, trade practices, consumer law, property, business and commercial disputes, employment and insolvency law disputes. Ashurst Australia

Corrs Chambers Westgarth

CORRS UPS THE COMPETITION WITH ASHURST HIRE

Corrs Chambers Westgarth has appointed leading cartel and merger clearance expert, Ayman Guirguis, as a partner and head of the firm’s competition and regulatory practice. Guirguis joins Corrs from Ashurst Australia (formerly Blake Dawson) where he was a partner. He brings to the firm significant international experience in competition and consumer law and industry including time working at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) as a director of the mergers branch and as the second-incommand of its Sydney office. Guirguis has experience in merger clearance, cartel work, competitor advice and investigations, supply chain issues, engaging with the ACCC and acting in litigation matters involving competition issues. He has worked across a broad range of industries including petroleum, IT, pharmaceutical, building,

Minter Ellison

HWL Ebsworth

Sparke Helmore

SPARKE HELMORE EXPANDS ITS CORPORATE TEAM

Sparke Helmore has appointed WHL Ebsworth special counsel Michelle Segaert as a partner in its corporate group. Segaert specialises in regulated and unregulated corporate transactions, funds management and financial services regulation. During her career she has held in-house roles at Lion Nathan and Allco Finance Group along with working at private practice firms King & Wood Mallesons and Linklaters in London. Humphrey’s joined Sparke Helmore in January this year from Norton Rose. WorkSafe Victoria

Herbert Geer

HERBERT GEER UPS INSURANCE CAPABILITY

Herbert Geer has added a special counsel and a partner to its workplace and insurance services team with the arrival of special counsel Georgina Hedges and the promotion of special counsel Mary MacLeod to partner. Hedges joins the firm from WorkSafe Victoria, where she was senior legal counsel for more than seven years managing their legal panel firms and common law liabilities. She has extensive experience in plaintiff and defendant personal injury litigation both in Victoria and England. While at WorkSafe Victoria she was involved in the strategic development of the accident compensation scheme. MacLeod joined the firm as a special counsel in mid 2010. She practices in the area of accident

Finding the right lawyer should be this easy. compensation law, and previously worked as a senior manager at the Victorian Managed Insurance Authority (VMIA). DLA Piper

Monahan + Rowell (CBP)

CBP TAPS DLA PIPER FOR NEW MELBOURNE VENTURE

Colin Biggers & Paisley (CBP) has recruited a new partner for its soon to be Melbourne office. Cathryn Prowse DLA Piper senior associate Cathryn Prowse has joined the Monahan + Rowell office, which is set to merge with CBP on June 1, 2012. Prowse’s focus is in insurance litigation and dispute resolution, primarily specialising in professional indemnity, management liability and directors’ and officers’ insurance. She is currently the vice president and treasurer of the Victorian Committee of the Australian Professional Indemnity Group. She has acted for a variety of finance, property and other professionals on instructions from underwriters in all Victorian and federal jurisdictions. Alongside her property and finance work, Prowse has also built a health disciplinary practice, acting for both regulatory health boards and for insurers on matters where practitioners are alleged to have engaged in unprofessional conduct. Gilbert + Tobin

Jones Day

G+T PARTNER DEPARTS FOR JONES DAY

The Sydney office of international firm Jones Day has poached former Gilbert + Tobin competition partner Nick Taylor. While the bulk of Taylor’s work has been in Australia, including time at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), he has also developed knowledge of many Asian competition regimes, including China (where he was seconded to King & Wood), India, Indonesia, Singapore, Korea, the Philippines, Pakistan and Vietnam. In addition to representing clients in Asia, he has worked as an Asian competition law and policy specialist for the OECD, organising 15 training events for Asian competition authorities and judges. Since September 2009, Taylor has been working with the OECD as its representative on its joint venture with the Korean government, the OECD-Korea Regional Centre for Competition Law. Sparke Helmore

Moray & Agnew

SENIOR SPARKES PARTNER DEFECTS TO SPECIALIST INSURANCE FIRM Moray & Agnew has bolstered its Perth office with the addition of former Sparke Helmore

Perth managing partner Rosemary Waldron-Hartfield. A 20 year insurance practitioner, WaldronHartfield helped establish Sparke’s Perth office in 2002 and was also head of Rosemary the firm’s Commonwealth Waldron-Hartfield compensation team. She said her decision to leave Sparkes and join Moray & Agnew was based on a belief that insurance lawyers are more able to develop to their full potential within the environment of a specialist insurance firm. Waldron-Hartfield has extensive experience in insurance litigation acting for Commonwealth and State agencies and corporations. She has run matters before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and the Federal Court and has managed numerous national test cases in compensation. She also manages personal injury litigation in the Supreme and District Courts. Waldron-Hartfield is joined at the firm by her team from Sparke Helmore including Kerry Wood (who joins as partner), senior associate Agnes Camilleri and lawyer Anna Sasson. Kensington Swan

Wynn Williams

Minter Ellison Rudd Watts

Wynn Williams

Candidate 1

Candidate 2

NZ: WYNN WILLIAMS GROWS IN AUCKLAND WITH TWO NEW PARTNERS

New Zealand firm Wynn Williams has added two partners to its new Auckland office since opening in early February. Rob Noakes has joined the firm as the head of the office from Kensington Swan where he was a partner and a lawyer for more than 30 years. He has extensive experience specialising in mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, trade practices, competition law, corporate governance and risk assessment. He provides advice to listed, multinational and private companies. Noakes is joined by former Minter Ellison Rudd Watts and Kensington Swan senior associate Nick Lodder, who has also joined as a partner. Lodder has experience in advising financiers and borrowers across a variety of banking and finance matters. He is a specialist lawyer in banking and finance and his work has included asset finance, syndicated lending, structured finance, leveraged finance, insolvency and restructuring, regulatory issues and Personal Property Securities Act issues. Wynn Williams is now a 12-partner firm with a full team of 66 lawyers and support staff across Christchurch, Wellington and now Auckland. The firm is a member of the international legal network, State Capital Group.

Candidate 3 For a legal recruitment company that likes to keep things simple contact Brisbane Sydney Melbourne Perth

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ALB CAREERS GUIDE 2012

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

LEGAL CAREERS GUIDE 2012

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

CAUTION MAY BE THE ORDER OF THE DAY IN CORPORATE AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND, BUT DOES THAT MEAN LAWYERS SHOULD ALSO BE CAUTIOUS IN ASSESSING THEIR NEXT CAREER STEP? ALB INVESTIGATES THE KEY MARKET INDICATORS

ALB CAREERS GUIDE 2012

AUSTRALIAN PRIVATE PRACTICE MARKET OVERVIEW...........................................38 AUSTRALIAN PRIVATE PRACTICE SALARY PREDICTIONS........................................40 AUSTRALIAN STATE-BY-STATE ANALYSIS................................................................... 42 AUSTRALIAN IN-HOUSE MARKET................................................................................44 NEW ZEALAND MARKET REVIEW................................................................................46 STUDENT AND GRADUATE PERSPECTIVE..................................................................48

ALB CAREERS GUIDE 2012

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO? IS NOW A GOOD TIME FOR PRIVATE PRACTICE LAWYERS TO CONSIDER MAKING A SWITCH TO A NEW FIRM?

espite the green shoots emerging in some parts of the global economy, there is no doubt that sentiment around the Australian legal services market has a distinctly bearish feel to it. While the resources sector is regularly cited as evidence that Australia is insulated from the global economic woes, the truth is that the spectre of GFC Mk 2 at the end of last calendar year has engendered a sense of caution in corporate Australia. The Greek crisis has allegedly been resolved for now and there is encouraging data from the U.S. economy, but China’s putative “soft landing” still has investors spooked. Like everyone else, Australian law firms have started 2012 with one eye on the European debt crisis but also with a sense of optimism that this will be a year of recovery. Stories of hiring freezes at some firms continue to circulate around the market, but nothing akin to the drastic measures of redundancies and salary freezes which took place in 2009. The message from firms and recruiters alike is simple: the employment market for lawyers is still open for business – provided you’re the right candidate.

“I do think it’s a good time for private practice lawyers to look at their opportunities,” says Kathryn Parry, Associate Director of Taylor Root in Sydney. “The market is still busy and there are still opportunities for strong candidates to consider. “ Ironically, the economic conservatism has had more impact on candidates than firms. “I have to say that the economic uncertainly we feel at the moment is affecting candidate activity more than firms,” says Parry. “You see firms are still looking for talented practitioners but there seems to be some reluctance from candidates. If someone is going to look at the market they might be surprised by the number of good opportunities that exist at the moment and the number of roles that are on offer.” However, it is important to keep in mind that this is not 2008. Slow, cautious recruitment activity remains the order of the day. “Undoubtedly firms are handling the recruitment process with care,” says Parry. “The process is slower and firms are being particular about the skill set they are looking for but they are still looking and still recruiting. People are not getting offers within a week of making their application but good candidates with strong skill sets are still able to look at a variety of opportunities.” At the senior levels, it is no secret that partners are on the move as the spate of firm mergers and new market entrants inevitably causes individuals to reassess their careers and the firms which are best placed to facilitate these. This is a time of crisis: partners outside of the more lucrative practice areas such as M&A and banking & finance are clearly wondering whether there is any place for them in top tier firms and major mergers invariably create a disaffected minority who will move elsewhere. Mid tier firms in particular have been quick to capitalise on this opportunity.

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

“Partners are on the move at present – both a result of seasonal movement with 30 June looming, and as a result of a push by leading firms to focus on profit and with hungry second and mid tier firms eager to attract strong partners,” says Burgess Paluch director Paul Burgess. Indeed, several recruiters interviewed by ALB noted the high level of mid tier recruitment activity. “The greatest level of activity is within mid sized firms, including both those which are state based – for example, based just in Melbourne – or those which have multiple offices nationally,” observes Mahlab Recruitment consultant Lucy Duncan. However, this does not necessarily mean that candidates should discount roles at larger firms. “While the hiring frenzy we saw pre-GFC is nowhere to be seen, firms are strategically hiring and replacing those who move,” says Burgess. “In larger firms, while we are seeing a need for solid business cases to get approval to recruit a new lawyer, these roles are, arguably, the safest in the

WHO IS IN DEMAND

ALB CAREERS GUIDE 2012 market as real consideration has been given to the need.” What practice areas are in demand? There were slight variations in the responses given by recruiters (see box-out for responses in full), however there was a distinct counter-cyclical feel to a number of the popular practice areas: litigation, insolvency and insurance. Corporate/M&A was seen to be slightly softer this year, while some recruiters surprisingly cited property and construction as being in greater demand, although the latter would of course include back-end disputes work.

Paul Burgess

“The areas that seem to be pretty busy at the moment: insolvency, restructuring, commercial litigation and a range of insurance litigation and construction litigation. I’ve seen an increased number of IP litigation and commercial IP roles. Some law firms are busy in the IT space, but not every firm. Employment generally is relatively steady. Within the traditionally buoyant economy stalwarts of M&A, commercial property and general banking, the more transactional areas – there’s a bit more conservatism around. Despite that there’s no doom and gloom yet. It’s really a case of law firms and clients of the bigger firms having a period of waiting and seeing what the fallout may or may not be from other parts of the world.”

“In the last month to six weeks we’ve seen an increase in the number of roles in the property and construction sectors. That’s been somewhat surprising and led by increased activity in this space An area that has been less active is corporate/M&A. It’s probably not a massive surprise. We still have some specific and select opportunities at both top and mid tier firms. If there was a really strong applicant we have been briefed by a number of our clients to let them know about them; some firms have said they would look speculatively at talented lawyers with a M&A background and they have asked to be keep up to date, so positions can be created for talented candidates. Six months ago if you had a strong background in corporate a candidate could have had their pick of the market; everyone was recruiting. It is more limited now but we still have candidates interviewing for roles across in both the top and mid tiers in M&A.”

Tim Fogarty, Taylor Root

Kathryn Parry, Taylor Root

“Demand is highest in property, across the breadth of litigation including construction litigation, insolvency and general commercial litigation and also in insurance where lawyers who have quality experience in professional indemnity, product liability, work cover and personal injury are in demand. Some boutique and smaller firms are also keen for lawyers with commercial expertise. Another area of increasing demand is within the private client space, encompassing areas such as trusts, superannuation, asset planning and family law.” Lucy Duncan, Mahlab Recruitment

“Nationally, firms are keen to meet with lawyers of a good calibre, with a solid career history and strong academics, and we are seeing a demand in banking and finance, corporate, insurance, and employment. Energy and resources, construction and projects lawyers still remain attractive to Perth and Brisbane-based firms. Litigation has been slightly softer than expected and insolvency, while far from dead, hasn’t taken off as you would expect given global markets.” Jackie Gillies, Burgess Paluch

ALB CAREERS GUIDE 2012

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

SHOW ME THE MONEY SHOULD PRIVATE PRACTICE LAWYERS EXPECT A PAY RISE THIS YEAR?

When ALB asked recruiters to comment on the likely movement in remuneration for private practice lawyers this year, the general consensus was that it was too early to make any solid observations. “Will the salary bands change from last year? The law firms don’t yet know. They rely on Mercer data and that’s not yet in so law firms haven’t yet formed a view about what salaries they’ll be offering from 1 July,” says Taylor Root partner Tim Fogarty. However, recruiters have been keeping their ears to the ground and have a sense of which way salaries and bandings will move. “Anecdotally the law firms are expecting to see some upward movement in those salary bands. It’s just a matter of how much. I would have thought relatively close to CPI – not significantly above it,” says Fogarty. “ I think lawyers will still get the standard 10 percent or so pay rise because that’s in line with their extra year’s experience and reflects their move to another higher salary band.” This conforms with the general expectation that there will be no dramatic movement in remuneration. “In line with previous years, salary reviews will take place but in comparison to other years salary reviews are going to be modest,” says Taylor Root Associate Director Kathryn Parry. “People will go up a year level in experience and they’ll then go up a salary band. I can’t see the bands changing dramatically [but] I can’t see salary freezes happening or anything like that either. I think good operators will continue to be rewarded and looked after by their firms.” As usual, there will be exceptions to this rule, dictated by the particular demands of practice specialisations and jurisdictions, with resource industry driven Perth and Brisbane the most commonly named suspects. However, Burgess Paluch director Paul Burgess warns against any expectation that lawyers in those states are in for a free ride. “Given that markets like Perth and Brisbane have settled down from the boom, and given that most of the international raids have been completed, pay rises are likely to be more based on merit than demand,” he says. Performance is an important variable in the pay equation.

“Nationally lawyers who are performing at or above expectation should expect a decent pay rise this year, although there are pockets of softness in the market, such as Adelaide, where there is talk of only moderate rises,” says Burgess. “Given that overall most markets are still performing reasonably well, those lawyers who are performing strongly and converting work into billable hours should be well rewarded, while those struggling are less likely to be.” Burgess say that the ascendancy of performance-based pay has continued. “There is an ever increasing trend by boutique firms to reward more on commission/bonus style models – payment of a base plus a percentage of recovered billables – to incentivise lawyers and allow some flexibility of income based on how hard they work and what they bring to the table in terms of client base,” he says. “While such models have always existed, they are becoming more and more commonplace with lateral senior hires.” At the end of the day, recruiters still warn against taking any of these predictions as gospel as these are uncertain times. “Overall the year’s outlook is different to last year’s, in that there is more uncertainty in how the economic market globally will perform, and in how that will influence Australia. This could be reflected in salary rises as employers plan for the year ahead,” says Mahlab Recruitment consultant Lucy Duncan.

ALB CAREERS GUIDE 2012

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

2011/2012 SALARIES - TOP TIER FIRMS (INCLUDING SUPER) 50K

100K

150K

200K

250K

$55-$65K $60-$75K $50-$63K $55-$63K

Graduate

$62-$75K $71-$78K $65-$75K $62-$73K

First Year (a lawyer in their first year of practice post admission)

MELBOURNE SYDNEY BRISBANE PERTH

$80-$88K $80-$93K $74-$87K $74-$84K

Second Year

$87-$112K $87-$115K $78-$100K $75-$98K

Third Year

$100-$135K $100-$138K $85-$120K $87-$115K

Fourth Year

$115-$152K $120-$160K $110-$140K $105-$135K

Fifth Year

$125-$160K $130-$160K $120-$150K

Sixth Year

$121-$150K $140-$235K $140-$240K

Senior Associate

$135-$230K $135-$230K

100

150

200

250

(source: Burgess Paluch)

ALB CAREERS GUIDE 2012

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

THIS AIN’T NO

HOLIDAY CAMP LAWYERS MIGHT DO WELL TO CONSIDER A MOVE TO RESOURCE-FUELLED BRISBANE OR PERTH – BUT RECRUITERS WARN THAT FIRMS IN THESE MARKETS HAVE NO TIME FOR DUD LAWYERS FROM INTERSTATE.

s talk of the two-speed economy increases, a crucial question arises for career-minded lawyers in Sydney and Melbourne: would I be better off in Brisbane or Perth? While the resource boom has gone slightly off the boil since the record-breaking peaks of 2011, recruiters still believe that opportunities abounds in the resource states – currently defined as Queensland and Western Australia, although South Australia is hoping to join the party soon. “At the moment I would say Queensland and WA have the most active private practice recruitment markets. Lawyers have the choice of considering a move in those markets to a wide range of firms, such as a major or international firm, a strong midsize practice or a local boutique firm,” says Mahlab’s Lucy Duncan. Queensland and Western Australia represent very different propositions from the traditional strongholds of corporate law firms in Sydney and Melbourne. Many national firms have neglected these markets over the past few decades and are now are looking to catch up – but in the meantime, there is more room for upwardly mobile boutique and independent firms to spread their wings. In either case, it’s a good time to be part of the growth. “In some cases, an advantage of taking a role in a firm’s WA or Queensland office is that it may also offer increased access to hands on work and client contacts, because the teams in those offices may be smaller than in a firm’s Melbourne or Sydney headquarters,” says Duncan. “They have strong legal markets and now they have a really broad range of high quality options for firms to look at. They’re quite sophisticated markets.”

BRISBANE Burgess Paluch’s Paul Garth agrees that lawyers would do well to consider a move to Queensland, particularly if their backgrounds are within the areas of most demand, which he identifies as being energy & resources, infrastructure and projects and corporate. However, he strikes a cautionary note: “Outside of these [in-demand Paul Garth areas], certain practice areas remain Burgess Paluch difficult to break into without local experience,” he says. “Property is one of these. In all cases, people applying for positions will need to demonstrate genuine reasons for wanting to move into Queensland as well as direct skills in the areas applied for. While the Brisbane market remains candidate short, it isn’t so short of strong lawyers that firms are resorting to hiring those with poor experience – they are still focussed on hiring quality lawyers.” Queensland was recently the location of one of the most dramatic political landslides in Australian history and Taylor Root’s Kathryn Parry wonders if the remarkable ascent of the Liberal/National party will have any impact on the mix of projects and therefore legal work flowing into the market. “In the year to date, front end construction has been in demand and a number of firms have asked us to let them know if we have any good projects/infrastructure or front end construction lawyers,” she says. “Energy and resources lawyers are always in demand in Queensland and like Perth firms, they will look at candidates relocating domestically, or from New Zealand and the UK.” PERTH Parry has also been doing a good deal of work in Western Australia of late and says there is an acute skills shortage across many practice areas. “Many firms on the West coast are looking at candidates from the East coast to relocate, or further afield to NZ or the UK to secure talent,” she says. “Firms are very actively recruiting. If somebody had good experience in any number of areas there could be excellent opportunities for them in Perth.” Unsurprisingly energy & resources lawyers are topping the shopping list, but there are other areas in demand too. “It may surprise some to hear that litigation and employment lawyers are

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

ALB CAREERS GUIDE 2012

also of interest to a number of organisations. Talented candidates with experience in these areas are of particular interest,” says Parry. Doron Paluch of Burgess Paluch is another recruiter to observe substantial growth in Perth and he names energy and resources, general corporate/commercial, commercial litigation, insurance and employment law as areas in demand. However, he says that firms are being judicious with their selection of candidates. “It would be worthwhile for lawyers from the Eastern states to consider a move to Perth, but it should be noted that the standards expected by Perth firms are also now high,” he says. “So it may be that if a lawyer cannot secure a strong role in Melbourne or Sydney, he or she may also not be considered strong enough to secure one in Perth. A link to the local market is also useful as the Perth firms prefer lawyers with a good reason to be in Perth and a long term view.” NEW SOUTH WALES AND VICTORIA New South Wales and particularly Sydney is known for being a financial services hub and this is reflected in the demand which has been observed by recruiters. Mahlab’s Lucy Duncan says that banking and litigation – including commercial, construction and patent litigation – are two particularly strong areas. “That being said, lawyers who have strong experience in transactional areas such as M&A and energy/resources may still garner interest from firms, however there isn’t as much active recruitment in those groups,” she says. Parry affirms the interest in banking lawyers. “In Sydney there’s still a demand for high quality banking lawyers,” she says. “Banking law has been incredibly buoyant over the last 12 months; it may be marginally less active now than what it was six months ago where some firms had at least five roles within their banking teams. These same teams are still looking but may now have only one or two roles.“ Duncan says that the Victorian market has traditionally been driven by strong general corporate activity together with demand in property development and construction. “Currently we’re seeing the strongest demand in property and insurance,” she says. A spokesperson for Michael Page International characterised the Victorian market as “patchy and extremely cautious. Nonetheless, high demand continues in the insurance and employment sectors which are less affected by market conditions and also suffer from

a candidate shortage,” the spokesperson said. “Demand for litigation lawyers has also begun to swell, reflecting a marginal increase in disputes arising predominantly out of insolvency and construction matters. While hiring is taking place at all levels, there is particular demand for lawyers with five or more years of experience. The talent pool is extremely short at this senior level.” Salaries this year are expected to increase by an average of 3-4 percent, down slightly on last year’s increases which were closer to 5-6 percent.

ALB CAREERS GUIDE 2012

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

IN-HOUSE: Keeping A Steady Footing

IT’S NOT A BAD TIME TO CONSIDER A NEW IN-HOUSE ROLE – BUT MAKE SURE YOU CHOOSE YOUR INDUSTRY CAREFULLY.

he subdued economic climate has had a mixed effect on the in-house profession. While a predictable response to difficult times is for corporates to pressure in-house teams to reduce headcount and freeze new hires, there are also examples of companies which have sought to cut their legal spend by bringing more work in-house. Have these two trends balanced each other out? The answer to that question seems to vary according to location and industry sector. Not surprisingly, recruiters report that Brisbane, Perth and the energy/ resources sector are topping the list for in-house hiring activity. Construction and infrastructure across the main capital cities is also reported to be buoyant. “Front end construction in particular, where there are new projects arising or there is a need to replace personnel at mid to senior level, [has been active],” says Taylor Root

consultant Tara Sacks. Mahlab Recruitment consultant Belinda Marinucci says that she would add the IT, health and FMCG sectors to the “hot” list, while banking & finance is at the other end of the scale. Outside of the boom areas, recruiters describe the level of inhouse roles as “steady” and have noted that there are some growth roles, as well as replacement roles on the market. “It’s always worth keeping an eye on the in-house market as there are definitely opportunities,” says Marinucci. “Generally speaking in-house recruitment activity is at a good level.” However, there is a note of caution too, with recruiters adding that companies are being very careful with budget and headcount and more selective with candidates. “I suppose given clients have fought longer for these approvals, there is a great deal of consideration given to hires – perhaps longer than there has been historically,” says Sacks. “Skills must be exact, processes are comprehensive. It’s not unusual for there to be a lengthier interview process. It’s competitive; it’s always been competitive in-house.” However, Sacks says that hiring activity is now beginning to pick up after a slow start to the year, although she notes that caution still prevails. “Generally speaking post GFC legal spend in-house has been curtailed,” she says. “There’s been a lot more pressure on existing counsel to utilise the resources they’ve got.”

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

So who is in demand in the corporate sector? “Most opportunities are for junior to intermediate lawyers – two to six years post admission experience (PAE),” says Marinucci. “The senior end of the market remains tight with there being limited opportunities for the large pool of good quality senior lawyers to consider.” Tara Sacks agrees: “On the general commercial side there has been a move towards recruiting at the junior level,” she says. “We see more roles targeting the two to four year PQE level. Historically the optimum time for a move in house has been four to six years PQE. Teams are becoming less top heavy and delegating less complex work to junior lawyers.” SALARY The general expectation is that in-house salary increases will be modest and comparable to the previous year. However, the usual exceptions of the resource-driven markets apply. “Those sorts of candidates can demand increases in salaries,” says Sacks. “You would not see a candidate moving for less in the energy & resources space.” Sacks also believes that the IT/telco space will see solid salary movement. “The IT/telco space has also been fairly active as well in terms of recruitment,” she says. “I think that’s partly because of the NBN creating a number of long term projects and partnering and creating new opportunities. Organisations have also been forging ahead with dot cloud projects, creating demand and as a result salaries have remained reasonably competitive.” Other sectors such as media are at the opposite end of the scale. “Sectors like media have always tended to pay less

ALB CAREERS GUIDE 2012 competitive salaries and have traditionally gained lots of interest from candidates,” says Sacks. “For those roles candidates may be willing to take a pay cut to make the transition.” BONUSES Marinucci says that Mahlab has not seen significant salary increases for candidates moving into an in-house role and they have not seen many “sign-on” bonuses either. However, performance bonuses remain popular. “The bonus targets for junior to mid-level lawyers is around 10-20 percent,” she notes. “ For senior corporate positions bonuses targets could be around 30-40 percent. Bonuses are general calculated on a combination of individual performance, legal and department performance and company performance.” Tara Sacks agrees that bonuses typically sit around the 20 percent mark on average and notes that it is not unusual for organisations to pay competitive bonuses increasing to 40 percent in circumstances where there is less margin to increase salaries or in order to retain valued members staff and attract new talent.

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ALB CAREERS GUIDE 2012

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

AND NOW, A WORD FROM ACROSS THE TASMAN….. MOMENTUM PRINCIPAL CONSULTANT CARLA WELLINGTON REVIEWS THE KEY EMPLOYMENT TRENDS FOR NEW ZEALAND-BASED LAWYERS.

T Carla Wellington

here has been an improvement in the New Zealand jobs outlook in the first quarter of this year – to a greater or lesser degree depending on geographical location. One key consideration for lawyers considering changing jobs is location – lateral moves in some regions will be riskier or more propitious than in others. As always, the greatest need is in the three to six year bracket for private practice although there are a number of senior roles around too. Increasing movement into expat markets such as the UK and Australia is creating vacancies in New Zealand and causing a tightening in candidate supply at the top tier firm level. REGIONAL DIFFERENCES Auckland In broad terms, the Auckland market is very buoyant, with plenty of jobs at all sizes of firms and a shortage of suitably qualified candidates. Some large corporates such as banks have moved more of their head office functions to Auckland, which is one factor boosting the Auckland private practice market and shrinking the pool of legal work available to private practices in Wellington. The new Financial Markets Authority has been doing a lot of hiring for its Auckland office and it is looking likely that the larger portion of its operations will be in Auckland in the near future, while still retaining a slightly smaller office in Wellington.

individual jobseeker won’t necessarily have a lot of options from which to choose. Some Wellington employers perceive it to be a ‘buyer’s market’ so they are generally being steadfast on their selection criteria and are willing to wait for the person who ticks all the boxes. As Wellington is a government town, private practice firms there are particularly vulnerable to changes in the public sector. Three recent announcements in particular may shrink the size of the Wellington private practice market as well as lead to some consolidation of the firms. Firstly, the appointment of the panel firms for the All of Government Contracts for Legal Services. This was a surprisingly short list of firms and there were some startling omissions and inclusions. Any firm not on the panel will effectively be cut out of doing government work for three to six years. Secondly, mergers of public sector agencies continue, with the mid-March announcement that four government departments (Economic Development; Labour; Building and Housing; Science, Research and Innovation) will be amalgamated into one “Super Ministry” from 1 July. Their combined legal headcount is around 70, which is large by New Zealand government standards, meaning retrenchment is possible. The mergers will affect the supply of available candidates (and more in-house lawyers than previously are considering moving back to private practice) as well as the amount of work briefed out to private firms. Another factor creating a level of uncertainty (albeit with effects further down the track) is the Government Legal Services programme (GLS). The GLS aims, amongst other things, to increase collaboration by lawyers and take advantages of economies of scale, as well as promote the government lawyer brand. The phrase “value for money” is used in media reports on this and government lawyers will no doubt be watching closely to see if this translates to job losses, or on the upside, increasing numbers of inhouse lawyers to reduce reliance on the external law firms.

Wellington Wellington is a complex market in flux: there are many existing or imminent factors which are likely to have a deleterious impact on the private practice market. In the short term, the market has picked up since this time last year, with more jobs being advertised. However, the jobs are across diverse practice areas so any

Christchurch and other regions There is quite a lot of recruitment activity in Christchurch; not all of it driven by an outflow of lawyers leaving due to the earthquakes. Indications are that the rebuild will give the local economy a lift, which may account for some of the increase in recruitment. Succession planning continues to be a pressing issue for provincial firms, so there are some good career development opportunities available for those who are willing to move outside the larger cities.

ALB CAREERS GUIDE 2012

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

PRACTICE AREAS In the bigger centres a larger proportion of roles are in corporate/ commercial law. Breaking that down further, lawyers with ICT or financial services experience are particularly sought after at the moment. In the last couple of years there has also been a modest but growing requirement for lawyers with expertise in public private partnerships, as the New Zealand government has made its first foray into this area with the building of a new prison in Auckland and has signalled its intention to finance other large infrastructure projects in this way. The practice areas in demand in smaller provincial towns include general practice, private client work (wills, estates and trusts) and family law.

Law Society website, possibly proving that lawyers do care about money! According to that survey, 32 percent of respondents said they received no increase in salary in the previous 12 months. 24 percent skipped the salary increase question altogether and it might be inferred that some of those did so because they did not receive an increase. So potentially almost half of New Zealand lawyers did not receive a pay rise last year. Given the generally more buoyant nature of the legal jobs market in 2012 compared to the last two years, it seems probable that pay increases will be more common, if not larger than this time last year. In summary, things are looking up in the New Zealand employment market for jobseekers, although we arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t anywhere near pre-2008 levels.

REMUNERATION In September 2011 the New Zealand Law Society in conjunction with recruitment company Momentum undertook possibly the largest salary survey ever undertaken of the New Zealand legal profession, with 10 percent of lawyers responding. The release of the survey report generated the largest ever recorded number of hits on the

15 12 9

SALARY INCREASES, 6 YEAR TO SEPTEMBER 2011: LAW FIRMS

3 0

12%

12.5% 12.4% 12.6% 11.5%

6.9%

7.5% 7.5% 5.4%

4.7%

1.3% 1 Law Clerk Year

6 7 8 YEARS (10+ EXCLUDING PARTNERS AND DIRECTORS)

$250,000

PRIVATE PRACTICE BY GENDER

$200,000 $150,000 $100,000 $50,000 $0 1-5

5 - 10

10 - 15

15 - 20

20 - 25

YEARS (THIS TABLE INCLUDES PARTNERS, DIRECTORS AND OTHER MANAGERS)

Male

Female

10+

ALB CAREERS GUIDE 2012

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

INSIDE THE MINDS OF CLERKS AND GRADS THE PROCESS OF RECRUITING THE NEXT GENERATION OF LAWYERS IS A CAREFUL AND TIME CONSUMING ONE FOR ANY LAW FIRM. BUT WHAT ARE THE CORPORATE LAWYERS OF TOMORROW LOOKING FOR, AND HOW DO THEY GO ABOUT CHOOSING WHERE TO BEGIN THEIR CAREERS? SURVIVE LAW EDITOR KATHRYN CROSSLEY CHATS WITH STUDENTS AND YOUNG LAWYERS ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCES.

Kathryn Crossley is the managing editor of Survive Law, Australia’s largest online law student community. Survive Law provides law students with information and advice about careers and study, and is visited by more than 30,000 law students each month.

THE CULTURE OF CLERKSHIPS lerkships can be a source of great excitement, concern and confusion for law students. As the first round of mass recruitment that students encounter during their degrees, clerkships are also undoubtedly the most talked about career opportunities. Can I do a clerkship next year instead? Can’t I just skip the clerkship and apply for a graduate role? Are my marks good enough? These are just a few of the questions that many students are asking. As the first point at which the collective law student consciousness turns to the question of life after university, clerkship recruitment season can generate a good deal of career-related anxiety. Clerkships often lead to graduate employment offers, which undoubtedly provide great peace

of mind to students in their final year of law. Noticing their peers researching and applying to firms, it’s not uncommon for students who are not certain about a corporate career but are conscious of their lack of post-university plans, to apply for clerkships. For some, this new focus on careers leads them to feel pressure to apply for clerkships. “I wasn’t sure that this was going to be for me because I hadn’t done any corporate law before and that wasn’t necessarily my interest, but I think the pressure to get a clerkship was quite strong in my uni,” Macquarie University philosophy and law graduate Emma Buxton says. “It ended up being all these people who didn’t go into it to be corporate lawyers were just doing it anyway.” University of Adelaide law student Amy Campbell had a similar experience. “I didn’t know what I wanted to do and although I thought I wanted to do criminal defence, I wanted to try as many areas as possible while I was at uni just to make sure I was on the right path.” For others, a clerkship is the opportunity to secure a foothold in the corporate career they have been striving for. Clayton Utz lawyer Matthew Battersby, who recently completed the final rotation of his graduate program, viewed his clerkship

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

not as isolated work experience but as a continuum to his chosen career. “You’re partly choosing the firm where you want to do your clerkship, but the main choice for me was where I wanted to start work as a graduate,” Battersby says. Although out of firms’ control, the emphasis that many law students place on attaining a clerkship position can create a competitive atmosphere in law schools. According to Buxton, however, clerkships should not be the litmus test for success. “You look at people and where they’ve gotten clerkships and kind of measure them in terms of their intelligence and I think that’s very unhealthy because it totally ignores the fact that so many factors enter into people getting clerkships,” she says, adding that this competition saw one of her peers lie about securing a clerkship.

ALB CAREERS GUIDE 2012

LAWS OF ATTRACTION Given different law student perspectives on the clerkship process, it is not surprising that students and graduates have mixed reactions to the corporate culture of commercial firms. There are many reasons why clerks and graduates are attracted to specific firms. For students beginning to research their options, however, the practice areas and programs offered by firms can appear very similar. For many, the point of significant differentiation comes at the interview stage,

ALB CAREERS GUIDE 2012 and the major deciding factor is the ‘feel’ of a firm. This was the experience of University of Newcastle commerce, economics and law student, Jakeob Brown. With multiple offers to choose from, Brown says the decision to clerk with Ashurst (at the time Blake Dawson) in 2010/11, came down to where he felt most comfortable. “There are certain areas of practice that I’m interested in that Ashurst is really good at, but most firms have that kind of stuff so it was more of a people focus that made me choose them,” he says. “[Culture is] one of the things you can’t know until you go into an organisation and meet the people. You can read all the reviews and all the awards but at the end of the day it’s what it’s going to be like day to day.” Battersby agrees. “I received five summer clerkship offers and I liked all the firms I got those from,” he says. “Whilst all of the big firms do high quality work, I felt Clayton Utz was the right cultural fit for me and this was a big attraction.”

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

For Campbell, the opportunities to gain practical experience was key when choosing her two four-week clerkships at Wallmans Lawyers and Norman Waterhouse Lawyers in 2011. “It was important to me that I worked directly with my supervisors. I was interested in learning more about dispute resolution so I wanted firms with an emphasis on that … I wanted something that was quite hands on.” International career opportunities are also a major attraction for students and graduates. Baker & McKenzie’s international reach was one of the factors that attracted Buxton to the firm. “The possibility of getting an international clerkship sets them apart from other firms,” she says. Her time at the firm’s Bangkok office was one of the highlights of her 2008/09 clerkship. The increasing globalisation of Australian firms means international opportunities appear likely to receive greater student attention. Brown says firms’ international connections would certainly be an important consideration for students. “The work has become more international and I think it’s something that’s key, especially considering the emergence of Asia and where I want my career to go … I think you need to go with a global firm.” Many firms have also started approaching students outside traditional on-campus talks and careers publications, particularly online and through social media. Of the Big Six, King & Wood Mallesons, Ashurst and Clayton Utz have developed careers pages on Facebook. Other firms have created dedicated careers microsites or Twitter accounts. Marque Lawyers famously recruited their summer clerks through a Twitter competition last year. Brown believes the move to social media is a positive one, and that although Ashurst’s Facebook page and Skype initiative for interviewees came after his clerkship, social media initiatives would have also attracted him to the firm: “I think it’s an easy way to get to know a firm. At uni you don’t know very much about firms apart from the materials you read so I think Skype and Facebook are something new and easier to access and it’s a lot less intimidating.” CLERKS AND GRADS Vacation clerks experience a combination of extensive training, challenging work and a range of social activities. But when former clerks recall their experiences, their most enthusiastic reflections are usually saved for their fellow clerks. “I think one of the most valuable things I got out of my clerkship were the friendships I developed with my fellow summer clerks,” says Battersby. “There are lots of different practice groups in the firm and you can’t go to them all … but I often spoke with other summer clerks who had been in different groups to see what they were like.” While students will usually spend a great deal of time discussing the social events of their clerkship, the work they undertake, being a taster of what life as a graduate in the firm could be like, is at least of equal importance to them. “I got to go to court on a few matters, I worked on some pretty high profile deals … Really as a clerk your part in it is so small but it’s still cool if you’re part of the team,” says Brown, who will start as a graduate solicitor with Ashurst later this year. While her clerkships provided her with commercial experience, Campbell said she was hoping for more hands on work: “I think I was expecting it to be something a bit more practical, whereas a lot of what I was doing was research based. There were some things that I was doing that I didn’t have much context to. I was expecting to learn more about where what I was doing fitted in.” Campbell also believes that the four-week clerkship format, common to most states outside of New South Wales, could be extended, particularly in circumstances where

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ALB CAREERS GUIDE 2012 the clerkship is divided into two two-week rotations. “In some other states it’s 10 or 12 weeks. Even if it was only six or eight weeks that would make a massive difference and I might have been able to contribute more.” During short clerkship programs, less time should be devoted to formal training programs, she says. “A lot of that you don’t take in during the training week; you can learn it as you go along.” While the experience provided Campbell with the confirmation that her desired career path was in criminal law, for Battersby the experience confirmed his desire to pursue a graduate path in corporate law. “The clerkship program is really a taster to see what the firm is like, it shows you what corporate lawyers do and gets you feeling part of the place. The graduate program is where you really knuckle down and you start developing your skills as a lawyer,” he says. Reflecting on his three practice area rotations, Battersby says they provide “a good variety of work, great opportunities to build different skill sets and help you build relationships with different people across the firm.”

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

Battersby says the biggest adjustment of his transition from clerk to graduate lawyer has been the greater level of responsibility, but adds that his experience has been overwhelmingly positive. “I’ve been supported and mentored by the partners I’ve worked for and got along with them well.” Battersby acknowledges that law firm life is not a nine to five job but strives to ensure that he has time for socialising and hobbies outside office hours. Buxton believes that it is important for law students to look at what firms are offering and consider if that is what they are looking for in their careers. After her clerkship, she began a graduate role with Baker & McKenzie but realised that commercial law was not for her and left the firm partway into her graduate rotations. Now working for with the NSW Attorney-General and completing her Masters of International Human Rights Law at Oxford University, Buxton believes that her diverse CV helped her clerkship applications, but says ultimately these outside interests were what helped her to decide to leave corporate law: “[I was] sitting in an office not doing my hobbies that I love,” she says. Buxton says that she was grateful for the experiences of her clerkship, such as her time in Bangkok, but that these distracted her from assessing whether a corporate law firm life was really for her. “What I ignored, probably too much, was the fact that I didn’t really like corporate law. I did a rotation in pro bono which I loved because that’s my area of interest and I really didn’t put together that once I started my grad job, that that probably wouldn’t present itself as an option again and I would be doing corporate law,” she says.

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IN-HOUSE PERSPECTIVE

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

IN-HOUSE PERSPECTIVE

DAN LAST,

FOSTER’S GROUP: FOSTERING A GLOBAL BUSINESS BEING THROWN INTO THE DEEP END IS NOTHING NEW FOR FOSTER’S GROUP GENERAL COUNSEL DAN LAST, WHO ASSUMED HIS ROLE ONLY MONTHS BEFORE THE ICONIC AUSTRALIAN COMPANY WAS SOLD TO SABMILLER FOR A$12.3 BILLION. OLIVIA COLLINGS REPORTS.

o say that Dan Last, general counsel and company secretary of Foster’s Group, has had a busy year is an understatement. In the past 12 months Last has assumed the title of general counsel, assisted in the demerger of a division, rejected takeover offers, accepted a takeover offer and delisted a company from the ASX. “In the short time I have been general counsel the team has pulled together to implement some very significant projects,” says Last. What’s more, Last did all of this without a full team, having lost a number of legal advisors, including his predecessor Paul Conroy to the wine division, Treasury Wine Estates. “We have filled some of the gaps, but not all of the gaps,” says Last. “The legal team will evolve to be a legal team that supports a division of a multinational business, as opposed to a legal team which supports a standalone national business. They have very different requirements.” Last says seeing the team, including his predecessor and secondees from Allens

Arthur Robinson and Corrs Chambers Westgarth, successfully implementing the demerger and implementing the transaction with SABMiller, whilst continuing to perform all regular obligations to external and internal customers was a highlight for him. “I think the team gave an enormous effort,” he says. However, it was not without its challenges: “The challenge is always to look to where we can provide the most value while maintaining the focus on what is the important task for the business, whether that’s the demerger or bid, or continuing to stay on top of day-to-day work.” Last’s own role has changed since he first took the reins in May. “It is very different being part of a global company compared to being a standalone entity,” he says. “It results in some things which are very important to the group being a focus for us, which would have been less significant to Foster’s.” Looking ahead, Last says his new challenge is the integration of the business into SABMiller. “The business has changed direction as a result of the merger, and there will be a volume of legal work to adapt to that new strategy,” he states. “It will be a busy year, but quieter than last year.” As part of this Last and his team will be working on the transition of some brands to the group, while also managing the transition of brands out of the group. “As a result of the acquisition, we will revisit some agreements with suppliers,” he adds. One area of supply unlikely to be reviewed in the near future is legal according to Last, who employed Allens for advice on the

Photography by Thilo Pulch

IN-HOUSE PERSPECTIVE

SABMiller takeover and Corrs for the demerger. When describing why those firms were chosen for the relevant work Last says it always comes down to a combination of genuine expertise, quality of advice and depth of experience of the partners at those firms. “We had a strong degree of

“ALCOHOL IS LESS HIGHLY REGULATED COMPARED TO TOBACCO AND GAMBLING. WE ARE ALWAYS KEEN TO ENSURE WE MAINTAIN THAT PRIVILEGE. IF YOU LOOK AT PLAIN PACKAGING AROUND TOBACCO THAT IS A WARNING SIGN THAT WE NEED TO ENSURE THAT WE RESPECT OUR LICENCE TO TRADE.”

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

confidence in his [Braddon Jolley’s] and the firm’s [Corrs’] ability to execute the transaction,” he says. “Similarly, Ewen Crouch and Robert Pick at Allens; their ability, quality of advice and depth of experience.” More generally Last says he always looks for a mix between commerciality, service and cost when allocating legal work. “We are not overly aggressive in getting our service providers to provide us with a fixed fee, and certainly in the bigger matters that we have had, something like the demerger, we are looking for expertise;the costs are less important,” he states. However, in some cases, he will seek fixed fees from firms, particularly if the work is regularly repeated and predictable. “When a firm puts forward a fixed fee, it is always well received and a point of difference,” he adds. A HARD EARNED THIRST Last joined Foster’s only five years ago after a private practice career which saw him work at Blake Dawson Waldron (now Ashurst) and Allen & Overy in London. Like many lawyers he cites a desire to become closer to a business as his reason for moving in-house. It also helped that he admired the Foster’s brand, as many an Australian would, and enjoyed its products. His favourite beer is Foster’s own Cascade Pure. “If you are looking to be a general counsel, look for an industry or a business that you really enjoy,” says Last. “Because as a general counsel or in-house counsel you have a much different engagement with the business than you do as a private practice lawyer.” Having recently taken on a management role Last says it is important to understand the many aspects of the business, such as its people, brands and regulatory environment. “In private practice you have to have quite focused and deep expertise in the area you practice in, but as a general counsel, you have to have knowledge across the whole business,” he says. “You have to assess what’s important and mobilise the team behind you to meet the objectives of what you need to do.” Working for an alcoholic beverage business, Last and his team face the important challenge of keeping up with community and government expectations. “Alcohol is less highly regulated compared to tobacco and gambling. We are always keen to ensure we maintain that privilege,” says Last. “If you look at plain packaging around tobacco that is a warning sign that we need to ensure that we respect our licence to trade.” As part of a global liquor business Last says he now has the ability to draw on expertise from around the globe, in markets which may have already been hit with more stringent regulation. “We will benefit from SABMiller’s experience in product labelling, product claims, responsible marketing and licensing issues,” he says. However, while global legal advice internally is on his radar, looking to global one-stop-shop firms is less so. “It will always depend on the matter,” states Last. “We are using Allen & Overy for some follow on work as a result of the SABMiller bid. But I think that is as a result of them having worked on the bid, rather than them being a global firm.” In regards to M&A work, to the extent that the local business is involved in M&A Last says he may well look to firms that have a relationship with SABMiller’s head office in London, “but I don’t imagine it will impact too much on who we use,” he adds.

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AWARDS

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

FINALISTS REVEALED ALB is pleased to reveal the finalists for the 2012 ALB Australasian Law Awards, to be held at Sydney Town Hall on 24 May. Selection as a finalist by the ALB judging panel of GCs, barristers and senior private practice lawyers is an accolade in its own right and we wish all finalists the very best of luck for the final result on the night.

DEBT MARKET DEAL OF THE YEAR FINALISTS

• AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED GLOBAL COVERED BOND PROGRAMME FIRMS: Ashurst, Sullivan & Cromwell, Mallesons Stephen Jaques, Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Sidley Austin BANKS: Deutsche Bank, ANZ Securities, Citigroup Global Markets, Nomura International, UBS ACCOUNTANTS: KPMG • BRISBANE AIRPORT MTN PROGRAMME FIRMS: Gilbert + Tobin, Norton Rose BANKS: RBC • COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA (CBA) GLOBAL COVERED BONDS PROGRAMME FIRMS: Allen & Overy, Sullivan & Cromwell, Ashurst, Linklaters LLP, Sidley Austin LLP • ORIGIN ENERGY SENIOR NOTES OFFERING FIRMS: Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom • US$12.5 BILLION ACQUISITION FACILITY FOR SABMILLER PLC’S TAKEOVER BID FOR FOSTER’S GROUP LIMITED FIRMS: Clifford Chance

COMPLETENESS OF INFORMATION – BANKS, ACCOUNTANTS AND LEGAL ADVISORS Please note that the names of banks, accountants and legal advisors on a transaction reflects the information received from nominees and this information may be incomplete. Omission of an advisor from the list should therefore not be taken as commentary on the role that party played in the deal. If your firm is missing from this list, please contact emily.ings@ thomsonreuters.com with the requisite information and we will

ensure that the list of winners, to be published in issue 10.6, is updated as appropriate. FIRM MERGERS – NAMING OF FIRMS A number of firms have changed names during 2011 and 2012 following mergers. While the 2012 Law Awards relates to work undertaken during the 2011 financial year, we have allowed firms to refer to themselves with their new branding if this is considered desirable. However, new entities were not eligible for any “firm of the year” awards if they did not exist in 2011.

AWARDS

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

ENERGY & RESOURCES DEAL OF THE YEAR FINALISTS

• APACHE ENERGY PARTICIPATION IN WHEATSTONE LNG PROJECT FIRMS: Freehills • GLADSTONE PORTS CORPORATION - WIGGINS ISLAND COAL TERMINAL DEVELOPMENT FIRMS: Mallesons Stephen Jaques, Ashurst, Freehills, Allens Arthur Robinson • ORIGIN ENERGY’S A$2.3 BILLION CAPITAL RAISING FIRMS: Clayton Utz, Mallesons Stephen Jaques, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Freehills BANKS: Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan Australia, Macquarie Capital Advisers • PEABODY’S US$5.2 BILLION HOSTILE TAKEOVER OF MACARTHUR COAL FIRMS: Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Freehills, Henry Davis York, Mallesons Stephen Jaques • WOODLAWN WIND FARM PROJECT FIRMS: Mallesons Stephen Jaques, Allens Arthur Robinson

EQUITY MARKET DEAL OF THE YEAR FINALISTS

• ALINTA DELEVERAGING TRANSACTION FIRMS: Mallesons Stephen Jaques, Allens Arthur Robinson, Freehills, Baker & McKenzie • FAIRFAX MEDIA AND TRADE ME GROUP IPO FIRMS: Russell McVeagh, Freehills, Buddle Findlay, Mallesons Stephen Jaques, Baker & McKenzie, Minter Ellison Rudd Watts

BANKS: UBS ACCOUNTANTS: Ernst & Young • ORIGIN ENERGY’S A$2.3 BILLION CAPITAL RAISING FIRMS: Clayton Utz, Mallesons Stephen Jaques, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Freehills, Baker & McKenzie • TREASURY WINE ESTATES $2.5 BILLION LISTING ON THE ASX FIRMS: Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Johnson Winter Slattery • WEST AUSTRALIAN NEWSPAPERS CAPITAL RAISING FIRMS: Allens Arthur Robinson, Baker & McKenzie

INSOLVENCY & RESTRUCTURING DEAL OF THE YEAR FINALISTS

• ALINTA FINANCE AUSTRALIA PTY LIMITED RESTRUCTURING FIRMS: Baker & McKenzie, Mallesons Stephen Jaques, Allens Arthur Robinson, Freehills, Arnold Bloch Leibler, Corrs Chambers Westgarth BANKS: Macquarie Bank • BORDERS/ANGUS & ROBERTSON RESTRUCTURE FIRMS: Clayton Utz, Russell McVeagh ACCOUNTANT: Ferrier Hodgson

AWARDS

• CENTRO RESTRUCTURE FIRMS: Arnold Bloch Leibler, Clifford Chance, Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Bracewell & Giuliani, Allens Arthur Robinson, Freehills, Clayton Utz/Maddocks, Johnson Winter Slattery, Baker & McKenzie BANKS: Flagstaff, Moelis, UBS ACCOUNTANTS: McGrathNicol, KPMG • RESTRUCTURING OF THE COLORADO GROUP FIRMS: Ashurst, Allens Arthur Robinson, Henry Davis York, Gilbert + Tobin

M&A DEAL OF THE YEAR FINALISTS

• AXA/AMP LIMITED MERGER FIRMS: Chapman Tripp, Clayton Utz, Freehills, Mallesons Stephen Jaques, Allens Arthur Robinson, Norton Rose BANKS: UBS, Deutsche Bank, Macquarie • NATIONAL BROADBAND NETWORK – FINANCIAL HEADS OF AGREEMENT BETWEEN NBN CO AND TELSTRA FIRMS: Ashurst, Clayton Utz, Gilbert + Tobin, Mallesons Stephen Jaques, Corrs Chambers Westgarth • NEW SOUTH WALES ELECTRICITY PROJECT FIRMS: Baker & McKenzie, Johnson Winter & Slattery, Clayton Utz, Mallesons Stephen Jaques BANKS: Credit Suisse, Lazard Carnegie Wylie • NBN CO DEFINITIVE AGREEMENTS FIRMS: Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Ashurst, Mallesons Stephen Jaques, Gilbert + Tobin • SABMILLER PLC’S ACQUISITION OF FOSTER’S GROUP LIMITED FIRMS: Allen & Overy, Allens Arthur Robinson, Clifford Chance, Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Hogan Lovells, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton (NY), Bell Gully, Johnson Winter Slattery BANKS: Goldman Sachs, Gresham Advisory Partners ACCOUNTANTS: PricewaterhouseCoopers

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

PROJECT FINANCE DEAL OF THE YEAR FINALISTS

• ASIA PACIFIC LNG PROJECT FINANCING CONTRACT WITH CHINA PETROCHEMICAL CORP. (SINOPEC) FIRMS: Sullivan & Cromwell, Vinson & Elkins, Baker & McKenzie • GOLD COAST RAPID TRANSIT FIRMS: Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Allens Arthur Robinson, Maddocks, DLA Piper, Minter Ellison • NATIONAL BROADBAND NETWORK FIRMS: Mallesons Stephen Jaques, Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Gilbert + Tobin, Ashurt, Clayton Utz • NEW ROYAL ADELAIDE HOSPITAL PPP FIRMS: Allens Arthur Robinson, Clayton Utz, Freehills, Norton Rose, Minter Ellison ACCOUNTANTS: Ernst and Young, Mercer, Macquarie • WIGGINS ISLAND COAL EXPORT TERMINAL FIRMS: Allens Arthur Robinson, Ashurst, Clifford Chance, Freehills, Mallesons Stephen Jaques, Corrs Chambers Westgarth BANKS: ANZ Corporate Advisory ACCOUNTANTS: Ernst & Young

NZ DEALMAKER OF THE YEAR FINALISTS

• BRYNN GILBERTSON, BELL GULLY • PIP GREENWOOD, RUSSELL MCVEAGH • JAMES GIBSON, BELL GULLY • ANDREW HARKNESS, SIMPSON GRIERSON • FRANK MCLAUGHLIN, CHAPMAN TRIPP

AWARDS

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

NZ DEAL TEAM OF THE YEAR

NEW ZEALAND DEAL OF THE YEAR

• RUSSELL MCVEAGH CORPORATE TEAM • MINTER ELLISON RUDD WATTS CORPORATE AND COMMERCIAL TEAM • CHAPMAN TRIPP CORPORATE TEAM • BELL GULLY CORPORATE TEAM • SIMPSON GRIERSON BANKING & FINANCE TRANSACTIONS TEAM

• CANTERBURY EARTHQUAKES RESIDENTIAL RED ZONES FIRMS: Russell McVeagh, Buddle Findlay, Mortlock McCormack, Chapman Tripp, Minter Ellison Rudd Watts • FAIRFAX MEDIA AND TRADE ME GROUP IPO FIRMS: Russell McVeagh, Freehills, Buddle Findlay, Mallesons Stephen Jaques, Baker and McKenzie, Minter Ellison Rudd Watts BANKS: UBS ACCOUNTANTS: Ernst & Young • NEW ZEALAND GOVERNMENT’S ROLL-OUT OF ULTRA FAST BROADBAND (UFB) FIRMS: Bell Gully, Chapman Tripp, Russell McVeagh, Simpson Grierson, Tompkins Wake, DLA Philips Fox, Lane Neave ACCOUNTANTS: PricewaterhouseCoopers, Goldman Sachs, Cameron Partners • PROJECT LINC FIRMS: Simpson Grierson, Westpac In-house Counsel, Russell McVeagh ACCOUNTANTS: PricewaterhouseCoopers • TELECOM DEMERGER FIRMS: Chapman Tripp, Russell McVeagh, Bell Gully, Allens Arthur Robinson, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP BANKS: Goldman Sachs & Partners Australia, Goldman Sachs & Partners New Zealand, First NZ Capital Securities Limited, Credit Suisse (Australia) Limited ACCOUNTANTS: PricewaterhouseCoopers, Goldman Sachs, Cameron Partners, KPMG

FINALISTS

AUSTRALIAN DEAL MAKER OF THE YEAR FINALISTS

• DAVID FRIEDLANDER, MALLESONS STEPHEN JAQUES • PHILIPPA STONE, FREEHILLS • REBECCA MASLEN-STANNAGE, FREEHILLS • TONY DENHOLDER, ASHURST • DAMIAN REICHEL, JOHNSON WINTER & SLATTERY • TONY BANCROFT, GILBERT + TOBIN

AUSTRALIAN DEAL TEAM OF THE YEAR FINALISTS

• BAKER & MCKENZIE MAJOR PROJECTS • FREEHILLS CORPORATE/ M & A • ALLENS ARTHUR ROBINSON PROJECT FINANCE • ASHURST RESTRUCTURING AND INSOLVENCY • CORRS CHAMBERS WESTGARTH ENERGY & RESOURCES • JOHNSON WINTER & SLATTERY TRANSACTIONAL & ADVISORY

FINALISTS

AUSTRALIAN DEAL OF THE YEAR FINALISTS

• TO BE ANNOUNCED ON THE NIGHT

AWARDS

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

BAKER & MCKENZIE BANKING & FINANCIAL SERVICES IN-HOUSE TEAM OF THE YEAR

• TELECOM • WESTPAC NEW ZEALAND LIMITED

• UBS AG • CHALLENGER LIMITED • WESTPAC NEW ZEALAND LIMITED

CLAYTON UTZ AUSTRALIAN IN-HOUSE TEAM OF THE YEAR

FINALISTS

BAKER & MCKENZIE ENERGY & RESOURCES INHOUSE TEAM OF THE YEAR FINALISTS

• ORIGIN ENERGY LIMITED • ANGLOGOLD ASHANTI AUSTRALIA LTD • MINERALS AND METALS GROUP

SPARKE HELMORE INSURANCE IN-HOUSE TEAM OF THE YEAR FINALISTS

• QBE (EUROPEAN OPERATIONS) • ALLIANZ AUSTRALIA (CORPORATE)

GILBERT + TOBIN INVESTMENT BANK IN-HOUSE TEAM OF THE YEAR FINALISTS

• MACQUARIE BANK • UBS AG • JP MORGAN • DEUTSCHE BANK • ANZ

RUSSELL MCVEAGH NEW ZEALAND IN-HOUSE TEAM OF THE YEAR FINALISTS

• HEARTLAND NEW ZEALAND LIMITED • FLETCHER BUILDING LIMITED

FINALISTS

• ORIGIN ENERGY LIMITED • CHALLENGER LIMITED • UBS AG • FOXTEL • NBN CO LIMITED • MINERALS AND METALS GROUP

IN-HOUSE LAWYER OF THE YEAR FINALISTS

• DANIEL KRUTIK, ORIGIN ENERGY LIMITED • GREG WATSON, METCASH • DAVID COHEN, CBA

AWARDS

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

EMPLOYMENT FIRM OF THE YEAR

LIT SUPPORT CSR FIRM OF THE YEAR

• NORTON ROSE • MIDDLETONS • PEOPLE & CULTURE STRATEGIES • LANDERS & ROGERS • AUSTRALIAN BUSINESS LAWYERS • HARMERS WORKPLACE LAWYERS

• MALLESONS STEPHEN JAQUES • BAKER & MCKENZIE • FREEHILLS

FINALISTS

INSURANCE SPECIALIST FIRM OF THE YEAR FINALISTS

• LANDERS & ROGERS • MINTER ELLISON • CURWOOD LAWYERS • WOTTON + KEARNEY • SPARKE HELMORE • TURKS LEGAL

IP SPECIALIST FIRM OF THE YEAR FINALISTS

• GRIFFITH HACK • DLA PIPER • DAVIES COLLISON CAVE • SLATERS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAWYERS • FB RICE • WRAYS

LIT SUPPORT CORPORATE CITIZEN FIRM OF THE YEAR FINALISTS

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AWARDS

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FINALISTS

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• GILBERT + TOBIN • HENRY DAVIS YORK • TRUMAN HOYLE LAWYERS • MARQUE LAWYERS WE LOOK FORWARD TO CELEBRATING WITH WINNERS AND FINALISTS AT THE ALB 2012 AUSTRALASIAN LAW AWARDS ON Co n 3 _ AL B_ 0 3 0 4 1 2 . p d f Pa ge 1 1 5 / 0 3 / 1 2 , MAY 24 - TOWN HALL, SYDNEY. VISIT WWW.LEGALBUSINESSONLINE.COM.AU

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AWARD SPONSORS BAKER & MCKENZIE Baker & McKenzie is unrivalled in delivering the knowledge, experience and capabilities of a truly global law firm to our clients in Australia and across the globe. In Australia since 1964 and with 68 offices in 40 countries, we provide the innovative legal solutions clients expect, together with practical advice and seamless execution. Contact Chris Freeland, National Managing Partner T: 02 9225 0200 E: chris.freeland@bakermckenzie.com W: www.bakermckenzie.com

BURGESS PALUCH LEGAL RECRUITMENT Burgess Paluch is a leading legal recruitment group with significant experience in local and international markets. Utilising a strategic approach and providing accessible, proactive advice, Burgess Paluch is one of the leading legal recruiters in Australia. Burgess Paluch focuses on creating successful outcomes for both lawyers and law firms.

Contact Paul Burgess, Director T: 03 8676 0372 E: paul@bplr.com.au W: www.bplr.com.au CICERO Cicero is an Australianowned specialist legal executive search, selection and training firm with a reputation for honesty and responsiveness. Cicero’s focus is working closely and strategically with clients to build their businesses and also assisting lawyers to progress their careers. Cicero has national reach within Australia, and with associated international offices in Asia and throughout the UK. Contact Jonathan Gill, Managing Director T: 02 9008 1122 E: jgill@cicero.com.au W: www.cicero.com.au

CLAYTON UTZ A top-tier law firm with a difference:

Clayton Utz take a fresh, pragmatic, commercial approach to legal practice that focuses on achieving the best results for their clients. Their ability to bring together teams of our country’s finest lawyers with unique and diverse skills is why they advise on Australia’s largest and most complex deals and litigation. Contact Lauren Scott, National Corporate Affairs Manager T: 03 9286 6972 E: lscott@claytonutz.com W: www.claytonutz.com

EMPIRE CAREERS Empire Careers is a specialist legal recruiter providing both professional and support staff to leading law firms and in-house legal teams of blue chip organisations. Our consultants are very well known in the market and have all worked in legal recruitment for a minimum of five years, they bring long standing relationships with both clients and candidates. Empire Careers has a national presence with offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. Contact Lucy Brady P: 02 9375 2222 E: lucy@empirecareers.com.au W: www.empirecareers.com.au

GILBERT+TOBIN Gilbert+Tobin is a leading corporate law firm and a key player in the Australian legal market. They work on transactions and cases that define and direct the market. The firm’s reputation for expert advice extends across M&As, private equity, capital markets, banking & finance, real estate and projects, tax, competition and regulation, communications and technology, intellectual property and litigation.

AWARDS

AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS ISSUE 10.4

Contact Danny Gilbert, Managing Partner T: 02 9263 4000 E: email@gtlaw.com.au W: www.gtlaw.com.au

GR LAW GR Law is a global specialist legal recruitment consultancy assisting clients and candidates from the newly qualified level through to partnership. Our highly experienced team of consultants work for the majority of international firms multinational corporations in London, Australia, Asia, Europe and the UAE offering a truly international service. Contact Nicole Garrett, Senior Consultant – Australia & Asia P: 02 9220 4400 E: Nicole.Garrett@grlaw.com.au W: www.grlaw.com.au

HUON IT Huon IT are industry renowned Legal Technology Specialists, with a focus on providing strategy, IT management,

systems integration and 24x7 support to a range of professional service organisations. Established in 1989, Huon IT has established long term partnerships with firms across Australia, with offices in both Sydney & Melbourne. Working alongside both management and technical departments within their client’s organisation, Huon IT helps to align technology systems with executive vision to maximise business performance. Contact Damian Huon, Chief Executive Officer P: 02 8401 8000 E: dhuon@huonit.com.au W: www.huonit.com.au

LITSUPPORT LitSupport is Australia’s leading provider of secure and confidential document copying, printing and scanning services. Our clients include law firms, government departments, financial services institutions and all corporate and commercial organisations who require critical and sensitive document reproduction. We operate a 24/7 service from a national network of offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. Contact Val Pitt, Communications Director

T: 03 9621 1333 E: val_pitt@litsupport.com.au W: www.litsupport.com.au

MURDOCH UNIVERSITY Murdoch Law School provides a rigorous and intellectually challenging legal education. It seeks to develop the research, writing and advocacy skills of its students and combines a tradition of excellence in legal education with new innovative programs which prepare students for the practice of law in a rapidly changing world. Contact Professor Gabriël Moens, Pro Vice Chancellor (law, business and information technology) T: 08 9360 6064 E: G.Moens@murdoch.edu.au W: www.murdoch.edu.au

RUSSELL MCVEAGH We are regarded as New Zealand’s premier law firm. Russell McVeagh has an extensive and celebrated history of representing New Zealand’s leading corporations and financial institutions. Contact Gary McDiarmid, CEO T: 64 9 367 8091 E: gary.mcdiarmid@russellmcveagh.com W: www.russellmcveagh.com

SPARKE HELMORE LAWYERS Sparke Helmore Lawyers is the 2011 Australasian Law Awards Insurance Law Firm of the Year. We are a firm of 600 people working from eight offices across Australia, serving the needs of the insurance, government, corporate and financial services sectors. Our expertise spans commercial to construction, workplace to insurance, mining to manufacturing, and property to procurement. Contact Rhett Slocombe, National Practice Group Leader - Insurance P: 02 9373 3555 W: www.sparke.com.au

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