Australasian Lawyer issue 2.03

NEW ZEALAND REPORT GCs on NZ’s increasingly buoyant market australasianlawyer.com.au Issue 2.3

COVERING ALL BASES What’s behind insurance law’s busy year AUSTRALASIAN LAW AWARDS Meet the winners

RESTLESSLY AMBITIOUS Danny Gilbert has transformed his firm from a TMT boutique into one of the biggest names in the Australian legal market … and he’s not finished yet

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CONTENTS UPFRONT 04 News analysis The turning tide

06 Legal insight

20

In-house evolution

08 Appointments 10 Deals round-up

FEATURES

COVERING ALL BASES

16 COVER STORY

RESTLESSLY AMBITIOUS

Danny Gilbert has transformed his firm from a TMT boutique into one of the biggest names in the Australian legal market … and he’s not finished yet

PEOPLE

AT THE HELM

26

Mirvac general counsel Natalie Allen on how in-house practice is evolving

PEOPLE

Insurance lawyers share what’s driving their busy year, and predict where the next wave of activity will come from

36 Seizing the opportunity

Ashurst’s Asia managing partner Matthew Bubb on life in a varied and changing market

40 Improving soccer’s gender scorecard How competition and regulation partner Moya Dodd is making a difference through the world’s most popular sport

30

BUSINESS STRATEGY

NEW ZEALAND SPECIAL REPORT

Keeping business strategies on track

FEATURES

42 Industry evolution forces firms to get strategic

Legislative reforms and a buoyant market drive work for in-house teams

2015

44 FEATURES

AUSTRALASIAN LAW AWARDS

AUSTRALASIANLAWYER.COM.AU CHECK IT OUT ONLINE

Meet the winners

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2

UPFRONT

EDITORIAL

www.australasianlawyer.com.au

Celebrating success

W

hat’s next?”

Everyone is guilty of focusing on this question to some extent.

Kathryn Crossley When a significant project is ticked off a to-do list, most of us will move on to the other waiting tasks without pausing for even a brief moment to enjoy that sense of accomplishment (and sometimes relief ).

And the busier we become, the harder it is to notice and appreciate the many small – and sometimes big – wins that we have at work.

This can be particularly difficult for lawyers. When one matter ends, there are always plenty more matters vying for attention, often with deadlines looming so closely that they immediately force the previous matter from mind.

The busier we become, the harder it is to notice and appreciate the many small – and sometimes big – wins that we have at work It is rare that people will stop to enjoy their successes, and the occasions when we are able to collectively celebrate our accomplishments are rarer still.

The inaugural Australasian Law Awards were a timely opportunity to celebrate the legal fraternity’s many, many achievements. Held at the Shangri-La in Sydney on 21 May, the Awards recognised excellence across the profession, from specialist and regional firms to in-house teams, boutique firms and large practices. Congratulations to all the winners and finalists in this year’s Awards. Meet the winners from page 44.

No doubt many firms and lawyers are already working on initiatives and matters that could place them in contention for next year’s Australasian Law Awards, but with the end of the financial year fast approaching, now is the perfect time to stop, take a deep breath and smell those proverbial roses.

JUNE 2O15 EDITORIAL Editor Kathryn Crossley Production Editors Roslyn Meredith Moira Daniels Carolin Wun

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Kathryn Crossley, editor

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UPFRONT

NEWS ANALYSIS

The turning tide The path from private practice to in-house is well worn, but an increasing number of in-house lawyers are returning to firms. Former general counsel share the factors that are drawing them and their in-house colleagues back to private practice THE ATTRACTIONS of life in-house are well-known. Developing a deeper knowledge of a particular sector or industry, being able to work closer with the end client, and the opportunity to help shape an organisation’s strategy are all drawcards for private practice lawyers considering a move in-house. While the flow of lawyers from private practice to in-house has been consistent, traffic in both directions has been increasing.

Return to the firm For many in-house lawyers, having a broader client base is one of the attractions that bring them back to private practice.

“Yes, you’re legally trained, but you’re part

diverse range of clients and not necessarily as a manager,” says Allan McDougall, Keypoint Law consulting principal and former head of legal at Société Générale Australia.

Piper Alderman partner and former Thiess general counsel Ted Williams agrees.

“It’s great to have the opportunity to apply that knowledge in a different context, and perhaps a wider client base to what I’d had in-house,” he says.

Greater client diversity combined with the rare opportunity to further develop Piper Alderman’s construction and infrastructure practice were factors that drew Williams back to law firm life, but in his view it is

“We’re undergoing quite a significant change in the way in which legal services are delivered, and people who have that [in-house] background can assist firms in adjusting to that” Ted Williams, PIPER ALDERMAN of management; of course you manage the legal issues that arise [in-house], but I found myself evolving as a professional. I decided that I wanted to be of service to a

4

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economic factors that may be driving the growing numbers of in-house counsel moving to law firms: “The economy is cyclical and different sectors have different

cycles; there’s certainly economic factors at play,” he says.

Holman Webb partner and former Michel’s Patisserie general counsel, Corinne Attard, agrees. “It is often a matter of market forces – companies seek to move the legal work in-house and then they shift it to external lawyers for cost or workload reasons,” she says.

In Attard’s opinion, another drawcard for in-house lawyers is the greater opportunities for career progression that are offered by law firms. “Many in-house jobs also do not offer much of a career path except by waiting for the general counsel to retire, leaving to another bigger company, or a shift to the commercial side of the business, all of which might drive those lawyers back to a law firm,” she says.

Valuable recruits At a time when clients are looking for

AUSTRALIA’S LAWYERS BY EMPLOYMENT SECTOR

9.6%

Government

15.8% Corporate

4.4% Other

70.2%

Private practice Source: Law Society National Profile (2014)

“A combination of both in-house and external lawyers offer the best solution – you need to get the best of both worlds” Corinne Attard, HOLMAN WEBB greater value from their legal advisors, having lawyers who understand the expectations and the challenges faced by in-house clients, anticipate issues before they arise and understand clients’ strategies is clearly an advantage for firms.

“At the end of the day, the external law firm must deliver a solution that’s practical

and useful and I think the in-house person should be aware, perhaps a little better than the lawyer coming through the profession alone, the ways to deliver that,” says McDougall. “That’s not to say that an astute law firm professional can’t do so, but I think the in-house person should have a little bit more of a leavening, particularly as a young person, about what is expected by the business client.”

Williams agrees. “The skills in-house translate well to law firms because what you do achieve is a deeper understanding of an industry and a business and the commercial drivers there, and I think you are also able to focus on what’s of value to your clients,” he says. “We’re undergoing quite a significant change in the way in which legal services are delivered, and people who have that [in-house] background can assist firms in adjusting to that.”

Although their experience on the client

side makes in-house lawyers prized recruits for law firms, they often do not come with the client base that a lateral hire from another firm would have. “[In-house lawyers] bring an understanding of life at the other end of the phone calls, bills and emails, the internal pressures of budgets, cost pressures, competing departments, board politics and specific industry knowledge. What they don’t bring is a stable of clients, although they may bring over their former employer or other industry contacts. The challenge of building a practice from scratch is probably the biggest hurdle in moving back to private practice,” Attard observes.

While a return to private practice may not be without its challenges, changes to the traditional way in which legal services are delivered by law firms means that demand for lawyers with in-house backgrounds will continue to grow. “There is going to be a transfer both ways and I think that that has certainly helped both sectors of the market: in-house and private practice. I think that they can learn from each other,” Williams says.

“I firmly believe that a combination of both in-house and external lawyers offers the best solution – you need to get the best of both worlds,” says Attard. AL

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5

UPFRONT

IN-HOUSE LEGAL TEAMS

In-house evolution

A new Australasian study offers insights into the changing nature of in-house practice IN-HOUSE legal teams the world over are undergoing a dramatic shift in terms of both their composition and roles in their organisation. The in-house teams of today are more sophisticated than ever before, and are usually much larger.

Combined with greater pressure on companies’ budgets following the global financial crisis, external legal spending is down

and the number of legal team heads taking on additional responsibilities continues to rise.

The 2015 In-house Report: Benchmarks and Leading Practices, produced jointly by the Australian Corporate Lawyers Association (ACLA) and Corporate Lawyers Association of New Zealand (CLANZ), offers an in-depth look into the current makeup and responsibilities of evolving in-house legal functions.

In-house lawyers have identified the most essential general counsel attributes as:

Ability to translate complex information into simple communications Broad business understanding Commercial nous Specific legal knowledge related to the organisation’s operations Active listening skills Commitment to being a frank and fearless advisor Excellent technical legal skills Leadership training Complete independence Financial acumen Education and/or experience in non-legal fields 0

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of organisations have staff on flexible work arrangements

13%

49%

of organisations have a contracted or seconded senior lawyer

of in-house teams have administrative support

When it comes to making the switch from a firm to a company, all in-house counsel reported that it takes time for private practice lawyers to gain the necessary in-house skills.

99% 97% 97% 94% 92% 88% 87% 80% 80% 64% 64% 47% 35%

Strategic thinking

91%

average unpaid overtime worked by general counsel each month

TIME TO TRANSITION FROM PRIVATE PRACTICE TO IN-HOUSE

LAWYERS IDENTIFY ESSENTIAL IN-HOUSE SKILLS

Influencing skills

33.3 hours

8% 24 months

7%

8% 3 months

18 months

47% 20

40

60

80

100

12 months

30% 6 months

HEADS OF LEGAL TAKING ON ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONS General counsel have been assuming additional responsibilities in their organisations for some time and the number continues to grow. In 2015, only 11% of GCs have no responsibilities outside their legal role, and 16% have taken on one additional role. Close to three-quarters of GCs have two or more additional areas of responsibility.

Likelihood of GCs having additional responsibilities 60

50

40

30

20

10

0

52% 50% 49% 43% 36% 27% 17% 15% 14% 11% 10% 9% 9% Governance

Compliance

Company secretary

Privacy officer

Risk

Insurance

Government relations

Corporate Knowledgeservices and sharing and administration management

THE NUMBER OF FEMALE HEADS OF LEGAL ISÂ GROWING

Business and other services

50%

Energy and resources

31%

Financial/insurance services

46%

Wholesale/consumer services

29%

Information/media/ telecommunications

45%

Transport/warehousing

15%

20

40

60

0

Internal audit

HR

In-house legal team sizes vary considerably. Large teams are more likely to be found in government departments and organisations with more than 2,000 local employees.

12%

SECTORS WHERE IMBALANCE IS MORE LIKELY

0

Strategic planning

IN-HOUSE TEAM SIZE

When the survey was last conducted in 2012, women accounted for 38% of general counsel; that number now stands at 42%. This graph indicates the best and worst-performing sectors for women GCs. TOP SECTORS

Public/ corporate affairs

20

more than 10 lawyers

88% 40

60

10 or less lawyers

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7

UPFRONT

MARKET MOVEMENTS

Appointments CORRS NAMES INTERNATIONAL LEADERSHIP TEAM Corrs Chambers Westgarth has created eight new leadership positions to boost its independent global engagement model.

As an alternative to having international office locations, the firm focuses on cultivating strong relationships with law firms overseas.

This network also includes relationships with governments and other businesses.

“We are now completing this footprint by appointing chair and co-chair leadership roles to existing markets and formally entering the new markets of South America and Africa,” Corrs CEO John Denton said of the appointments.

The new positions will assist the firm’s international business groups, and cover Africa, Europe, the Middle East, North America, South America and the United Kingdom.

The appointments supplement existing co-chair roles for China, India, Japan, Korea and South East Asia.

International clients currently make up close to 40% of the firm’s large corporate client base.

SENIOR ASSOCIATE APPOINTMENTS

8

FIRM

LAWYERS PROMOTED OR LATERALLY APPOINTED

DLA Piper

Jessie Buchan, Summer Dow, Michelle Doyle, Melissa Grinter, Jason Hart, James Hewer, Jason Morris, Nitesh Patel, Dev Pillay, Lorraine Polmear, Llon Riley, Mandi Xu

Presented by

LATERAL PARTNER APPOINTMENTS NAME

PRACTICE AREA

LEAVING

GOING TO

Mark Attard

Insurance

Colin Biggers & Paisley

Norton Rose Fulbright

Geoff Brookes

Insurance

Hunt & Hunt

HBA Legal

Robert Edel

Energy and resources

DLA Piper

King & Wood Mallesons

Nicole Fauvrelle

Workplace

K&L Gates

Sparke Helmore

Mark Feetham

Technology and telecommunications

K&L Gates

Thomson Geer

Mark Flint

Commercial disputes and litigation

Meyer Vandenberg Lawyers

Mills Oakley

Siobhan Flores-Walsh Workplace health and safety

Norton Rose Fulbright

Corrs Chambers Westgarth

Grant Galvin

Insurance

Sparke Helmore

Hall & Wilcox

Graeme Gamble

Energy

Ashurst

Herbert Smith Freehills

Bill Glover

Corporate and commercial

DLA Piper

Holding Redlich

Con Gotis-Graham

Litigation

DLA Piper

Mills Oakley

Adam Howell

Banking and finance

K&L Gates

Gadens

Darren James

Commercial disputes, insolvency

Herbert Smith Freehills

Mills Oakley

Grant Koch

Corporate and M&A

Allen & Overy

DLA Piper

John Mann

M&A

K&L Gates

Clarendon Lawyers

Rowan McDonald

Corporate

K&L Gates

HWL Ebsworth

Penny Moore

Insurance

Jarman McKenna

Moray & Agnew

Simon Morgan

Insurance

Sparke Helmore

Hall & Wilcox

Jane Owen

IP

K&L Gates

Bird & Bird

Mark Petrucco

Litigation and insolvency

Petrucco & Associates

Hall & Wilcox

Ruth Slater

Insurance

CCS Insurance Law

HBA Legal

Rhett Slocombe

Insurance

Sparke Helmore

Hall & Wilcox

Hall & Wilcox

Megan Scott

Penny Stevens

Workplace

K&L Gates

Sparke Helmore

HWL Ebsworth

David Cinque

Kevin Stewart

Dispute resolution

Lavan Legal

Minter Ellison

Sparke Helmore Gina Carosi, Sam Jackson

Daniel Stoddart

Insurance

Sparke Helmore

Hall & Wilcox

Watermark Intellectual Asset Management

Nicholas Studdert

Insurance

Sparke Helmore

Hall & Wilcox

Joanna Turnbull

Insurance

Sparke Helmore

Hall & Wilcox

Ted Williams

Construction and infrastructure

Thiess

Piper Alderman

Michelle Cooper

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PARTNER PROMOTIONS FIRM

LAWYERS PROMOTED

Aitken Partners Peta Olive, Kathy Wilson

Barbara De Brouwer

DLA Piper

Carla Degenhardt

Watermark Intellectual Asset Special counsel Management

Special counsel

Meredith Bennett, Anton Harris, Jane Harvey, Olivia Lau, Pauline Tan, Ben Warne

Michael Dowling Russell Kennedy Lawyers

Special Counsel

Ashurst

Terry Grace

TressCox Lawyers

Consultant

DLA Piper

Astrid Beemster, Joel Cox

Stuart Granger

lexvoco

General Manager – NSW

Herbert Smith Freehills

Bryony Adams, Paul Apathy, Joanne Draper, Andrew McLean, Stefanie Wilkinson, Jacqueline Wootton

Jane Hemstritch Herbert Smith Freehills

Non-executive member of the firm's Global Council

Norton Rose Fulbright

Brian Jackson

DLA Piper

Special counsel

Marshall Bromwich, Tom Martin, Ben Smits, Fiona Wallwork

Catriona Martin

DLA Piper

Asia Pacific pro bono counsel

Kathryn MillistSpendlove

Nexus Law Group

Consultant principal

Dr Kathryn Morris

Griffith Hack

Principal, Life Sciences and Chemical Group

Sarah MortonRamwell

Ashurst

Global pro bono partner

OTHER NAME

FIRM/COMPANY

TITLE

Victoria Allen

Minter Ellison

Head of M&A (Sydney)

Sam Barber

Mills Oakley

Special counsel

Damiano Castelli Mills Oakley

Special counsel

Christian Owen

Corrs Chambers Westgarth

Co-Chair of International Business Group (South America)

Phil Catania

Corrs Chambers Westgarth

Co-Chair of International Business Group (United Kingdom)

Jose de Ponte

DLA Piper

Special counsel

Adrian Rich

Minter Ellison

Special counsel

Alan Churley

Corrs Chambers Westgarth

Co-Chair of International Business Group (Middle East)

Stephen Stern

Corrs Chambers Westgarth

Co-Chair of International Business Group (Europe)

Mick Coleman

Mills Oakley

Special counsel

James Whittaker Corrs Chambers Westgarth

Corrs Chambers Westgarth

Co-Chair of International Business Group (Africa)

Co-Chair of International Business Group (North America)

Corrs Chambers Westgarth

Co-Chair of International Business Group (United Kingdom)

Clare Corke Rod Dann

Jessica Tye David Yates

AJ Park

Associate

Corrs Chambers Westgarth

Co-Chair of International Business Group (Middle East)

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9

UPFRONT

TRANSACTIONS

Deals round-up $640m Affinity Equity Partners acquisition of Nine Live from Nine Entertainment Co Hong Kong-based private equity firm Affinity Equity has acquired Nine Live, owner of Ticketek, from Nine Entertainment.

Affinity Equity was advised by King & Wood Mallesons, which also acted on its 2014 acquisition of a 35% stake in Virgin’s Velocity program, for $335m.

The acquisition brings Affinity’s recent deal total to $3bn.

Buddle Findlay advised on the New Zealand law aspects of the transaction.

10

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Transaction

Value (A$) Adviser

Client

Lead lawyer(s)

360 Capital Industrial Fund acquisition of Boondall and Murarrie properties

$52m

Lander & Rogers

360 Capital Industrial Fund

Thomas Wait

360 Capital Office Fund acquisition of Richmond property

$46.5m

Lander & Rogers

360 Capital Office Fund

Thomas Wait

Abacus Property Group accelerated nonrenounceable entitlement offer

$121m

Baker & McKenzie

JP Morgan, Saw

Craig Andrade

King & Wood Mallesons

Affinity Education Group

David Eliakim

Buddle Findlay

Affinity Equity Partners

Grant Dunn

Affinity Education Group pro$75m rata accelerated renounceable entitlement offer Affinity Equity Partners acquisition of Nine Live from Nine Entertainment Co

$640m

King & Wood Mallesons

Mark McNamara, Ros Anderson

Allegro Funds acquisition of Confidential Great Southern Rail from Serco Group

HWL Ebsworth

Allegro Funds

Jamie Restas

Minter Ellison

Serco Group

Ben Smith

Australian Federal Department $242m of Health Technology contract with Datacom

DLA Piper

Department of Health

Caroline Atkins

Australian Food & Fibre sale of interest in Bengerang to Webster

$124m

Allens

Australian Food & Fibre Limited

Julian Donnan

AV Jennings and AustralianSuper joint venture to develop land at Wollert

$400m

Gadens

AustralianSuper

Jeremy Smith, Clare Peacock

Maddocks

AV Jennings

Michael Taylor Sands, Nick Sparks

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank convertible preference shares 3

$225m

Allens

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank

Robert Pick, Julian Donnan, Martin Fry

CBD and South East Sydney Light Rail project

$2.1bn

Lander & Rogers

First State Super

David Fabian

Challenger Life Company’s The $133m NEXT Hotel acquisition and lease back

Herbert Smith Freehills

Challenger Life Company Limited

Michael Back

China Capital Investment Group purchase of Daydream Island Resort and Spa

Holding Redlich

China Capital Investment

Trent Taylor, Chris Wille, Paul Hardman, Carl Hinze

Confidential

MAKE SURE YOUR FIRM’S WORK IS RECOGNISED To ensure your firm and its lawyers get the recognition they deserve for their fantastic work, send all your deal details to kathryn.crossley@keymedia.com.au

Transaction

Value (A$) Adviser

Client

Lead lawyer(s)

Coonooer Bridge wind farm development

$50m

Ashurst

Eurus Energy Holdings Corporation

Natsuko Ogawa, Paul Newman

Gilbert + Tobin

Windlab and Eurus Energy Luke Westmore, Tony Holland

Herbert Smith Freehills

ANZ

Gerard Pike, Andrew Clark

Ashurst

Crown Resorts Limited

Paul Jenkins

King & Wood Mallesons

UBS, Deutsche Bank, ANZ Securities, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank, Westpac

David Friedlander

Herbert Smith Freehills

Deutsche Bank AG, Sydney Branch and Goldman Sachs Australia

Philip Hart

King & Wood Mallesons

DEXUS Property Group

Susan Hilliard

Crown Resorts subordinated notes II offer

$400m

DEXUS Property Group institutional placement

$400m

Empire Oil & Gas NL equity raising

$15.7m

Clayton Utz

Empire Oil & Gas NL

Mark Paganin

Fortescue Metals Group note issue

US$2.3bn

Allen & Overy

Fortescue Metals Group

Peter Wilkes

The GEO Group’s renegotiation and extension of its Fulham Correctional Centre operating contract

$593m

Allens

The Geo Group

David Donnelly

Global Health Investment Fund US$10m and Medicines Development onchocerciasis program

Allens

Global Health Investment James Darcy, Toby Knight, Fund Nick Kennedy

GMK Partners joins Deloitte Private

$16m

Arnold Bloch Leibler

GMK Partners

Goodman Fielder acquisition

by Wilmar International and First Pacific Company

$1.9bn

Gilbert + Tobin

Wilmar International, First Peter Cook Pacific Company

Herbert Smith Freehills

Goodman Fielder

Tony Damian

Guangdong Rising Assets Management unconditional, off-market bid for PanAust

$1.1bn

King & Wood Mallesons

Guangdong Rising Assets Management Co.

Andrew Deszcz, Paul Schroder

GWA Group sale of Brivis Climate Systems

$48.2m

Gadens

Rinnai Australia

Richard Partridge, Michael Kenny, Matthew Burge

$400m DEXUS Property Group institutional placement Several major firms have advised on the DEXUS Property Group institutional placement, which was fully underwritten by Deutsche Bank AG, Sydney Branch and Goldman Sachs Australia. The property group will now undertake a non-underwritten security purchase plan for eligible security holders in Australia and New Zealand.

Leading the King & Wood Mallesons team was partner Susan Hilliard, who has worked with DEXUS since 2007. Last year, the firm acted for DEXUS and its capital partner on the $2.9bn takeover of CPA, finishing the year as one of the biggest public M&A transactions. The latest institutional marks the first occasion in some time that DEXUS has been to the market to raise equity capital of this kind.

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP advised DEXUS on US securities law matters. Herbert Smith Freehills and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP advised the underwriters.

Ross Paterson

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11

UPFRONT

TRANSACTIONS $245m M2 Group acquisition of Call Plus M2 Group’s takeover of New Zealand’s third largest internet service provider, Call Plus Group, took just over two weeks from beginning to end. The deal marks a major move into the NZ market said Allens partner Mark Malinas, who headed up the advisory team for M2 Group: “It’s their biggest foray into New Zealand. They are acquiring the third largest telco over there; it changes their standing in that market,” said Malinas.

Malinas and his team also represented M2 Group on its $1.6bn all-share bid for iiNet. The bid competes with TPG’s March offer, which valued the internet service provider at $1.4bn.

12

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Transaction

Value (A$) Adviser

Client

Lead lawyer(s)

Hallett Hill No.2 Wind Farm’s US Private Placement

$205m

Allens

Infrastructure Capital Group

Michael Ryan, Chris Patten

Herbert Smith Freehills

BNP Paribas, National Australia Bank

Gerard Pike, Joel Rennie

ILH Group (administrators appointed) divestment of businesses

Undisclosed

Gadens

KordaMentha

Stephen Moulton, Ashleigh Le, Matthew Burge

Ironbark Capital off-market share buy-back

Undisclosed

Ashurst

Ironbark Capital Limited

Stephen Menzies

Iron Mountain Inc. agreement in principle to acquire Recall Holdings

$2.6bn

Allens

Recall Holdings

Guy Alexander, Vijay Cugati

Minter Ellison

Iron Mountain Inc.

Costas Condoleon

Keolis Downer acquisition of Australian Transit Enterprises

$163m

DLA Piper

Keolis Downer

David Ryan, Alex Guy

Kuraray acquisition of Plantic Technologies

Undisclosed

DLA Piper

Kuraray Co.

Gerry Bean, Dylan Burke

Minter Ellison

Gordon Merchant

Joseph Pace

Lend Lease successful bid for Paya Lebar site

S$1.67bn

Herbert Smith Freehills

Lend Lease

Justin O’Farrell

M2 Group acquisition of Call Plus

$245m

Allens

M2 Group

Mark Malinas

Menora Foods sale to Monde Nissin Australia

Confidential

HWL Ebsworth

Menora Foods

Jeremy McCarthy

McKenzie Aged Care Group acquisition of seven aged care facilities and two retirement villages

Confidential

HWL Ebsworth

Embracia

Steven Smith

Russell Kennedy

McKenzie Aged Care Group

Rosemary Southgate, Andrew Parlour

Monash IVF Group acquisition of Sydney Ultrasound for Women

$30.1m

Henry Davis York

Sydney Ultrasound for Women

Robert Tracy

Moneytech unsecured subordinated notes offer

$25m

HWL Ebsworth

Moneytech Group

Matthew Reynolds, Caroline Snow

National Australia Bank capital raising

$5.5bn

King & Wood Mallesons

National Australia Bank

Diana Nicholson

National Storage REIT fundraising

$57.5m

King & Wood Mallesons

National Storage REIT

Stefan Luke

New Zealand Schools II PPP

$298m

Anderson Lloyd

Future Schools Partners consortium

David Holden

Bell Gully

New Zealand Government Hugh Kettle

DLA Piper

Hawkins Group

Alex Guy

NorthConnex motorway project $2.9bn

Clayton Utz

NSW government

Stuart Cosgriff

On Deck Capital and MYOB joint Confidential venture

DLA Piper

On Deck

Lyndon Masters, Samantha O'Brien

Firm Profile

OUT OF THE FRYING PAN AND INTO THE FIRE: CHANGES TO ADJUDICATION UNDER THE CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTS ACT AMENDMENT BILL Adjudication under the Construction Contracts Act 2002 (the Act) is primarily a quick fire process to resolve monetary disputes and to ensure liquidity in the building industry. The Construction Contracts Act Amendment Bill, expected to come into force in New Zealand in late 2015, introduces significant changes to the industry and aims to make resolving construction disputes faster, clearer, and more cost-effective1. Not only will the distinction between residential and commercial construction contracts be largely removed, but the scope of the Act is to be significantly expanded, along with a revised adjudication format. The goals of the reforms are admirable but it is questionable whether the changes will result in practical improvement.

Currently, parties to design, engineering and quantity surveying contracts are not covered by the Act and are unable to use the adjudication process. The Bill amends the definition of “construction work” to include “design or engineering work” and “quantity surveying work”. This will result in reduced costs for consumers who will be able to access one adjudication process for disputes involving a range of consultants. While consumers will certainly gain, there is much uncertainty for consultants as there is no definition of the expanded terms included in the Bill. It is unclear whether “design work” includes work undertaken by an engineer or architect as certifier and administrator under a NZS3910 construction contract. The only certainty regarding the new scope of the Act is that it will provide fruitful ground for dispute.

It is not surprising that consultants are reluctant to fall within the ambit of the Act. There is arguably little need for them to access

the Act’s monetary protection provisions as consultant contracts usually contain provisions relating to timely payment. Negligent design claims are complex and often occur years after the design work is completed.

These types of disputes do not easily lend themselves to resolution by an abbreviated dispute resolution process.

Under the proposed regime, adjudicators’ determinations in relation to “rights and obligations” will be enforceable (not just those in respect of payments). This addresses the current situation where a successful party is left without an enforceable remedy and issues are re-litigated at considerable expense.

While this change has admirable intentions, the practical implications are considerable.

Disputes about “rights and obligations” concern a broad range of issues including site access, scope of work, quality, fitness for purpose, bond and guarantee compliance and rights to suspend or terminate. These types of disputes seem ill-suited for a short form resolution process which has no discovery, no expert evidence and no cross examination.

The Act was not originally devised as a short form process to resolve complex disputes but rather to ensure the swift movement of money.

There is also a question mark over how a decision on rights and obligations will be implemented given the process sits alongside alternative dispute resolution. It is relatively simple to undo the exchange of money if a different result is reached in any parallel proceedings but an order for the completion of works is a more difficult matter.

The Bill accelerates enforcement of adjudication orders by reducing the time to

oppose an application from 15 days to five days. While this speeds up enforcement there will be little time to gain expert opinion in relation to any complex matter. More significantly, and at a practical level, claims involving rights and obligations inevitably result in notification to an insurer under a professional indemnity policy. Most polices operate on a “claims made” basis and notification must be given of circumstances giving rise to a claim. The insurer retains the right to conduct any defence and, postearthquake, New Zealand insurers have adopted a “hands-on” approach to managing litigation. An insured will need to act fast to both trigger a claim and meet the reduced timeframes for a response.

The practicality of the proposed changes will need to be tested. What is certain is that parties to a construction contract will need to be well-prepared and have good lines of communication with their insurer if they do not want to be caught out by the amended adjudication process.

Review of the Construction Contracts Act 2002: Proposals for change, 2011 Regulatory Impact Statement, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment

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Susan Rowe is a partner in the Christchurch office of Buddle Findlay, one of New Zealand’s leading law firms.

Susan specialises in commercial litigation and dispute resolution with expertise in insurance and construction, local government and employment law. Susan can be contacted on 64 3 371 3517 or susan.rowe@buddlefindlay.com.

www.buddlefindlay.com

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13

UPFRONT

TRANSACTIONS $288m

Transaction

Starhill Global REIT acquisition of Myer Centre in Adelaide

REST Industry Super direct debt $200m investment Sensis sale of Location Navigation to TomTom

DLA Piper and Minter Ellison have advised on Australia’s largest retail property acquisition so far this year.

The $288m acquisition of the Myer Centre in Adelaide by Singapore-listed Starhill Global Real Estate Investment Trust has sparked market interest, with experts predicating an upward trend for international investment in Adelaide.

Starhill Global REIT, which has a portfolio of retail assets in Asia, spanning Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, China and Japan, has purchased Adelaide’s largest shopping centre from Novion Property Group in the second largest retail transaction ever for South Australia.

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Value (A$) Adviser

Confidential

Client

Lead lawyer(s)

Allens

REST Industry Super

Warwick Newell, Michael Ryan

Baker & McKenzie

Sensis

Craig Andrade

Bird & Bird

TomTom

Hamish Fraser

Ashurst

UBS Australia AG

Carl Della-Bosca, Sarah Dulhunty

Herbert Smith Freehills

Seven West Media

Rebecca Maslen-Stannage

Bird & Bird

Skydive the Beach Group

Shane Barber, Keren Wadling

Maddocks

Australia Skydive

Leigh Baring

Seven West Media entitlement offer

$612m

Skydive the Beach acquisition of Australia Skydive

$11.7m

Skydive the Beach corporate reorganisation and ASX float

$25m

Bird & Bird

Skydive the Beach Group

Shane Barber, Keren Wadling

Slater & Gordon acquisition of Quindel professional services division

$1.2bn

Arnold Bloch Leibler

Slater & Gordon

Jonathan Wenig

Baker & McKenzie

Slater & Gordon

Andrew Reilly

Gilbert + Tobin

Citigroup, Macquarie

Peter Cook

DLA Piper

Starhill Global Real Estate Les Koltai, Jane Baddeley Investment Trust

Minter Ellison

Novion Property Group

Michael Liebich

TLA Worldwide acquisition of $25m Elite Sports Properties Holdings

Hall & Wilcox

TLA Worldwide

Bruce McFarlane

TPG Telecom proposed takeover of iiNet

$1.56bn

Minter Ellison

TPG Telecom

Costas Condoleon, Michael Gajic

Touchcorp IPO and ASX listing

$162.3m

Clayton Utz

Touchcorp

Stuart Byrne

Herbert Smith Freehills

Goldman Sachs, Wilson HTM

Philippa Stone

K&L Gates

iiNet

Simon Salter

Minter Ellison

TPG Telecom

Costas Condoleon, Michael Gajic

Starhill Global REIT acquisition of Myer Centre in Adelaide

$288m

TPG Telecom proposed takeover of iiNet

$1.4bn

Uber Global divestment of total issued share capital to Melbourne IT

$15m

Gadens

Uber Global

Jeremy Smith, Ashleigh Le

Vail Resorts acquisition of Perisher Ski Resort

$176m

Ashurst

Murray Publishers, Transfield Corporate

Garry Besson

Gilbert + Tobin

Vail Resorts

Neil Pathak

DLA Piper

Waterlogic Australia Holdings

Gerry Bean, Dylan Burke, Martin Wiseman, Chris Liddall

Harmos Horton Lusk

Just Water International Limited

Andrew Harmos, Kelvin Preston

Herbert Smith Freehills

Whitehaven Coal

Joel Rennie

Waterlogic Australia purchase of Just Water International’s Australian business

$11m

Whitehaven Coal refinancing

$1.4bn

Five-time Australasian Law Awards winner State/Regional Law Firm of the Year for 2015

Agribusiness Banking & Finance Commercial Disputes Corporate Defence Education Energy Environment, Climate Change & Planning Family Business Health Insurance IP, Technology & Media

We would like to thank our clients for their continued support, without which awards of this type are not possible.

Property & Development Resources Tax & Revenue Wills, Estates & Succession Planning

Adelaide 81 Flinders Street Adelaide, South Australia 5000 Phone: +618 8235 7400 Facsimile: +618 8232 2944 Email: finlaysons@finlaysons.com.au

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PEOPLE

DANNY GILBERT

Restlessly ambitious Just over 27 years ago, Danny Gilbert established a boutique technology, media and telecommunications practice. Today, his firm stands confidently alongside some of the biggest names in the Australian legal market… and he’s not finished yet. Kathryn Crossley reports THE MARKET that Gilbert + Tobin operates in today is very different to the one in which it made its debut nearly three decades ago.

“It’s a much more competitive market these days than it was when we started… I wouldn’t like to be doing today what Tony Tobin and I started in 1988,” says the firm’s managing partner, Danny Gilbert.

Firms in Australia are facing pressure from every corner, and to Gilbert, no challenge is greater than the growth of in-house legal capacity. In responding to such a significant competitive development, he emphasises the importance of “making sure that you’ve got a greater proportion of go-to talent getting out of the lift in your shop than anybody else.”

Nowhere is this strategy more apparent than the meteoric rise of the firm’s corporate and banking and finance practices.

“There wasn’t enough room for growth if we had just stuck to that narrow specialty of telecommunications, technology and media,” he says of the catalyst for the firm branching out into new practice areas. “We had some partners from Freehills who joined us in the mid-1990s and we developed from there,” he recalls. “We made an aggressive move into the corporate world from about 2001 and

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we did it by attracting people to the firm.”

The opportunity for a fresh change and a different approach to the more established firms was key in attracting new talent, he says.

“People liked the idea of building something new… unconstrained by perceptions and ways of thinking and operating that existed in any firm that’s been around for a long time.” In a relatively short space of time, Gilbert says the firm has succeeded in building a first-tier corporate practice that sits comfortably alongside players like Allens, King & Wood Mallesons, and Herbert Smith Freehills. More recently, Gilbert has used the same targeted recruitment strategy to deepen the firm’s corporate offering by building its private equity capabilities.

Aiming for the ‘Major Ten’ The decision to remain independent while other Australian firms merged with international entrants to the local market has helped to catapult the firm forwards in recent years. In particular, Gilbert + Tobin, has benefited significantly from the unsettling of long-held referral relationships between international and local firms.

With old Australian allies now merged

with competitors, overseas firms have closely examined the local market and sought out new referral relationships. “We have been able to establish relationships with the best firms in the world which was not a door through which we were able to walk prior to the foreign firms coming here,” Gilbert says. “Those relationships with the overseas establishment were put in place perhaps a hundred years ago and passed informally into every generation of partners that has existed in those firms. So as a new firm with an unknown brand it was difficult.” The firm now has relationships with top US, London and Asian firms.

“We were motivated by the sense of being able to do what we wanted to do without having people holding us back or looking over our shoulders” In Gilbert’s view, the spate of international entrants to Australia has injected energy into the local market and helped to make it a more competitive one. As the majority of Australia’s major firms have merged or closely allied with international counterparts in recent years, some commentators are now predicting that the traditional Big Six could give way to a ‘Major Ten’. “All of the firms that have come here would have aspirations to be in that Major Ten, and all the partners who

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PEOPLE

DANNY GILBERT TIMELINE 1988 Firm founded by Danny Gilbert and Tony Tobin are partners in those firms would presumably be full on board with that ambition,” he says.

“I think that [in the Major Ten] there is absolutely a place for a standout independent firm.”

1993 Litigation practice established 1995–1997 Began building corporate and competition law capability

2001 Decision to convert firm’s brand from TMT boutique to corporate law firm. Tax practice established 2003 Further expansion in Asia and the Middle East 2007 Established strategic alliance with King & Wood 2011 Integration of Gilbert + Tobin and Blakiston & Crabb, opening the firm’s Perth office

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2000 Began association with Arculli & Associates in Hong Kong to expand telecommunications and technology practice in Asia 2002 Property, infrastructure and projects practice established

2006 Private equity practice expanded

2010 Melbourne office established and alliance with Perth firm Blakiston & Crabb commences

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Unfinished business Gilbert + Tobin has easily surpassed its co-founders’ original aspirations when they departed Sly & Russell – now Norton Rose Fulbright – to launch their own practice.

“I wouldn’t say I had a particular vision about it,” Gilbert says of the firm’s genesis.

“I suppose we were motivated by the sense of being able to do what we wanted to do without having people holding us back or looking over our shoulders,” he recalls.

“I think one shouldn’t get too carried away with one’s own success because the house is never built” The ability to prosecute his interest in social justice issues was another attraction of launching his own firm, and its considerable pro bono practice is clearly a great source of pride for him when he looks at the firm today.

“We thought that we would build a small practice and we would do well enough. We both had young families. I suppose neither of us knew where it would go; we would just make enough to live on comfortably and pay the mortgage,” he says.

However, by the end of the firm’s first year

of operation, during which time it landed a major role in litigation involving Fairfax, it became apparent to both Gilbert and Tony Tobin that there was a bigger opportunity to seize. From that moment, he says the firm’s outlook has been a “restlessly ambitious” one, and despite the firm’s successes, there is no room for complacency. “You’ve got to keep working on it. You’ve got to be able to inject into the partners and lawyers a sense that it’s unfinished business. The minute you become complacent about it, then I think the rot probably sets in.”

He cites Gilbert + Tobin’s move to Barangaroo, scheduled for next year, as an upcoming milestone that will help to further the firm’s energetic and innovative mindset.

“I wanted to be there because of the sense of something new; a new and challenging environment. It seems to me to speak to our culture and to our ambition,” he says.

As to why his firm is the only one that is making the move to this new part of Sydney, he hypothesises that some of the other law firms strategically felt that they could not leave the city’s Phillip Street precinct.

“We’re going to be moving from an old fashioned environment to a new one and as soon as you do that it causes people to rethink the practice of law,” he says.

For Gilbert personally, it is the firm’s continued success that has enabled him to maintain the sense of momentum as Gilbert + Tobin has gone from a start-up phase to an established market leader. “I think one shouldn’t get too carried away with one’s own success because the house is never built.

But the way I’d like to think of it is it’s like climbing a ladder – and I don’t mean the corporate ladder. Every time you put your foot on another rung, you’ve got the capacity to see a broader horizon about what’s possible to achieve.” AL

DANNY GILBERT ON… Accounting firms’ growing legal capabilities “I think they probably won’t retreat this time. They’re very large organisations, they have a lot of cash swirling around, they’ve got the money to invest into legal services. They seem to be saying that they’re not trying to attack the upper end and they’re trying to bolt on their services to better service their clients but they’re not going to be engaging in the more complex transactional work. I don’t believe that – I think everything is up for grabs.”

Technology and the future of legal practice “Google are producing driverless cars… one day we will have driverless M&A. I don’t mean there will be no input by human beings, but technology will play a part in the delivery, in the conceptualisation of legal answers, in the conceptualisation of how you run a transaction and in the outputs.”

The firm’s culture “We wanted to build a firm that was free of hierarchy, that was egalitarian, where people felt unconstrained in a way that they could bring their full personality to work every day, and unencumbered by past traditions… a place where people from diverse backgrounds with diverse experiences could thrive.”

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FEATURE

INSURANCE LAW

Covering all bases Insurance lawyers share what’s driving their busy year, and predict where the next wave of activity will come from

MOST INSURANCE lawyers are hardpressed to name an area of their practice that is not performing steadily to strongly, or is not expected to do so in the coming year.

Across all areas – aviation, life, construction risks, public liability, industrial special risks, employment practice liabilities, workplace risks, and more – insurance teams have been very busy indeed. But as with any good year, there will always be a few standout areas, with cyber insurance and D&O work on everyone’s lips.

D&O delivers for firms A continued upswing in D&O work was high on lawyers’ lists of predictions for the year ahead. The downturn in the economy, combined with more investigations of directors by regulators, and shareholders’ class actions are expected to prompt an increase in activity.

“The ongoing economic uncertainty, the increasing prevalence of litigation funders and class actions, the pursuit by ASIC of civil penalties or criminal prosecutions, and the willingness of the courts to scrutinise corporate governance, have continued to facilitate a range of claims against company directors and officers,” says Carter Newell senior partner Paul Hopkins.

“The advancement of defence costs under D&O policies has therefore been invaluable for many directors facing investigation or court proceedings.”

The high number of claims has also brought about an expansion of D&O and management

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liability areas in recent years, observes Holman Webb partner John Van de Poll. As this happens, parties are running up against older prohibitions on insuring against fines and penalties. “You see managers, directors, owners and operators of businesses being individually liable for things that happen in a workplace where they may have had nothing to do with that event occurring, but they’re strictly liable for it without having formed any intention at all,” he says.

The availability of insurance against workplace-related fines and penalties has already prompted commentary from South Australia about how such policies can undermine the ability of judges to impose penalties. “I expect you’ll see a bit of a shift to people accepting that it is possible to insure

“Insurers are now looking for more innovative claim management strategies which help them deliver their main objectives of reducing costs and life of claim” Paul Hopkins, CARTER NEWELL those sorts of risks … I hope that will resolve in a way that still leaves directors and officers protected,” Van de Poll says.

Cyber insurance: The next frontier A greater regulation of data protection and privacy, as well as a rise in cyber

attacks, is generating increased interest in cyber policies.

“Brokers tell me that cyber insurance is the most talked about but least purchased insurance product,” Van de Poll says.

As most cyber breaches are kept under wraps, the need for cyber insurance policies

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FEATURE

INSURANCE LAW

Striving to settle

CYBER CRIME: A THREAT TO BUSINESSES, AN OPPORTUNITY FOR INSURERS

$2.1 trn

predicted global cost of data breaches by 2019 – this is almost four times the predicted cost of breaches in 2015

60%

of 2015 data breaches are expected to occur in North America – this is expected to decrease as other regions increasingly take up new technologies

$150 m

predicted average cost of a data breach in 2020

Source: The Future of Cybercrime & Security: Financial and Corporate Threats & Mitigation, Juniper Research (2015)

has been slow to penetrate the market.

“Because risks that a cyber policy would cover are not becoming public, it’s a much harder sell I think to insureds ... It’s not easy to persuade people why you need this new style of cover,” Van de Poll says. He anticipates that a highprofile cyber issue for a small to medium-sized business may be all the market needs to spur on greater uptake of cyber policies.

However, from the perspective of Clyde & Co partner Jenny Thornton, the widespread uptake of policies in this area has already begun. “The move in the US, Europe, and Australia now for reporting means that people are becoming more and more aware of the number of breaches that are occurring and the number of attacks that are occurring,” she says. “Until recently a lot of those claims were able to be covered by other policies, for example under your liability policy, but those policies are now writing to exclude cyber attacks, cyber breaches and the cost of dealing with those attacks out of their policies, so I think more and more people are turning to the bespoke cyber liability policies.”

Hopkins agrees. “We have seen insureds without cyber cover trying to ‘massage’

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cyber claims under their existing cover, such as a professional indemnity policy, with little success,” he says. In his view, the reputational damage that can accompany a cyber attack is an area in which cyber-risk policies are distinguishing themselves. “As well as providing cover for losses, cyber-risk policies can provide cover for assistance in dealing with a breach or attack, such as forensic accounting support and credit monitoring services and PR or crisis management assistance.”

According to Sparke Helmore national managing partner Jesse Webb, the potential of cyber insurance is huge. “Cyber losses globally are now reported to be costing approximately US$700bn per annum, compared to catastrophe events, which cost on average about US$200bn per annum. When you compare those two, you can see why that’s becoming quite an emerging area,” he says.

Despite the opportunities, for now firms must wait for claims work to come through.

“From an insurer’s perspective, that’s something that they’re actively marketing, and it’s only a matter of time before the claims come,” Wotton + Kearney partner Raisa Conchin says.

The ongoing shift to alternative dispute resolution is also being felt by insurance lawyers. In larger cases, particularly those involving personal injury or complex property losses, Van de Poll has observed a greater focus on alternative dispute resolution from both the courts and practitioners in this area. “Once upon a time, if a court ordered a mediation you would turn up and you might have a talk about settling the case, but otherwise 90% of the time you were really going to settle it at the door of the court. That has reversed now, in that 90% of matters will resolve through one form or another of alternative dispute resolution,” he says.

Partly driven by increased costs and consciousness on the part of insurers, informal settlement conferences are now a much more regular occurrence. “If there’s one thing that reduces the cost of litigation, it’s the time that you spend in litigation, so if you can settle a matter in six months, you’re going to be saving significant costs. That’s as important to insurers as bringing down hourly rates,” he says.

In Western Australia, Thornton has seen a number of disputes destined for the Singapore International Arbitration Centre, but with the recent launch of the Perth Centre for Energy and Resources Arbitration, she anticipates that many insurancerelated disputes for those industries will be arbitrated locally.

“Especially in the mining and offshore oil and gas industries, the idea is that the dispute will then be arbitrated in Western Australia, rather than London, New York, Singapore or Sydney,” she says. “We’ve already had clients asking us to nominate the centre in their contracts as the place where the arbitration will take place.”

Thornton has also observed an increase in shareholder claims, particularly class actions, against banks, mining companies and financial institutions, in relation to ASX announcements, representations made by directors and subsequent drops in share

FEATURE

INSURANCE LAW

prices, with this growth in claims generating D&O work for firms.

Professional indemnity claims to make a comeback The past 12 months have proved quieter for professional indemnity claims, with Webb estimating a 30% reduction in complex claims. Despite the tapering off, Thornton predicts that the year ahead will see an uptick in activity. She puts the limited number of professional indemnity claims down to professional services firms focusing on risk management and improving documentation over the past five to 10 years.

“Nowadays, professionals are much better at documenting their instructions by sending out letters of engagement setting out the ambit of their instructions, and much better about making sure that their service is delivered in an appropriate way, so that they can justify subsequently what advice they gave and why they gave it,” Thornton observes. “Even though you may see claims, the claimants don’t seem to be as keen to progress to litigation.”

However, with an increasing number of companies going through insolvency events, particularly resources-related ventures in WA and Queensland, Thornton predicts that there will be an increase in the claims made against auditors, accountants and lawyers involved in administration, receivership and liquidation processes.

The downturn has also led to an increasing focus on costs on the part of mining corporations, which has brought on an increase in the number of claims against engineers, Thornton says.

Seeking success in a competitive market Although the insurance industry has enjoyed a strong year and recorded good profits, it is not all smooth sailing for insurers. “Probably the biggest challenge for the insurance industry at the moment is the competition in their market. It is fierce,” says Conchin.

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Webb agrees. “It is very much a fragmented market in terms of its traditional corporate insurers and underwriting agency businesses, and there are a number of market disrupters or challengers,” he explains, citing new entrants such as online retailers, unauthorised foreign insurers, and banks.

“That’s causing a slowdown in the premium growth for those traditional insurers, and this has in fact led to an increased focus on reducing expenses and improving

of the day, if you spend $150,000 on legal and settled it for $20,000, that’s not a win for your client at all. Whereas if you’d settled it for $40,000 and spent $10,000 on legal, your client is much better off,” she illustrates.

“Cost is where it’s at.”

This also echoes Hopkins’ experience. “[Insurers] really want people that have a passion towards driving settlements – that’s the key … Whether it’s big, complex matters or small, bread-and-butter jobs, they still need

“It is very much a fragmented market in terms of its traditional corporate insurers and underwriting agency businesses, and there are a number of market disrupters or challengers” Jesse Webb, SPARKE HELMORE customer experience through technology and streamlining policy and claims management systems,” he adds.

Unsurprisingly, the competitive market has flow-on effects for insurance lawyers.

“Insurers are now looking for more innovative claim management strategies which help them deliver their main objectives of reducing costs and life of claim.

Law firms are being asked to assist with these strategies,” Hopkins says.

The competitive marketplace also has flow-on effects for firms in the arena of costs. “Our clients constantly demand from us better outcomes for less money … we are under pressure to deliver things for less, and it is more about the outcome and less about the process,” Conchin says.

“The client doesn’t care if you win every legal point and if you’re the smartest lawyer in Australia – the client cares about the outcome, and that outcome is measured by one, the settlement that you achieve with the claimant, but two, your spend. So at the end

a strategic plan which is heading towards a resolution and an outcome,” he says.

“There’s a real commitment that we’re seeing from clients to wanting their lawyers to align with them and really make sure all the behaviours are headed towards a strategy that means an outcome which is a good outcome where it’s consistent with a reserve that’s been set in place.”

Looking to the busy year ahead, Conchin predicts that there will also be consolidation activity in the insurance market, both on the part of insurers and brokers. “You’re going to have these super insurers or supergroups of insurers, and then you’re seeing the same thing happen on the broking side in that brokers are banding together and forming broker groups.”

Given the collective power of broker groups, Conchin says firms need to tread carefully when it comes to managing claims. “If they’re not happy with how a claim is being managed or looked after, they’re in a position to apply pressure on the insurer in a way that one lone broking affiliate can’t.” AL

Emerging risks challenge insurers Emerging risks are a challenge for insurers and insureds alike. Some emerging risks are covered by existing policies, but not anticipated. Others aren’t covered at all.

And some, which have the potential to create commercial crises, don’t eventuate.

By Chris Wood and Colin Pausey, Sparke Helmore Lawyers

1. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE ISSUES ASSOCIATED WITH EMERGING INSURANCE RISKS? Emerging risks have always been an issue for insurers. For example, in the 60s and 70s asbestos-related risks put real pressure on companies and insurers. Then came passive smoking, lead in paint, Y2K and EMFs. Most of these “new” risks were covered by conventional occurrence-based wordings and some never caused the anticipated issues.

Many current emerging or potential risks, such as concussion risk in sport, aluminium as a health risk or losses resulting from hydrofracking, similarly will be covered by conventional suites of products or can be specifically excluded from liability policies.

However, while these risks are covered by existing products they represent the potential for a new stream of cases.

Some emerging risks, such as losses from cyber events remain largely uninsured even though there’s clearly a need and a market.

Complicating the issue further, cyber risk isn’t only about losses to others. It applies to direct losses to the insured and losses to potential customers of the insured.

Other emerging risks don’t have a dual impact but pose their own challenges. For example, the increasing use of drones creates a blurring of lines between personal and commercial risks, and while most drones are used privately some personal liability policies exclude aerial activities and others don’t.

Other potential issues include new product-specific issues, for example, whether or not e-cigarettes are actually less harmful than smoking, environmental issues, for example, whether the next El Nino may create

a water-borne disease risk akin to the 2000s giardia outbreak, and economic and political risks such as the consequence of short-term macro-economic solutions or environmental and privacy law changes.

2. WHAT ARE THE COMMERCIAL ISSUES THAT THESE EMERGING RISKS POSE? The potential of the unknown is a commercial issue for any business. Any risk that is excluded in a conventional policy poses a significant commercial risk to any business.

Many emerging risks may be picked up by existing policies. Others may not be. For that reason, insurance brokers have a vital role in addressing emerging risks.

3. IN YOUR EXPERIENCE, HOW ARE COMPANIES RESPONDING TO THESE RISKS? Reinsurers and reinsurance brokers spend considerable time and research on potential emerging risks and draw on their data to analyse the potential and cost of the risk.

4. WHAT DO CLIENTS NEED TO BE AWARE OF WHEN RESPONDING TO EMERGING RISKS? In addressing emerging risks, insurers need to rely on research. Where emerging risks are attached to existing policies, then insurers have to address the potential of the risk, similar to the asbestos risk crisis of decades ago. They also need to educate brokers who advise their clients.

The availability of capital and the soft market conditions challenge insurers entering

new markets to hold their rates based on their research and not be dragged into a policy count war.

5. WHAT ARE THE LEGAL ISSUES THAT THESE EMERGING RISKS POSE, AND HOW IS SPARKE HELMORE ADVISING ITS CLIENTS IN RELATION TO THOSE? The two immediate legal issues for insurers are whether existing policies respond to an emerging risk and whether new products are both tightly worded and marketable.

To some extent, the role of lawyers hasn’t changed in that we will always advise on policy coverage and claims management. But increasingly, clients are asking us to partner with them at the “front end”, where real value is provided through advice lines, training and identification of what they actually want to insure – and not insure. We see a trend in which lawyers are part of an holistic team, together with insurers, insured and brokers, who collaborate to manage these risks.

We are also helping clients create new products to address emerging risks. We advised one recent entrant to the market that will specialise in emerging risks only. Their first product is cyber risk, pitched to an SME market, and they have demystified cyber-risk by specifically saying what they cover, rather than having a general operative clause and then many exclusions. We expect this product will be in high demand given the exposure to small businesses and households and the projections made about the volume of digital devices, which are expected to considerably exceed the planet’s population by 2020.

CHRIS WOOD

Chris leads our national team of liability and professional indemnity lawyers. He has more than 30 years’ experience in advising local and overseas-based insurers on a variety of classes of insurance including, emerging risks. He can be contacted on +61 2 9260 2765 or chris.wood@ sparke.com.au

COLIN PAUSEY

Colin has the unique experience of having worked as a lawyer advising insurers and working as a senior member of the insurance industry. His expertise covers all classes of insurance and he has a wealth of experience in emerging risks both as an insurer and a lawyer.

He can be contacted on +61 2 9260 2618 or colin.pausey@ sparke.com.au

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PEOPLE

NATALIE ALLEN

At the helm Opportunity can arise in the unlikeliest of places.

Mirvac general counsel and company secretary Natalie Allen speaks with Samantha Woodhill about how the end of the dot com boom shaped her career, and how in-house practice is evolving

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really helped to shape her career. “American law firms have far fewer partners and a lot of lawyers so you get a lot of responsibility at a very young age and it’s a pretty tough and hardworking environment, so you learn to be very efficient,” she says.

“I did see other colleagues who weren’t so adaptable and they didn’t survive” After nearly four years in the US, Allen did what she calls the typical Aussie boomerang move and settled in back at Freehills. She then went on to head up three of Macquarie Group’s listed property funds in the lead up to the GFC when Macquarie was acquiring assets all around the world. “During my time at Macquarie I worked in the UK, Korea and Singapore; we bought property in Germany and Italy, and I spent about three months in Japan working on setting up a fund with a joint venture partner,” recalls Allen. “During the end of my time at Macquarie, I was general counsel and company secretary for two large ASX-listed real estate funds and

Peter Secheny Photography

BEGINNING HER career as a corporate lawyer at Herbert Smith Freehills, Natalie Allen thought she would be working in M&A and capital markets when she packed her bags to follow the dot com boom to San Francisco to work for Shearman & Sterling.

“I was 25 and I didn’t know anyone, so it was a pretty big move on my part,” she says.

“But this was during the dot com boom so there were large numbers of tech IPOs and some very sexy work.”

But by the time she arrived in March 2001, the boom had turned to bust, and just six months later, the attacks on the World Trade Centre occurred. Instead of working on the large capital raisings and technology work like she had anticipated, Allen was now making a living from bankruptcy and debt refinancing work.

“Because the market was really tough, a lot of people were being laid off in law firms. You had to be adaptable. I thought I would go over there and do a lot of traditional corporate law but I was involved in a broad range of work including bankruptcy proceedings, debt refinancing and debt capital raisings which was really interesting, but not what I expected,” says Allen. “It did teach me a lot; and I did see other colleagues who weren’t so adaptable and they didn’t survive.”

Allen says that learning to sink or swim in an American-style firm at the age of 25

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PEOPLE

NATALIE ALLEN

conversations about their career and they’re being recognised and given the opportunity to go into non-legal roles in the business, which I think is a really exciting trend.”

Traditionally, Allen says, legal teams were separate from a business and the role of the general counsel did not fall within the executive team. For Allen, watching the role of the in-house legal team evolve into an integrated part of a business has been an exciting part of her career.

“I think for me, if you’re a partner in a law firm, there’s the benefit of doing very sophisticated high level work all the time but you’re on the outside looking in… whereas if you’re in-house, you’re part of it. You’re part of the decision-making process, you understand the rationale for doing things, and for me, that’s what I wanted,” she says.

“I always wanted to be in-house; I never wanted to be a partner of a law firm.”

Building valuable relationships

one unlisted real estate fund, with assets in Australia and the US, it was a very busy time.”

In 2009, following the GFC, Macquarie sold their property funds management platform to Charter Hall, where Allen hurdled into the role of general counsel and company secretary after helping to facilitate the sale. “That was the first in-house legal function for Charter Hall. They had gone from a small property funds management group to a much larger property funds management group following the Macquarie acquisition,” says Allen. “I was involved in setting things up and really establishing a legal function, which was a very exciting opportunity.”

Two years later, she made the move over to Mirvac.

Wearing many hats Managing a small legal team of six in an ASX top 50 company is no easy feat, admits

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Allen, who is both Mirvac’s general counsel and its company secretary. “It’s a lot of different hats,” she says of her long list of responsibilities at the company. “There’s no typical day.”

With the responsibilities of in-house legal teams becoming more diverse, Allen encourages her team to experience different areas of the business. “Lawyers are highly valued in the corporate environment in terms of their project management skills, problem solving skills and logical minds,” she says. “I’m really excited as a manager to be able to give people opportunities for their development.”

One of her lawyers is currently on secondment two days a week in a non-legal role within Mirvac, examining the company’s strategy around affordable housing. “The team is really sought out quite often to assist in other ways that aren’t traditionally legal,” says Allen. “People are having honest

Since beginning her in-house career, Allen observes that with the availability of comprehensive data, monitoring her external spend has become a much bigger focus.

“We’re doing much more sophisticated monitoring of our spend, analysing the data, being much more disciplined about how we allocate work and working out how we can maximise the value of our spend,” she says.

As in-house counsel seek greater value, investing in relationships with external lawyers has become a priority at Mirvac. “We see them as a real extension of our team,” says Allen. “We look for partners.”

When it comes to working with law firms, secondments are a favoured relationshipbuilding strategy for Allen.

In her experience, after external lawyers spend time working in the business, the firm has a solid understanding of the pressures experienced by her team, and the benefit of the secondment continues long after the secondee heads back to their firm.

As all members of Allen’s legal team are

“People are having conversations about their career and they’re being recognised and given the opportunity to go into non-legal roles in the business, which I think is a really exciting trend” based in Sydney, having external advisors who will alert her to legislative changes and significant court decisions from other states is hugely valuable.

“It’s really important for us that our external lawyers are our eyes and ears; they let us know what’s happening on the ground, especially interstate,” she says.

Focusing on diversity On the topic of billing, Allen is wary of the

possible implications of billable hours for women in the profession. In her view, the billable hour is not just a value lacking arrangement for clients, but a practice that can exclude women from the workforce, which she is keen to discourage. Recently, in reviewing the firms Mirvac engages, Allen has been speaking with her external advisors about the need for more flexibility for women.

“The traditional hourly rate model is

difficult for that because it’s about how many hours you work, and so one of the things I think law firms need to consider – and I think they are doing that – is around value pricing,” she says. “I am keen for us to have more conversations where rather than saying ‘we’ll pay you based on an hours worked model’ and instead saying ‘I think this piece of work is worth X-dollars’ and however they want to do that work is up to them.” AL

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FEATURE

NEW ZEALAND

New Zealand special report Significant legislative change and an increasingly buoyant market, coupled with a rapidly shifting focus on e-commerce, have been the drivers for the bulk of the work for general counsel in some of New Zealand’s biggest companies. Hannah Norton reports

“WE ARE not seeing the size and volume of transactions that occurred pre-GFC, but there is enough quality work to keep everyone focused,” says ANZ general counsel Craig Mulholland, who heads one of the largest in-house teams in the country, boasting the equivalent of 32 full-time staff.

“The mood in the legal industry, particularly as it relates to the banking and financial services sector, remains buoyant.”

Year-on-year there’s been a steady growth in both market confidence and activity, Mulholland says.

“If I go back 12 months, there were a lot of discussions with customers, and they were looking at a lot of opportunities – but they weren’t actually pressing the ‘go’ button.

The difference now is that customers are actually open to action and are transacting, and are expanding their businesses or taking export opportunities.

“People now have confidence in the market and are progressing on that basis.”

No rock star economy But not too much confidence: while the New Zealand economy has this year been tagged as both ‘rock star’ and ‘Goldilocks’ – not too hot, not too cold – Mulholland is reluctant to label it. “I think it’s dangerous to use any analogies. The way I look at it, having been

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through a few business cycles now, including the ’87 crash, the Asian financial crisis and the GFC; it really feels to me that it is ‘steady as she goes’ at the moment.

“There’s that degree of buoyancy and confidence, but I think people and businesses have learnt lessons from the past about not over-extending themselves, and thinking about when there is too much of a good thing happening – so there’s a degree of conservatism built into the current optimism.”

‘Optimism’ is the word also employed by New Zealand Post Group general counsel Malcolm Shaw. “We have an increasing sense of opportunity and optimism for the business as we place considerable focus on our initiatives in e-commerce and parcels, including developing our offerings in a way that makes it easier for our customers to transact,” Shaw says.

The mood in the energy industry is also positive, according to Mighty River Power’s general counsel Karen Clayton. “We are now well into the post-development period that dominated much of the last few decades within the industry, and – as a result – the focus of many industry participants has changed from building power plants that are capable of generating the power we need and want, to thinking about how to best meet the changing and growing needs and expectations

of the consumer. “As a result, consumerfocused solutions, many of which are enabled through smart metering, continue to lead to innovation and rapidly evolving technologies in the industry.”

Responding to regulatory reform A hallmark of this year for in-house teams across the board has been significant legislative changes such as the introduction of the Financial Markets Conduct Act and reforms of consumer laws – much of which comes into effect this year and next.

These regulatory changes affect every part of ANZ’s business and form a bulk of the work of the in-house team, Mulholland says.

“I think these are really, really important reforms – and they go to the heart of consumer protection. And that’s what we are interested in. If we have customers that

are happy and looked after, then it is good for them and good for the banks as well.

A lot of the laws were quite old or piecemeal and out of step with global laws. Even though it is driving a huge volume into our work plan at the moment as an in-house legal team and as a financial institution, I think these reforms are ultimately for the benefit of customers, the economy and the banks,” he says.

“The key thing we are really trying to do with this is say, ‘let’s take it from being a cost to the business, to something we can turn into an opportunity for us and our customers.

“So, rather than just meeting the bare minimum of requirements of the new legislation – let’s take it a step further and, for example, let’s completely rewrite all of our retail customer contracts so they’re in plain English, simple and easily understood by customers.”

“We are going to be spending a fair bit of this year reviewing what we do … to ensure that we maintain a laser focus on delivering commercial, agile legal support that is aligned to and supports the businesses’ strategic priorities” Karen Clayton, MIGHTY RIVER POWER ANZ is also subject to extra territorial laws such as Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FACTA), Dodd Frank and the Over The Counter (OTC) reforms, Mulholland says.

The New Zealand Post Group’s legal team has also been facing the same challenges, according to group legal counsel Sarah

Graydon. “Consumer law reform has been a significant focus over the last 12 months as we have reviewed our customer terms and conditions to ensure there are no issues.

Other areas requiring particular attention have been Health and Safety and the FMCA.” In contrast, a major bulk of the workload for

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FEATURE

NEW ZEALAND THE NEW ZEALAND MARKET ACCORDING TO CEOS NEW ZEALAND CEOS’ TOP THREE COUNTRIES FOR GROWTH

88%

Australia China

of NZ CEOs are confident about their company’s 2015 growth prospects

US

69% 56% 52%

Are confident about the global economic outlook New Zealand CEOs Australian CEOs

Perceive more growth opportunities for their company than three years ago New Zealand CEOs Australian CEOs

94% of NZ CEOs are confident about their company’s revenue growth prospects for the next three years

Availability of key skills Speed of technology change Cyber threats (incl.. lack of data security)

84% 68% 66%

Australian CEOs

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10% 21%

Perceive more threats to their company’s growth than three years ago New Zealand CEOs Australian CEOs

50% 60%

Are concerned about policy-related threats to growth New Zealand CEOs Australian CEOs

“People now have confidence in the market and are progressing on that basis” Craig Mulholland, ANZ Mighty River Power’s in-house team has been in relation to the organisation dual-listing on the New Zealand and Australian stock exchanges in 2013.

“We have obligations and responsibilities that we never had before and a different focus on total shareholder return and value, both of which involve the legal team from time to time,” Clayton says. “In particular, we are involved in implementing decisions around how we manage our capital structure, which during the course of the last financial year saw MRP issue a $300m capital bond to repay bank facilities and to provide greater flexibility and optionality in its managing of its capital portfolio.

“As an issuer, the changes in New Zealand securities legislation affect Mighty River Power and it is the legal team’s job to keep on top of this.”

69% 71%

Are planning a cross-border merger or acquisition in 2015 New Zealand CEOs

NEW ZEALAND CEOs’ TOP THREE THREATS TO GROWTH

47% 38%

Keeping up with changing technologies Effects of the rapid rate of technological development and a continual shift to e-commerce are evident in all industries.

One of the biggest challenges, and opportunities, facing the ANZ legal team is how “we move into a digital world and strike a balance between the increasing demand for speed, ease of transaction and mobility, while ensuring that customers still get the underlying protections and stability they expect from a bank”, Mulholland says.

“Governments world-wide are considering the legal reforms necessary to meet all the competing considerations of the digital era, but we must accept that no matter how agile governments are with law reform, the market will always develop faster – and maybe it is a good thing that laws develop at a slower pace.”

66% 95%

For the New Zealand Post Group, the increasingly global and e-commerce focus meant the in-house team has been involved in assisting the business in developing networks and partnerships, and launching internationally-focused products, Graydon says. “These raise general commercial, consumer law and IP – as well as cross border contracting – issues,” she explains.

The country’s move from letters to digital communications has provided both challenges and opportunities for the Group. “We are continuing to respond to the structural change in our letters business, driven by the ongoing shift to digital solutions,” Shaw says.

“However, this also provides openings as we develop and find opportunities to grow in the parcels space and play an integral part in e-commerce.”

For Mighty River Power, technology also presents new challenges, Clayton says. “There does … remain some uncertainty in the market, mainly around the potential impact of disruptive technologies, how the spent costs of replacing aged infrastructure on New Zealand’s power networks plays out in future

FEATURE

NEW ZEALAND pricing to industry participants and the future operation of the aluminium smelter plant

THE NEW ZEALAND MARKET ACCORDING TO LAW FIRMS

at Tiwai Point – one of the largest users of electricity in NZ, whose demand profile could potentially have an impact on the market.”

Like the New Zealand Post Group, technology also provides Mighty River Power with new opportunities. “We are applying fresh thinking and rapidly evolving technologies enabled through the deployment and use of data supplied by Smart Meters to connect New Zealanders in new ways with electricity. An example of this is our GLOBUG product – a unique market-leading home grown pre-pay technology that allows customers to monitor their electricity usage and manage their account through online and

“As an export-based economy New Zealand is heavily reliant on our trading partners and vulnerable to any slowdown there, along with any further weakening of commodity prices. These impacts are currently hitting the dairy and resources sectors, where we are assisting clients with their changing legal needs. Despite the challenges, New Zealand remains a strong performer on the global stage, and we are seeing lots of positive local activity with buoyant capital markets and growing M&A activity.”

– Chris Gordon, chairman, Bell Gully “2014 was the first year in a long time that we saw consistent business performance across the firm. Historically, an increase in finance and corporate activity would have meant a corresponding decrease in some of our disputes and restructuring work. But contrary to all expectations, that didn’t happen last year and there’s no sign of change so far this year.”

– Andrew Poole, managing partner, Chapman Tripp

app-based self-service technology.”

Looking to the year ahead Thinking about the next 12 months, Mulholland says he would like to see more of the same thing. “We certainly hope that the volume of customer transactions continues at the same pace as they have so far this year,

“Year-to-date we are tracking well ahead of the same period last year. Activity-wise, the M&A market in particular is expected to continue to improve with many companies having strong balance sheets and financial institutions looking to lend. In short, there is a lot of cash sloshing around looking for a good investment which in turn frees up cash from vendors to invest which bodes well for many of our clients. We are seeing growth in most practice areas, including corporate, property, litigation, environmental, tax, and regulatory.”

– Gary McDiarmid, CEO, Russell McVeagh

as we certainly know that our compliance obligations and meeting the requirements of regulatory reform will only increase in scale and complexity this year, and next, and most likely the year after that.”

Shaw echoes his sentiments. “We are

“New Zealand is short on foreign investment. MBIE reported New Zealand had lower inward direct investment per capita than the OECD ‘small nation average’.

Our connectedness with the world is growing. The last quarter of 2014 represented an all-time high in FDI into New Zealand.”

– Martin Thomson, partner, DLA Piper New Zealand

increasingly compliance driven, which is a challenge as it is costly and does not necessarily drive economic growth.”

Clayton does not expect a massive change in the type of work for the rest of the year. “In terms of my team, we are going to be spending

“Whilst it is still a challenging environment, workflows are very strong and we are seeing many opportunities to win new business.”

– Peter Chemis, national chairman, Buddle Findlay

a fair bit of this year reviewing what we do and how we do it to ensure that we maintain a laser focus on delivering commercial, agile legal support that is aligned to and supports the businesses’ strategic priorities.

“This will involve us critically assessing what work we should be doing in the team and importantly what we shouldn’t, our processes (including our systemisation of certain work types and our training/education curriculum offered to the business), and our relationships with external legal service providers.” AL

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“Regulatory changes are providing substantial work streams for our firm as clients prepare for changes in the Health & Safety legislation, particularly around the extension of liability of directors… We have helped numerous clients prepare for The Financial Markets Conduct Act as it has been phased in, and there has been substantial work stem from the proposed reforms to the Resource Management Act and the Auckland Unitary Plan.”

– Mark Weenink, managing partner, Minter Ellison Rudd Watts

PEOPLE

MATTHEW BUBB

Seizing the opportunity After more than a decade in Singapore, Ashurst’s Asia managing partner, Matthew Bubb, is preparing for a move to Tokyo. He talks to Australasian Lawyer about life in a varied and changing market “I CAME with a suitcase, a wife and a threemonth-old baby for a three-month stay, and 11 years later we’re still here,” says Ashurst’s Asia managing partner, Matthew Bubb.

Bubb’s experience echoes that of countless other Australian expats: what was initially intended as a short stint in Asia has become a long-term stay. His opportunity to move to Singapore arose when he was a senior associate in Blake Dawson Waldron’s Melbourne banking group. Bubb took a leave of absence from Blake Dawson Waldron, then his three-month secondment to Ashurst’s Singapore office became six months, and in less than two years he was an Ashurst partner. In 2013, he was named the firm’s new managing partner for Asia.

working in a smaller office, and the different relationship that clients in Asia have with their lawyers.

“One of the big things I noticed in Asia is there were less institutional relationships and far more personal relationships. Clients tend to see you more as a trusted adviser, so they come to you with all of their legal problems and issues, and while they accept that you’re not the expert and you’re not going to necessarily deal with all of them yourself, they rely on you to get the right people to deal with it,” he observes.

In his view, lawyers in Asia tend not to have the same levels of specialisation as their colleagues in London, New York or Sydney. Bubb puts much of this down

“Firms often struggle with how big and diverse Asia is” Matthew Bubb, ASHURST Many strings to his bow Although project finance and project development work in the energy and infrastructure sectors are his specialty, Bubb appreciates the variety of matters he has been able to advise on while based in Singapore.

“One of the really great things professionally about moving to Asia is having the ability to have a wider scope of work,” he says.

This variety of matters is the result of both

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to economic factors. “Economies change pretty dramatically and you have to shift your practice to suit. Also, there’s different stages of development of economies, and that impacts on the sophistication of some of the legal products that are in the market, so it doesn’t lend itself and there’s just not necessarily the volume of work that would justify you being particularly specialised,” he says. “In Asia you generally need to have

a couple of strings to your bow, just because the depth and breadth of the market is not the same.”

Hotspots Although the global economic downturn has been felt in the region, and some Asian economies have not been operating at full capacity, Bubb still sees enormous opportunities for law firms in the region.

“One great thing about sitting in Asia is you have a very large market to play in: everywhere from India, Pakistan, through to China. The opportunities are different across sectors, and you’ve just got to be alive to where they are,” he says.

Bubb singles out the Indonesian economy as a key market. Despite the dip in the

CHALLENGES FOR FOREIGN FIRMS IN ASIA

commodity markets and a slowdown in the run-up to the recent election, Bubb says Indonesia has still been a strong performer and remains a key destination for the firm’s Chinese, Japanese and Korean clients.

“One of the big shifts in the last six months has been the massive and sudden drop in the oil price … the pace at which it came off has impacted somewhat on the activity there, although we’re already starting to see that recovery as oil prices look like they’ve stabilised or are stabilising, so we still see a lot of opportunity in the oil and gas and LNG space – and that’s across M&A activity, project development and project financing,” he explains. According to Bubb, a rapidly expanding middle class is also driving increases in both international and domestic

private equity activity, with key opportunities in consumer-linked businesses such as food, financial services and communications.

Hong Kong has been a hot market for Ashurst this year, with continuing strength in M&A and capital markets work. In China, the firm has been seeing opportunities in both financing and M&A-related outbound work, and Japanese outbound work has likewise been a strong performer for the firm.

Bubb also detects opportunities for firms and their clients in Asia’s developing economies, and says Myanmar is a market that stands out. “There’s a lot going on there at the moment – one suspects the market might be being a bit overheated, but there’s so much interest … all the clients are talking about it. Some are dipping their toe in the

Coming from more established markets, Bubb says it can be easy for firms and lawyers entering Asia to take certain things for granted, and he emphasises the need for flexibility. With legal and regulatory frameworks still developing in some countries, lawyers need to really understand what their clients are trying to achieve.

“In a lot of emerging markets we go to, we have to say to the client, ‘You can’t necessarily rely solely on the law to protect you, so you’ve really got to make sure you are aligning your interests and identifying the risks and managing them as best you can’.

It’s nerve-wracking at times, but it really does test your legal skills to come up with those solutions in some emerging markets where there just is no certain outcome,” he says.

The size and diversity of the region are key factors that firms often struggle with, Bubb says. “Firms often struggle with how big and diverse Asia is, and it’s not a homogenous place … within a country like India or China you’ve probably got 50 small countries within a country,” he says. “You have to be adaptable and not see Asia as a single block.”

Within the diversity equation, taking differences in economic development into account is a key point of emphasis for Bubb, who explains that speaking to people in emerging markets like Cambodia or Myanmar about the PPP experience in a first-world market like Singapore is akin to talking about the market in the UK or Australia. “You can’t take a one-size-fits-all approach,” he says. water quite cautiously; others are going in all guns blazing,” he says, citing infrastructure and energy matters as examples of the work the firm is doing in Myanmar.

Likewise, the Philippines is also becoming an increasingly active market. “Last year it had the third or fourth best GDP growth rate in the world,” Bubb says. “We’re seeing it come back on the radar for a lot of our clients, particularly in the infrastructure space.”

The government’s aggressive PPP program, coupled with good levels of work in insurance, banking and M&A, means it is well positioned for a positive year.

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MATTHEW BUBB

ASHURST IN ASIA Beijing 1 partner 10 lawyers Opened 2013

Tokyo Shanghai 1 partner 7 lawyers Opened 1995

7 partners 24 lawyers Opened 1990

Hong Kong Singapore 13 partners 50 lawyers Opened 1996

14 partners 61 lawyers Opened 2008

Jakarta 6 partners 28 lawyers Associated office since 1988

Looking to the year ahead, Bubb predicts a positive 12 months for the region. “From time to time it’s got economic headwinds and individual countries face certain issues, but generally speaking you just think that so much of the world growth is going to come from this part of the world.”

Saying farewell to Singapore After more than a decade in Singapore, Bubb and his family will be relocating to Tokyo later this year. He reflects on how much Singapore has changed in the time he has been living there.

“Singapore has become far more cosmopolitan and international in the last 10 years. I look out my window now and everywhere you look there’s more towers coming up,” he says. “In my time here there’s been a doubling of the number of foreign law firms in Singapore. There were about 75 when I came here and there’s over 150 now. I think it’s indicative that people see opportunity here, and whether you’re American or European or Australian or whatever, this is where your clients are coming.”

Singapore’s proximity to the rest of Asia is something that Bubb has appreciated from

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both a work and leisure perspective. “The great thing that Singapore has is within two hours’ flying time you’d be in some of the most amazing places on Earth, and that’s always been a strong attraction. We’ve taken the opportunity to travel extensively around Asia … I’ve had children in Baby Bjorns

“In Asia you generally need to have a couple of strings to your bow, just because the depth and breadth of the market is not the same” climbing over temples in Angkor Wat or in little boats in Vietnam going up rivers.”

From a professional perspective, Bubb hopes the Tokyo move will provide a chance to work more closely with his Japanese client

base. “A large majority of my clients have been Japanese, and I’ve always loved working for those clients. One of the things I am really looking forward to professionally is just having that opportunity to continue to build those relationships,” he says.

“There’s a huge push and support from the Japanese government for all these companies to go overseas, and I’m really looking forward to working with those clients to link them up with the other parts of our business.”

Looking to the next phase of his life overseas, Bubb cites Japan’s more defined seasons as a reason he is keenly anticipating the move. “I’m a Melbourne boy, and from a climate point of view Southeast Asia is probably the worst environment in the world for somebody like me – I’m not a big fan of humidity … the warm weather is lovely, but I do miss seasons,” he says.

He adds that his children, who have never seen snow before, are excited by the prospect of a Japanese winter. “We’re looking forward to it as a family. We’re treating it as an adventure,” he says.

“Life does take you in many different directions, but I’ve never sat back and regretted where my career has gone.” AL

Five minutes with Professor Brendan Edgeworth (LLB, MA) Director of Postgraduate Studies, UNSW Law My background I’ve been teaching at the School for over twenty years, mainly in the fields of property law, equity, housing law and legal theory.

I contribute regularly to UNSW Law’s Continuing Legal Education seminar series on topics related to property law. Legal education has always been a keen interest of mine. We’ve just been through a major curriculum review, and introduced a new JD program. As Head of School at the time, I was centrally involved in these initiatives.

Current role I’m Director of Postgraduate Studies, which means that I have overall responsibility for the design and delivery of our 18 different Masters and Graduate Diploma coursework programs.

What are Education?

the

trends

in

Legal

The most notable trends in the legal education have been in graduate and postgraduate law.

The UNSW JD has experienced a remarkable increase in demand since it began in 2010. The program attracts a diverse range of students, from recent graduates in the arts, sciences, engineering and business, to experienced professionals looking for a career change into law. As for Masters programs in law, we have seen increasing demand for programs that have a particular focus, for instance, an LLM with a specialisation in Corporate and Commercial Law, or Taxation; or specialised

masters programs for non-lawyers such as in Business Law, or International Law and International Relations. Students also want practically-focused Masters programs that will give them an edge in the increasingly competitive job market for law graduates as new law schools deliver ever more graduates.

What is your advice to postgraduate law students?

I would say, choose a program that is specifically tailored to your future career needs. You may wish to move into a particular field of legal practice, so make sure that you enrol in a program that has enough electives, taught by leaders in the field, to give you in-depth knowledge in your chosen area. If you do not have a precise field of practice in mind, take the opportunity to broaden your knowledge and skills. At UNSW Law, in addition to mainstream courses, students in every postgraduate law program can undertake an internship to count towards their degree. Another opportunity is to enrol in overseas electives to get exposure to different legal cultures and the complexities

of the international legal system. So, we offer short electives every year in New York, Shanghai and Vanuatu. Also, make sure to capitalise on your connections. We have a large alumni network made up of judges, barristers, and partners in top law firms, here and overseas. At various times of the year we offer opportunities for students to connect with and learn from them.

What are the future directions of the Law School As the law school which came 15th in the QS World Rankings in 2015, we are committed to attracting outstanding students and staff. To that end, in 2015 we introduced Postgraduate Excellence Scholarships for the best students.

Recently, we established a pathway for lawyers who attend our popular Centre for Continuing Legal Education seminars into postgraduate study: they get advanced standing into our LLM for seminar attendance. It’s a great way for attendees to gain recognition for the skills and knowledge they acquire in these seminars that are regularly presented and designed by our own experts in the faculty.

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PROFILE

MOYA DODD

Improving soccer’s gender scorecard Outside her role as a competition and regulation partner at Gilbert + Tobin, Moya Dodd is the director of the Football Federation of Australia, the vice president of the Asian Football Federation and a member of the FIFA executive committee. These are just a few of the feathers in one very large cap, but for Dodd these roles are opportunities to make a difference through the world’s most popular sport AS A long-time soccer fan and even a former vice-captain of the Matildas, Moya Dodd reflects on the difficulty of playing soccer in Australia before it was cool.

“When I was a kid growing up, you didn’t play football unless you were part of an ethnic community. If you weren’t and you wanted to play anyway, you could say ‘Well, do I play for the Greek club or the Italian club or the Croatian club?’ – it just wasn’t something that the mainstream dominant culture was really engaged in,” she recalls.

This trendsetter is now an advocate for inclusivity and a voice for minority groups in the world’s most played sport.

Advocating for change For Dodd, the chance to make a difference is the best part about her involvement in soccer

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organisations such as the Football Federation of Australia, the Asian Football Federation and the FIFA executive committee.

On a 2013 trip to Tehran to speak at a conference about the importance of women’s football, Dodd spoke out about the ban on Iranian women attending football stadiums to watch men’s games.

“Before I went there, I said on social media that I was going, and I got a whole lot of responses from women in Iran, and women outside Iran pointing this out to me and suggesting that I might like to fix it while I was there,” says Dodd.

In addition to addressing the issue in her own speech, Dodd briefed FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who was also speaking at the event. Blatter then raised it at his own press conference in Iran, and took it up with the

“Increasingly, it’s opened itself to women’s participation, but of course, being football, it hasn’t exactly been on the leading edge of a social revolution”

newly elected Iranian president and other government leaders.

“He spoke out about it at his press conference in Iran which I attended, and that was quite a moment to hear the one guy in the world who can actually make a difference on an issue like that through what he says,” recalls Dodd. “And to hear him speak out on that gave me the feeling that in this kind of role you can make a difference.”

Hijabs on the field In 2014, Dodd played a key role in FIFA’s lifting of the hijab ban in soccer. Despite the fact that no one could produce evidence of a hijab-related soccer injury, the ban had been in place since 2007, when doctors determined that playing soccer while wearing a headscarf was a risk that could

simple solution: Velcro headscarves that would come apart if pulled. The solution, she says, will impact on a significant number of the world’s Muslim women.

Soccer for social change From what was once a game for predominantly men, Dodd says soccer has come a long way in Australia with the involvement of women at all levels and in an increasing range of roles. As the chair of the women’s taskforce at FIFA, Dodd has championed a set of principles calling for women to be involved in decision-making at all levels in every member association, including at board level.

“It’s so widely played in every suburb of Australia and it’s played across all cultures and classes”

WOMEN IN SOCCER WORLDWIDE

US$156m

83,262

annual investment in women’s football

registered female coaches

76,458

30,145,700

female referees

female players

Source: FIFA Women’s Football Survey 2014

potentially lead to harming of the neck and head.

Dodd first observed the problem in 2010 when Iran took the field to play Jordan in an Olympic qualifier. The entire Iranian team and three members of the Jordanian team were wearing hijabs; the Iranian team was forced to forfeit.

“This was taking place in our own Asian backyard so I felt compelled to try and do something about it, to see if the rules could be changed or at least to understand why there was such hostility or at least indifference to letting Muslim women go onto the field with a headscarf on,” says Dodd.

After long negotiations, FIFA was able to lift the ban when Dodd, along with other proponents of the change, including Prince Ali bin Al-Hussein of Jordan, reached a

“Football’s a game that was considered to be a game for boys and men for decades and decades,” she says. “Increasingly, it’s opened itself to women’s participation, but of course, being football, it hasn’t exactly been on the leading edge of a social revolution.”

In order for the sport to have strong levels of involvement from both genders, Dodd says the key is to have a smoothly functioning participation pyramid.

“I think we need to get that participation pyramid really serviced well and functioning well technically and organisationally with the right levels of competition, so that if you’re a five-year-old girl in the country, you have somewhere to play. And then when you turn six you have somewhere to play, if you’re really ambitious, or you’re not,” says Dodd. “It’s so widely played in every suburb of Australia, and it’s played across all cultures and classes, and importantly from my point of view, it’s gender inclusive, which no other code of football comes close to.” AL

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FEATURE

STRATEGY

Industry evolution forces firms to get strategic

So your firm follows a business strategy, but how do you measure whether you’re actually on track? Very often, firms have very clear views on which direction they want to head in, but often fail to maximise the efficiency of their journey along the path to their goals, according to Ty Wiggins and Wayne Condon LIKE MANY industries, the legal sector has changed significantly in the last 10 years to become increasingly competitive and commoditised, with consumers demanding more from solicitors and shopping their business around aggressively.

To keep up with industry shifts, strategic planning by firms is a given. However, there are a number of areas in which the traditional business strategy model can fail in the case of law firms.

1

Poor resource allocation

The first is that a key part of strategic planning is resource and capability allocation; that is, the firm’s resources need to be deployed (in some cases redeployed) in a way that is aligned to the strategy intent and objectives. Failing to do this will result in people working hard in the wrong areas or with the wrong tools.

The traditional partner management model (management by consensus) makes this particularly hard in law firms, because as soon as they leave the strategic planning session the key resources – the partners – go straight back into personal billing mode, thus stripping the firm of the ability to implement and execute.

Failing to ‘pin numbers’ on people’s backs when it comes to strategic execution is a great

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way to undermine the success of any strategy.

If there is no accountability for each area and step of the strategy it will simply not get executed effectively.

Worse still, in law firms it can sometimes fall back onto the managing partner to complete these steps, as well as his/her regular fee generation.

The best scenario is for a particular person to drive the process and project manage the implementation.

We have seen partner meetings at which the strategic intent is agreed, objectives set, and then everyone retreats to their office, leaving it for someone else to do. Or worse, they block the changes because it requires them to change their processes or behaviours.

2

Poor communication

The second big one for law firms is that they don’t (or can’t) communicate the strategic intent to the staff.

A law firm is filled with people with aboveaverage intelligence, and this often means that they expect everyone in the firm to just ‘get it’.

While they are experts in their area of the law, they often lack the business acumen to take a strategy or strategic statement and translate it into actions and decisions.

Willing is not enough; you also need to have the ‘able’ part.

It is essential that staff of the firm understand what the strategy is, why it has been chosen (ie what is the light on the hill), and what they need to do to execute the strategy within their roles and responsibilities.

A firm cannot possibly reap the rewards of a well-designed strategy without this.

So often the people charged with its execution are the least informed about the strategy itself. This leads to a culture of underperformance and one that starts to work against or independently of any set strategy, thus leading to inbuilt mediocrity.

3

Poor measurement

There are four basic strategic questions that firms need to ask when they are planning, and these are:

• • • •

Where are we now?

Where do we want to be?

How will we get there?

How will we know we are on track?

It is the last question that many firms simply have no idea how to answer. How do they measure success against their strategic objectives? What are the critical success factors for their business under their strategy, and what KPIs will the business monitor weekly/ monthly/annually to ensure they are on track?

A great example of this is the lack of firms that understand their profitability beyond billable hours and the end-of-year profit figure delivered by the accountant.

beginning of the next strategic planning session, businesses need to first review how they went against the last plan (where are we now?).

Failing to give this the proper review it deserves leaves firms open to repeating the same failures or adopting the same assumptions. If the business missed a target by 10% or 50%, it should review why. There is no changing the result, but there is the ability to influence the next result. Many businesses and firms miss this valuable opportunity to use the benefit of hindsight to learn and improve.

The days of assumed expertise and localised competitive advantage seem to have eroded significantly for law firms of all sizes.

We have seen partner meetings at which the strategic intent is agreed, objectives set, and then everyone retreats to their office, leaving it for someone else to do. Or worse, they block the changes because it requires them to change their processes or behaviours What is ‘business 101’ outside the legal profession, ie which service is more profitable, which client group or type is most profitable, which staff member is most effective, which offering is actually losing the firm money, and which should you invest your capital and marketing spend in? Chances are these are not areas and information that they have regularly tracked or measured.

In some cases firms will need to work with their software providers and their accountants to build the measurements required for their strategies. It is imperative for the whole organisation to be able to see how they are tracking against the strategic objectives.

4

Poor review

This is not limited to law firms; it is an issue across many firms and many industries.

At the end of the planning cycle or the

Consumers see their services like any other service and as such are demanding more and more for their money.

Law firms are no longer isolated business models based around the law; instead they are service businesses like any other, in which their ‘product’ is legal services and those services are available in growing abundance from multiple competitors.

Progressive law firms seeking long-term profitability need to adopt a business mindset in their planning and their firms. Embrace traditional strategic and business planning, invest the time to communicate it to all staff, build the measures to track the progress, and complete a comprehensive review of previous performance. AL Ty Wiggins and Wayne Condon are co-founders and principals at Converge Consulting. Visit www.convergeconsulting.com.au.

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2015

EVENT PARTNER

CRITICAL THINKING AT THE CRITICAL TIME

TM

MEET THE

WINNERS O

n 21 May, more than 430 of the legal profession’s finest packed the Shangri-La Hotel ballroom to celebrate the Australasian Law Awards.

Earlier in the year Australasian Lawyer sought nominations from the legal fraternity, and we were inundated with hundreds of nominations from across Australia and New Zealand. Our panel of judges, which was comprised of some of Australasia’s most respected general counsel, law firm leaders and legal academics, were faced with the daunting task of selecting the winners from a formidable line-up of finalists.

The winners and finalists highlight the outstanding achievements and phenomenal depth of talent within the legal profession’s ranks.

Congratulations to all the finalists and winners of the 2015 Australasian Law Awards.

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www.australasianlawyer.com.au

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FTI CONSULTING Australian Large Law Firm of the Year

Australian Law Firm of the Year (250–500 Lawyers)

Clayton Utz

Gilbert + Tobin

L-R: Nicholas Tsirogiannis, Lauren Scott, Stuart Byrne, Geoff Hoffman, Bruce Lloyd, Orla McCoy, Damien Gardiner, Marcus Ross

Peter Waters

HUON IT Australian Law Firm of the Year (100–249 Lawyers)

FTI CONSULTING Australian Boutique Firm of the Year

Johnson Winter & Slattery

Salvos Legal L-R: Mark Khoo, Tara Johnstone, William Kontaxis, Luke Geary, Maryanne Ireland, Amelia Weidner, Sophie Roberts

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State/Regional Firm of the Year Finlaysons Jeremy Schultz

AUSTRALASIAN LAWYER International Firm of the Year King & Wood Mallesons L-R: Stephen Minns, Sue Kench, Cheng Lim

International Deal of the Year

Australian Deal of the Year

Hasting Funds Management and China Merchants Group’s acquisition of the long-term lease of Port of Newcastle

Westfield Group demerger and subsequent merger with Westfield Retail Trust

FIRMS: Gilbert + Tobin, King & Wood Mallesons, Minter Ellison ADVISER: Morgan Stanley ACCOUNTING FIRM: PwC

Carl Della-Bosca, Ashurst FIRMS: Ashurst, King & Wood Mallesons, Russell McVeagh ADVISERS: Ernst & Young, Morgan Stanley, UBS AG ACCOUNTING FIRM: KPMG

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SCARLIS PRINGLE Law Firm Leader of the Year

Australian Deal Team of the Year

Danny Gilbert, Gilbert + Tobin

Rebecca Maslen-Stannage

Herbert Smith Freehills, M&A team

NZ Deal Team of the Year

Australian Dealmaker of the Year

Chapman Tripp

Philippa Stone, Herbert Smith Freehills

L-R: Tim Tubman, John Strowger, Rachael Dunne, Pip England

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REAL ESTATE SENIOR ASSOCIATE - BRISBANE

A rare opportunity has arisen for an ambitious real estate lawyer to join this leading team in the Brisbane office. Partnership prospects in the medium term are excellent. Working as part of a busy and dynamic team, you will advise the world’s leading investors, developers, funders, private equity houses and corporates, with high involvement in challenging and large-scale national and international matters. Due to the seniority of the role, you will also have experience of business development and mentoring of more junior lawyers. If you are ambitious and driven to progress your career with a leading global law firm, this is a role you must investigate.

Ref: KP8457 Contact Kara Plummer LLB (Hons) 0401 769 952

FRONT END CONSTRUCTION CORPORATE / M&A SENIOR ASSOCIATE - SYDNEY

SENIOR ASSOCIATE - PERTH

This national firm has an impressive blue-chip client base and a highly respected Construction practice in its Sydney office. It’s partners are widely recognised for their expertise in advising principals, contractors, sub-contractors and consultants on both non-contentious and construction dispute resolution and litigation matters across all Australian jurisdictions.

Working in a close knit team you will be working on some major projects, infrastructure as well as PPP work. On offer is a competitive salary and a dynamic and supportive working environment.

Regarded as one of the leading corporate groups both in Australia, the Perth practice of this international firm are seeking a further Senior Associate to join their practice to work on a range of high profile and complex transactions.

Ref: MT10582 Contact Marianna Tuccia BA LLB 0422 671 673

Ref: ZD10142 Contact Zoe Discombe LLB (Hons) 0499 544 009

BANKING & FINANCE

CORPORATE

COMMERCIAL LITIGATION

SENIOR ASSOCIATE TO SPECIAL COUNSEL - BRISBANE

3-5 YEARS+ PAE - MELBOURNE

ASSOCIATE - BRISBANE

A unique opportunity to join this premier international banking & finance practice. Work with leaders in the field for a blue-chip client base. Due to a pick-up in instructions, the team is busy and needs extra resource at the senior level. You will carry out bespoke, cutting edge transactions. A strong firm and academic background is a must together with a flair for practice development and an ability to mentor more junior lawyers. Market leading package commensurate with level of experience.

This firm is a national mid-tier law firm operating across Melbourne and beyond. They have an exciting opportunity for a 3rd to 5th year lawyer who has a passion for corporate law to join their team. Working under a dynamic Principal, your main focus will be Mergers and Acquisitions. This is a role that offers genuine career development. You will have the opportunity to work with inspirational lawyers and access to high end work all based in an environment that encourages development and allows its’ lawyers to shine.

Ref: KP10457 Ref: LM10721 Contact Kara Plummer LLB (Hons) 0401 769 952 Contact Libby Mizrahi LLB(Hons) 0468 433 569

It is essential that you have gained experience within a highly regarded corporate group as well as possess excellent academics.

Fantastic long term prospects are on offer.

A fantastic opportunity has arisen for a talented commercial litigation lawyer to join the Brisbane office of this leading national firm. The role reports to one of Brisbane’s most highly respected litigation Partners who has earned the reputation as being great to work with. This highly successful team advises across a wide array of complex litigation matters including high level corporate and commercial disputes, property disputes, regulatory matters and professional negligence claims. The team’s impressive client base includes large corporates, financial institutions, plus private clients.

Ref: KL10596 Contact Kara Lawson LLB BCom 0411 604 036

BRISBANE: 07 3231 1200 SYDNEY: 02 8227 7200 MELBOURNE: 03 8602 7400 PERTH: 08 9288 1855 VISIT: EMPIRECAREERS.COM.AU

NZ Dealmaker of the Year John Strowger, Chapman Tripp

FTI CONSULTING Australian In-house Lawyer of the Year Justin Forsell, NBN Co Legal Group

CLAYTON UTZ Australian In-house Team of the Year

RUSSELL McVEAGH NZ In-house Team of the Year

Telstra

Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited

Jennifer Crichton

L-R: Jorja Cleeland (Fonterra), Gary McDiarmid (Russell McVeagh)

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IP Specialist Firm of the Year

AIG Insurance Specialist Firm of the Year

Griffith Hack

Wotton + Kearney

L-R: Robin Heard, Tim Mahood, Derek Baigent, David Hughes, Stephen Sharp, Shannon Fati, Samin Rafin, Katie Kavanaugh, Ben Boyd, Nick Tobias

Michelle Florenini

EMPIRE CAREERS Employment Law Specialist Firm of the Year

GILBERT + TOBIN Investment Bank In-house Team of the Year

Harmers Workplace Lawyers

UBS AG

L-R: Emma Pritchard, Daniel Shaw, Sam Harmer, Dean Tolkin, Michael Harmer, Jane Kewin, Madeleine Boyd, Amy Zhane, Amelia Berczelly

L-R: SooJin Yoon, Annette Spencer, Julia MacDonald, Antony Rumboll

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SPARKE HELMORE LAWYERS Insurance In-house Team of the Year

Banking & Financial Services In-house Team of the Year

IAG

Westpac Banking Corporation

David Absolum

L-R: Glenn Phillips, Linda La Hood, Bill Leonida, Nick Debney, Kitty Taylor, Amit Grover, Donya Ahmadi, Nicole Sassine, Paul Lynch, Esther Nelson

JLT Employee Health and Wellbeing Award

Corporate Citizen Firm of the Year

Herbert Smith Freehills

Salvos Legal

Toby Anderson

L-R: Mark Khoo, Luke Geary, Maryanne Ireland

M&A Deal of the Year Westfield Group demerger and subsequent merger with Westfield Retail Trust Carl Della-Bosca (Ashurst) FIRMS: Ashurst, King & Wood Mallesons, Russell McVeagh ADVISERS: Ernst & Young, Morgan Stanley, UBS AG ACCOUNTING FIRM: KPMG

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Equity Market Deal of the Year Medibank Private IPO

Energy & Resources Deal of the Year

L-R: Stuart Byrne (Clayton Utz), Garth Cooke (Australian Government Solicitor) FIRMS: Australian Government Solicitor, Bell Gully, Clayton Utz, Herbert Smith Freehills, King & Wood Mallesons, Sidley Austin, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP & Affiliates BANKS: Commonwealth Bank, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs ADVISERS: Bell Potter Securities, Craig Investment Partners, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Ernst & Young, Evans and Partners, JBWere, Lazard, Macquarie Capital, Morgans Financial, Ord Minnett, Reunion Capital Partners, UBS AG, Wilson HTM Corporate Finance

L-R: Julian Hill (Roy Hill), Stephen Skinner (Hancock Prospecting) FIRMS: Allen & Overy, Ashurst, Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Herbert Smith Freehills, Latham & Watkins, Norton Rose Fulbright, Roy Hill Holdings Pty Ltd INVESTMENT BANKS: BNP Paribas, National Australia Bank, Rothschild ACCOUNTING FIRMS : KPMG, PwC

Debt Market Deal of the Year

Insolvency & Restructuring Deal of the Year

Roy Hill iron ore project

Mirabela restructure and recapitalisation

L-R: Julian Hill (Roy Hill), Stephen Skinner (Hancock Prospecting) FIRMS: Allen & Overy, Ashurst, Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Herbert Smith Freehills, Latham & Watkins, Norton Rose Fulbright, Roy Hill Holdings Pty Ltd INVESTMENT BANKS: BNP Paribas, National Australia Bank, Rothschild ACCOUNTING FIRMS: KPMG, PwC

Dominic Emmett (Gilbert + Tobin) FIRMS: Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, Colin Biggers & Paisley, Gilbert + Tobin, Hardy Bowen, Herbert Smith Freehills, Norton Rose Fulbright, Pinheiro Guimarães – Advogados BANK: Houlihan Lokey ADVISERS: KordaMentha, Rothschild

Roy Hill iron ore project

Property, Infrastructure & Projects Deal of the Year NBN Co and Telstra – Renegotiation of agreements to roll out the National Broadband Network L-R: Carl Della-Bosca (Ashurst), Aaron White (NBN Co), Justin Forsell (NBN Co), Bruce Macdonald (Ashurst), Amanda Ludlow (Ashurst), Tim Brooks (Ashurst), Cheng Lim (King & Wood Mallesons), Peter Waters (Gilbert + Tobin), Angus Henderson (Webb Henderson), Steven van der Donk (NBN Co) FIRMS: Ashurst, Clayton Utz, Gilbert + Tobin, King & Wood Mallesons, Webb Henderson BANK: Goldman Sachs

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Sponsors Event Partner FTI Consulting FTI Consulting is a global business advisory firm that provides multidisciplinary solutions to complex challenges and opportunities. Clients retain FTI because we combine unparalleled expertise with innovative thought leadership to address critical challenges, in both event-driven and long-term scenarios.

In short, FTI Consulting provides critical thinking at the critical time™.

CRITICAL THINKING AT THE CRITICAL TIME

TM

CONTACT W: www.fticonsulting.com

AIG Australia Limited

Clayton Utz

American International Group, Inc. (AIG) is a leading international insurance organisation serving customers in more than 100 countries and jurisdictions.

AIG companies serve commercial, institutional, and individual customers through one of the most extensive worldwide property-casualty networks of any insurer. In addition, AIG companies are leading providers of life insurance and retirement services in the United States. AIG common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Clayton Utz is one of Australia's leading law firms, with a reputation for standing out – and for being outstanding.

We have built a reputation over many years for confident, incisive legal services that reflect the bigger picture of what our clients want to achieve.

Our people are diverse and down to earth, which is the Clayton Utz culture. They are trusted legal advisers, engaging people, and active in giving back to others through our global leading Pro Bono practice and Community Connect program.

As an independent firm, we have relationships with leading firms around the world. That means our clients can be confident they have access to the best possible advice, wherever and whenever they need it.

We offer the sharpest legal minds. The clearest advice. And an unshakeable sense of what’s possible.

CONTACT Jane Pochon, financial lines claims manager – Australasia P: 02 9240 1767 E: jane.pochon@aig.com W: www.aig.com

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CONTACT Rob Cutler, chief executive partner P: 02 9353 4104 E: rcutler@claytonutz.com W: www.claytonutz.com

Empire Careers

Gilbert + Tobin

Empire Careers operates nationally, with offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. We are leading industry specialists in the legal executive and legal support markets as well as business support, accounting and medical sectors. We are passionate about providing a service second to none and leading the way. With the experience behind us we assist our clients and candidates in achieving the best outcomes.

Gilbert + Tobin is a leading independent corporate law firm and a key player in the Australian legal market.

From our Sydney, Melbourne and Perth offices, we provide innovative, relevant and commercial legal solutions to major corporate and government clients across Australia and internationally, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region.

CONTACT Marianna Tuccia, senior legal executive consultant T: 0422 671 673 E: marianna@empirecareers.com.au W: www.empirecareers.com.au

CONTACT Danny Gilbert, managing partner P: 02 9263 4000 E: email@gtlaw.com.au W: www.gtlaw.com.au

Huon IT

JLT

Huon IT are industry-renowned Legal Technology Specialists, with a focus on providing strategy, cloud, IT management, systems integration and 24/7 support to law firms with offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Established in 1989, Huon IT has long-term partnerships with firms across Australia. Working alongside both upper management and technical departments within their clients’ organisations, Huon IT helps to align technology systems with executive vision to maximise business performance.

JLT is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group, one of the world’s largest providers of insurance, risk and employee benefits related advice.

With 20 offices across Australia and more than 920 staff, JLT provides flexible, efficient and quality solutions to our clients.

CONTACT Stuart Whitbread, general manager – Benefit Solutions P: 02 9290 8023 E: stuart.whitbread@jlta.com.au W: www.jlta.com.au

CONTACT Damian Huon, chief executive officer P: 02 8401 8000 E: dhuon@huonit.com.au W: www.huonit.com.au

www.australasianlawyer.com.au

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Sponsors Russell McVeagh

Scarlis Pringle

Russell McVeagh is an award-winning firm with an established history of excellence.

Widely regarded as New Zealand’s premier law firm, we employ more than 250 lawyers across our offices in Auckland and Wellington. Our solicitors advise across nine key practice groups: Competition, Corporate, Employment, Environment Planning & Natural Resources, Finance, Litigation, Property, Public Law and Tax. We represent leading corporations, financial institutions, state-owned enterprises, government entities and multinational companies on their most complex, challenging and high-profile transactions.

Russell McVeagh is committed to understanding its clients and providing commercially focused solutions.

Scarlis Pringle was established in 1995 as a boutique Australian Legal Executive Search and Consulting firm.

Scarlis Pringle has completed over 250 Senior Legal Search assignments and various consulting assignments for leading Australian and international law firms, and for major corporates.

Today Scarlis Pringle has a unique comprehensive insight of the changing Australian legal market and the issues that concern law firms and their partners.

Scarlis Pringle builds long-term strategic relationships with its key clients.

CONTACT Gary McDiarmid, CEO P: +64 9 367 8091 E: gary.mcdiarmid@russellmcveagh.com W: www.russellmcveagh.com

CONTACT Steven Scarlis, managing director T: 02 9222 9000 E: sscarlis@scarlispringle.com.au W: www.scarlispringle.com.au

Sparke Helmore Sparke Helmore Lawyers is a firm of 600 people working from nine offices across Australia, serving the needs of the insurance, government, financial services, mining, construction and property sectors. Our expertise spans corporate and commercial to construction; workplace to insurance; IP to IPOs; mining to manufacturing; and property to procurement.

CONTACT Rhett Slocombe, partner P: 02 9373 3555 E: info@sparke.com.au W: www.sparke.com.au

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For information about sponsorship opportunities for the 2016 Australasian Law Awards, please contact: Paul Ferris P: 02 8437 4703 E: paul.ferris@keymedia.com.au

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WINNERS AND THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS EVENT PARTNER

AWARD SPONSORS

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