alb guide: banking & finance law 2009
leading lawyers JIM HUNWICK Firm: Johnson Winter & Slattery Location: Sydney • Practice areas: capital markets, acquisition finance, derivatives • Acted on Envestra’s A$220m credit-wrapped capital indexed notes and acquisition financing of Allco Equity Partners’ acquisition of Baycorp and Wattyl • Acted for international and domestic financial institutions and corporations
DICCON LOXTON Firm: Allens Arthur Robinson Location: Sydney • Head of finance practice • Practice areas: banking & finance, capital markets, project finance, securitisation, infrastructure • Acted on Telstra’s A$2.2bn financing and Boral’s syndicated financings worth A$300m and A$200m
STEPHEN LYONS Firm: Thomson Playford Cutlers Location: Adelaide • Head of national financial services team • Practice areas: banking & finance, funds management, aviation • Considerable experience in advising corporates, such as National Jet/ Cobham Group and Next Generation, on dealing with financiers
JOHN MOSLEY Firm: Minter Ellison Location: Sydney • Practice areas: banking & finance, financial services, health, leveraged finance, manufacturing, private equity, tourism • Advised on acquisition funding of Rinker Group, acquisition financing of Veda Advantage, leveraged financing for acquisition of Sulo Waste Management
PATRICK O’GRADY Firm: Corrs Chambers Westgarth Location: Sydney • Head of national banking & finance practice • Practice areas: corporate, finance • Acted on bonding and financing arrangements for the Wembley Stadium project
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a “pure banking lawyer”, who was good for debt or regulatory issues. craig Andrade was proactive and diligent. Thomson Playford Cutlers’ Julie callea-Smyth was efficient, met deadlines and kept clients up to date. Her most loyal clients also valued her mediation skills. neil Hannan and norman Fryde were chosen for their insolvency finance skills. Siew Ling Lian was mentioned for front-end acquisition finance work. One client praised Deacons’ Melbourne office as having the best banking & finance lawyers. Gillad Dalal was good at structured finance and did the “big-end” work, Andrew Bretherton was a specialist in property and lending finance, while Quentin Solomon did the “high-end” lending and insolvency finance work. Corrs’ John Walter, David Warren and Roy Weitzman handled the financing for large government-funded projects and bidding consortiums. Brad Husband was “great” for general banking and finance. Cornwall Stodart’s Ed Gurgiel was respected for his 28 years-plus experience in mortgages, securities and property financing. Elpis Korosidis was often turned to for structured transactions, and Gino Potenza was an insolvency and debt financing expert. Maddocks’ Ian Beattie, Michael Johns, Philip Jones, Geoff Musgrove and craig ng were mentioned for banking & finance. chris Beeny, Shahriar Mofakhami and Bernie O’Sullivan were chosen for their funds management work. Tresscox’s Ian Ferres, Alfonso Grillo, Trevor Lloyd, John Petts and nigel Watson were all praised. Middletons had a sizeable practice consisting of talent, such as Jim Bulling, Andrew chambers, Roger Perrins, Armando Scenna and Paul Sroka. DLA Phillips Fox’s Tom cantwell, Greg clayton, Stephen Sawer and Monique Stella were mentioned. As were ABL’s Henry Lanzer, Philip chester, Stephen Sharp and Ben Mahoney. Piper Alderman’s Michael Lhuede was praised, as was Gadens’ Danny Moore. Among national top-tier firms, Freehills was the cream of the crop in Victoria, noted for its “outstanding” banking and borrowers work. Dan Brealey was good at breaking down complex issues and “distilling them down into a clear
path forward”. Andrew Booth had long-standing borrowers and banking clients, was commercial in his legal advice, and did not waste time on the small aspects. James crowe was chosen for his equity expertise. Sarrah coffey was “strong” on project matters. Bill Glover was the first choice for financing. Minters had a prominent banking & finance practice. David Eterovic was often chosen for project finance, acquisition finance and workouts. Theo Kindynis was chosen for acquisition and property finance. Clayton Utz’s Marcus Davenport was a pure banking lawyer who did a lot of corporate or project finance work. Dan Fitts was a top pick for project finance, while Graeme Gurney was a property finance expert. Allens’ Simon Lynch was good for general banking. Blakes’ John Field, Bruce Whittaker and Elspeth Arnold were mentioned for debt finance.
BRISBANE Deacons’ Brisbane office advised the most extensively for business banking. David Lyons was mentioned for his work on secured financing agreements, craig chapman for general banking and Scott cameron for property financing. McCullough Robertson had its share of banking & finance expertise. Peter Stewart and Peter Kennedy were the main point of contact for general advice, while Scott Butler handled insolvency financing. DLA Phillips Fox’s Brisbane office was home to the firm’s largest number of banking and finance lawyers. Rod Besley, James Daniel, Ron Eames, Eugene Fung, Martin McEniery, chris O’Shea and Jane Seawright were some of the “shining stars”. Large banks and small credit unions tended to turn to Thynne & McCartney’s Paul Wong and Michael Goss for “upper scale” work. Cooper Grace Ward was active in the banking & finance area, with Greg Thorne, David Roberts and Graeme Roberts the main points of contact. Clayton Utz had a significant slice of the Brisbane market. Randal Dennings was a pre-eminent compliance lawyer who also advised on retail banking and lending. Alan Maguire was a major project finance specialist, acting on wellknown Queensland infrastructure deals. Minters was also a strong player in Queensland. Gillian Brown was praised Australasian Legal Business ISSUE 7.6