A&O launches in Australia
Allen and Overy has raided Australian firm Clayton Utz to launch a practice in the jurisdiction for the first time, in a bid to strengthen its pan-Asian offering.
David Morley
The magic circle firm has taken a team of 14 partners from Clayton Utz as part of a 17-partner offering. Of the new partners, 14 are based in Sydney and three in Perth.
A&O has also recruited one partner from Freehills, as well as one former bank in-houser and another Clayton Utz alumnus.
The firm said the decision to launch in Australia came after analysing the market and deciding that there was space for a “smaller high-end law firm that is integrated into broad global network”.
The practice will focus on: energy, mining and natural resources; finance; infrastructure; investment funds; corporate; tax, and telecoms, media and technology.
The firm’s energy and resources practice will be based in Perth, while its corporate, finance, tax funds and infrastructure capabilities will be primarily based in Sydney.
“Our decision to launch in Australia underlines the increasing importance of Australia in the global and Asia-Pacific economies,” said senior partner David Morley. “We see significant opportunities for high-end, cross-border M&A and finance work in the private and public sectors, particularly in the energy, mining and natural resources sectors.”
Thomas Brown, Allen & Overy’s Asia-Pacific managing partner, said: “Our expansion into Australia not only provides opportunities to develop new client relationships, it also enables us to service the needs of our existing clients in another key market and adopt a fully integrated approach to the Asia-Pacific region.
“This move also improves access to the deep pool of high quality lawyers that exists in the Australian legal market, making this the logical next step in our plans to expand our global network.”
Allen and Overy already has practices in China, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore.
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Readers' comments (22)
Anonymous | 8-Feb-2010 11:21 am
Wow, this is an incredible move. Well done to A&O.
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Bushtucker | 8-Feb-2010 11:49 am
This certainly gives the lie to everyone who said that English firms wouldn't be interested in Oz because they couldn't make enough money there. Clutz may not be at the top of the tree, but they have quality lawyers and these guys will be missed.
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Mick Dundee | 8-Feb-2010 12:05 pm
If this is the new magic circle hunting ground, you wonder if this will give CC the push it needs to go after Mallesons again...
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Reid | 8-Feb-2010 1:16 pm
The interesting thing will be how this fits into A&O's Asia-Pacific practice? Australia is an important base for Japan. How will this interact with the existing Japanese office? Does this signify an attempt by A&O to better access SE Asia>
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Anonymous | 8-Feb-2010 1:19 pm
Re-Bushtucker
My firm spent several months looking at Australia and decided against it because the margins are too low. And it turned out to be the right approach. If A&O wants to have a flag in every jurisdiction, so be it, but we'll be laughing as they pour their money down the plughole.
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Don't go to Shepherds Bush | 8-Feb-2010 1:51 pm
Does this mean they'll be more, or less, Australians in London?
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Anonymous | 8-Feb-2010 2:35 pm
Well done A&O! Ignore the naysayers and make it work.
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Tired | 8-Feb-2010 2:40 pm
@Don't go to Shepherds Bush
Oh here we go again the boring, and predictable of xenophobic outpouring on the legal pages demonstrating a depressing level of ignorance and hate
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Anonymous | 8-Feb-2010 3:00 pm
The opening of a Perth office is an especially smart move. Western Australia is extremely wealthy in terms of oil and gas.
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Enoch | 8-Feb-2010 5:05 pm
"a depressing level of ignorance and hate" - That sounds like those tinny-baring, borish hordes I drive past every Sunday afternoon outside the Forum in Kentish Town... Though I'm not sure they're all lawyers.
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Anonymous | 8-Feb-2010 8:58 pm
This is going to lead to a profound shake up of the very crowded (and cosy) Australian legal market.
A&O have just rolled-out the model, and kudos to them for that.
Why merge with a 200 partner Australian law firm when you can just poach from among the top people in the most lucrative practice areas.
The next two years are going to see things really shaken up. Watch this space.
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Reginald | 8-Feb-2010 10:31 pm
Looking at the list of hires from CU, it seems structured capital markets and derivatives will be a major focus for A&O Sydney.
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Matt Conacher | 9-Feb-2010 9:56 am
Many people say that Australia is a booming economy. But what about China, I say?
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Strewth | 9-Feb-2010 2:34 pm
Aussie Aussie Aussie - A&Oi... Oi... Oi...
Plenty more of 'magic' this to come too. Look out South America, Scandanavia and the rest of the US.
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Don't go to Kings Cross (Sydney) | 9-Feb-2010 3:22 pm
To "Don't Go to Shepherd's Bush": whether it's more or less, it will still be around half the amount as the number of Brits in Sydney. Fool.
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Gobbo | 10-Feb-2010 5:04 pm
If you can count them (as in the Australians) then it's not "more or less" it's "more or FEWER"
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Anonymous | 10-Feb-2010 5:38 pm
@ Tired.
RE xenophobia - I don't think there was any implication that he was actually scared of Australians, he probably just doesn't like them very much.
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Anon | 11-Feb-2010 7:07 am
...and did we mention India?
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Anonymous | 11-Feb-2010 7:39 pm
Exciting move by A&O. Thomas Brown is a visionary.
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Anonymous | 12-Feb-2010 1:04 am
First - this will not impact A+O profit wise because they will cap what their partners earn and they will not have to pay their staff same rates as in UK. Despite what many people in the UK think the top Australian firms operate at excellent margins above 40% (I know as I was a partner at one). Second, this move is not about Japan (as some suggested above) it is about providing (in relative terms) a lower cost platform that can provide high quality lawyers in reasonable bulk to support A&O in China, Indonesia, Singapore and India - it provides perfect funnel to move quality lawyers to these offices at much lower cost than resourcing from the UK. And if anyone knew the region they would also know that China investment in Australia is growing by the day and resource sector is key - what better way to grab a lot of China outbound work than to have a good operation in Beijing and Shanghai and a good sizeable "real" office in OZ.
I think it is an exceptionally smart move.
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