Ashurst loses Melbourne partner to King & Wood Mallesons

Ridgeway was a partner of legacy Blake Dawson from 2000, joining Ashurst on 1 March when the deal combining the two firms’ Asia businesses went live. He has acted for several public companies in competition and consumer protection legal matters.

Prior to joining Blake Dawson, he was a senior legal advisor to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and acted in a number of matters for the commission, including cartel prosecutions.

Ridgeway is the second Blake Dawson partner to join King & Wood Mallesons in Melbourne. At the end of last year, Mallesons announced the hire of M&A partner Peter Stirling (8 November 2011).

King & Wood Mallesons’ Australia managing partner Tony O’Malley said in a statement: “The appointment of Stephen, on top of recent lateral hires, is further proof of the level of confidence from the market in our strategic direction and the market reputation of our competition and energy and resources practices.”

While King & Wood Mallesons has gained two partners from Ashurst in Australia, the firm recently lost one Beijing partner to Ashurst, which is in the process of setting up an office in Beijing (1 March 2012).