Minters opens Darwin base

Minter Ellison has forged its way into the Northern Territory, opening an office in Darwin.

Until now the state had been serviced on a ‘fly in, fly out’ basis from the Adelaide office, but Minters chairman Peter Bartlett said the firm saw opportunity there because of the region’s proximity to Indo China, Indonesia and the oil and gas reserves in the Timor sea.

“We sense a real opportunity in the Territory and our Australian and Asian clients have told us they want us there," Bartlett said.

"They have specialist construction, infrastructure and energy and resources needs in northern Australia that they want us to service. The Australian Government's Defence Department has a significant presence in the Northern Territory also."

The office will be run by projects partner Cris Cureton. The firm is already doing significant work in the region after having been appointed a key advisor to the North West Shelf consortium that last won the US$13bn contract to supply LNG to China.