Boutique commercial law firm Cosoff Cudmore Knox has appointed senior commercial law specialist John Stammers as a partner in its Sydney office. Stammers, formerly a partner with Blake Dawson Waldron, has worked extensively in the area of commercial law, specialising in commercial property transactions, banking and finance, and mergers and acquisitions. He has acted for major national and international clients on their Australian commercial law requirements.

Sydney commercial law firm, Addisons, has added three new partners, all formerly at Coudert Brothers and a senior associate. Karen Hayne (partner) specialises in intellectual property, commercial litigation and dispute resolution and competition and consumer protection. Martin O’Connor (partner) also specialises in commercial litigation and dispute resolution, as well as intellectual property and trade practices. Michael Ryan (partner) is an experienced commercial lawyer specialising in mergers and acquisitions. Susan Darmopil (senior associate) specialises in trade marks and commercialisation of intellectual property. (See story p3)

Mills Oakley Lawyers has appointed former Victorian Treasurer, Alan Stockdale, to head up their workplace relations practice and play a role in the further general development of the firm. Stockdale has more than 20 years experience as a workplace relations practitioner and was one of the pioneers in advocating changes in Australia’s workplace laws to put the emphasis on enterprise-level negotiation and replacing the former adversarial arbitration system with a more co-operative system focused on productivity growth and international competitiveness.