Freehills has appointed five new partners and 73 new senior associates. The new partners are: Peter G Butler, projects, Brisbane; Stephen Dobbs, corporate, Sydney; Dan Dragovic, litigation, Perth; Natalie Gullifer, corporate, Melbourne; and Neil Pathak, corporate, Melbourne.

McMahons National Lawyers has appointed Alan Friedlander as special counsel to its Sydney commercial litigation practice. Joanne Kelly has also recently joined McMahons as a consultant to its Sydney commercial litigation practice. Prior to establishing a sole practice in 2002, Kelly was a director of the dispute resolution group at a top-tier law firm.

Henry Davis York has appointed three new partners, one special counsel and 16 senior associates. Partner Grahame Cooper is a consultant and head of the firm’s major projects group. He specialises in complex commercial and infrastructure projects. Jason Munstermann has been made a partner in the commercial disputes group and specialises in contracts, trusts, property, insurance and intellectual property. Richard Snowden has joined the firm as a partner and head of the taxation group. His specialities include federal and state taxes and was previously a partner at Ernst & Young. Donna Short has joined the firm as a special counsel in the corporate advisory department.

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Arnold Bloch Leibler has appointed two new partners and four senior associates. Partner Georgina Ward is the founding member of the firm’s Sydney property & development practice. Alex King is a member of the Melbourne litigation & dispute resolution practice. Kate Thompson has joined as a senior associate in the firm’s Sydney corporate and commercial practice from Carnegie Wylie & Co. Senior associate Kate Healy has been appointed to the firm’s Melbourne property and development department.. She focuses on construction and property financing. Vanessa Flax specialises in commercial and retail leasing and Sabra Easterday specialises in mergers and acquisitions and corporate law advice and joined ABL in 2001.

TressCox have appointed two partners, two special counsel and six senior associates. Sydney partner Scott Alden focuses on infrastructure projects. Melbourne-based partner Garrick Higgins practises in the corporate area. Higgins has extensive experience in fund raising, corporate structuring, company floats and listings, acquisitions and joint ventures. The new special counsels are Chris Bayliss and Kotaro Matsuda. Simon Bennett, Maria Kerhoulas, Carol Mazzella, Kalina McCormack, Natalie Meadows and Trang Nguyen have all joined the firm as senior associates.

Commercial law firm, Hopgood Ganim Lawyers have recently welcomed solicitor, Carol Kahler to their commercial property team. She was previously with Malleson Stephen Jaques in Brisbane and specialises in commercial and retail leasing, residential and commercial sales, development leasing, strata titling and body corporate work.

Phillips Fox partner Russell Adams has been appointed managing director of the firm’s insurance and risk management practice. He took up the position last week from John Pascoe, who has been appointed Chief Magistrate of the Federal Court. Adams has been working closely with Pascoe over the last 12 months.

Dibbs Barker Gosling has appointed a new managing partner in Sydney, a new partner in Brisbane, and 12 new associates from their Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra teams. New managing partner in Sydney Scott Sloan joined the firm in 1985 and became a partner in 1990. He takes over from Paul Gregory who has had the role of CEO since January 2001. Paul Venus has been promoted from senior associate to partner in Brisbane’s commercial litigation team. He has more than 10 years experience in complex litigation, intellectual property, product liability, telecommunications and competition law issues.

Kelly & Co. has appointed one special counsel, two senior associates and four associates. Riya Thanissorn has been promoted to special counsel and Tim Kentish and Jacqueline Lonsdale have been promoted to senior associate in the firm’s dispute resolution division.

Maddocks Lawyers has recruited a partner, consultant and senior associate to expand its superannuation and trusts practice. Partner Christopher Beeny, consultant Ceri Lawley and senior associate Bernie O’Sullivan all have joined Maddocks in Melbourne from Mallesons Stephen Jaques.

Allens Arthur Robinson has appointed four new partners and one patent and trade mark attorney. The new partners are: Nicky Andrews (banking and finance, Sydney), John Edmond (litigation and dispute resolution, Sydney), Anna Lenahan (corporate and commercial department, Sydney), Jeremy Low (international offices department, Shanghai).

Peter Mann has joined Clayton Utz as a partner with the firm’s litigation practice in Sydney. He specialises in insurance and re-insurance law, litigation and product liability. Mann will work closely with Nancy Milne leading the Clayton Utz insurance and risk team. He was formerly a partner at Deacons.

Blake Dawson Waldron has appointed four new partners: Peter Chalk (IPC Group, Melbourne), Teresa Dyson (tax group, Melbourne), Darren Grondal (corporate group, Perth), and David Wenck (corporate group, Brisbane).

Johnson Winter & Slattery have appointed six partners, one special counsel and four senior associates to its Adelaide and Sydney offices. The partners are: Graeme Dennis and Fiona Melville ( energy & resources), Richard Gelski (tax), John Kench and Aldo Nicotra (competition), Damian Reichel, corporate.

Corrs Chambers Westgarth has promoted five lawyers to partner. They are: Stephanie Daveson, Ben Davidson, Chris Pagent, James Rozsa and Mark Wilks. The firm has also appointed Alison Moran as a special counsel and promoted eight lawyers to senior associate.

Holding Redlich has appointed one partner and six senior associates . Partner Gerry Cawson has joined the corporate practice in the firm’s Sydney office.

Deacons have promoted seven senior associates to partners and 29 lawyers to senior associate. The new partners are: Michael French (property, environment and planning, Sydney), Nicholas Humphrey (corporate and commercial, Sydney), Nigel Jones (corporate and Commercial, Melbourne), Leanne Nickels (workplace relations, Perth), Douglas Raftesath (commercial dispute resolution, Sydney), David Stavropoulos (corporate and commercial, Melbourne), and Michael Tooma (workplace relations, Sydney).

The Kennedy Strang Legal Group has hired six new partners, one special counsel, four senior associates, and four associates. The partners are: At Kemp Strang in Sydney, Dominic Calabria (litigation, insolvency & reconstruction) and Jane Lucas (property & construction); at Russell Kennedy in Melbourne, Rosemary Southgate (property & development), Rohan Harris (corporate & commercial) and Jane Lucas (property & construction); at Thynne & Macartney in Brisbane, Stephen Hughes (general insurance and personal injuries).