Samantha Reidy and Joshua Simons have each been promoted to the role of senior associate with Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney law firm Thomson Playford. Working in the firm’s corporate and commercial practice group, Reidy advises on private and public mergers, capital raisings, the Corporations Act 2001, ASX Listing Rules and banking and finance. Prior to joining Thomson Playford in 2000 she worked for a major national bank.

Simons is a member of the firm’s dispute resolution practice group. His key areas of expertise include intellectual property, information technology, trade practices, commercial dispute resolution and advertising and marketing law. He is currently completing a Master of Laws in intellectual property law through the University of Melbourne.

John Atkins will take over as head of Freehills’ Perth office following the retirement of Peter Mansell. Atkins has 25 years experience as a commercial lawyer and was head of Freehills’ Melbourne office for two years until January last year when he transferred back to his home-town of Perth. Mansell has decided to concentrate his time on non-executive directorships. He has had numerous other roles in Freehills, including national chairman, international partner (responsible for its overseas operations), managing partner in Perth, and as a member of the national executive.

Malcolm Royal was announced as the new president of The Institute of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys of Australia (IPTA) during the opening day of the institute’s Canberra Conference last month. Royal is based in Melbourne and is immediate past international president of the International Federation of Intellectual Property Attorneys. He has served as convenor of the Council’s international patent law committee and education committee, as well as being chair of the IPTA Academy of Education.

Corrs Chambers Westgarth has appointed two new partners in Perth and Canberra. Alexandra Wedutenko brings with her extensive experience in government, IT&T and defence industries and will join the firm’s Canberra office from the new financial year. Wedutenko is currently a partner at Blake Dawson Waldron’s corporate and advisory group in Canberra. John King joins the corporate and finance team in Corrs’ Perth office. He has more than 10 years experience advising the petroleum and petrochemical sectors. Since commencing his law career with Blake Dawson Waldron in Perth, King has also worked for major law firms in Melbourne, Houston and London.