Clyde & Co opens in Brisbane
Global firm Clyde & Co has poached three partners from Sparke Helmore to launch its fourth Australian office.
![Clyde & Co opens in Brisbane](/images/LW_Media_Library/Matthew-Pokarier.jpg)
Matthew Pokarier (pictured), who was at Sparkes for around six years, will head up Clyde & Co’s new Brisbane office with former Sparkes colleagues Jacinta Long and Maxine Tills.
All three partners specialise in insurance – particularly professional, directors’ and officers’, product and general liability – as well as commercial litigation.
Clyde & Co is planning to hire another 20 lawyers in Brisbane by the end of the year, which will boost its headcount in Australia to more than 100.
John Edmond, managing partner of Clyde & Co in Australia, said the Brisbane office is the final chapter in the firm’s strategy of “a four-office national spread”.
“As always, we have invested significant time in selecting the right team to join our firm,” he said in a statement.
Edmond added that the firm is looking to expand its infrastructure, transportation and international trade practices across a number of its offices.
Clyde & Co currently has offices in Sydney, Perth and Melbourne.
In September 2013, Clyde & Co launched a projects and construction practice in Perth by poaching experts in the area from King & Wood Mallesons and Norton Rose Fulbright; the firm also nabbed shipping, trade and commodities partner Maurice Thompson from HWL Ebsworth.
Clyde & Co entered the Australian market in 2012 after acquiring a team of lawyers from Allens.