Slater and Gordon appoints new general counsel
An experienced in-house lawyer has been appointed group general counsel and company secretary at Slater and Gordon, one of Australia's only listed law firms.
![slater and gordon](/images/in-practice-july.jpg)
Moana Weir has worked as a solicitor at law firms including Allens Arthur Robinson before taking her first in-house role at Coles Myer in 1998. She later joined Melbourne IT in her first general counsel and company secretary role, and then went on to work in the same role at REA Group and Seek Limited.
Her appointment follows the relocation of Kirsten Morrison to the UK. Ms Morrison has been the general counsel and company secretary since 2008 and will now support the managing director for the UK and Europe and the general counsel, UK.
Slater and Gordon is also now searching for a new chief financial officer to help with the "significantly expanded operations", following growth in the UK.
CFO at Slater and Gordon, Wayne Brown, will leave the firm once his replacement is found.
"Wayne has been with Slater and Gordon for 12 years and has been a part of the company’s transformation from a Victoria-based law firm to a listed company now servicing clients in both Australia and the UK," said chairman John Skippen.
Mr Brown’s departure follows a difficult year for Slater and Gordon, which has attracted scrutiny from regulators. Since April this year the firm’s shares have lost around two-thirds of their value.
The firm has also appointed a new non-executive director and chairman of the audit, compliance and risk management committee, James Millar, who will start the role in December.
Mr Millar is a chartered accountant and the current chairman of the audit committees for Mirvac and Helloworld.
"He will be a key part of our program to build greater capacity and confidence in our audit process, following our continued growth in Australia and recent expansion in the UK," said Mr Skippen.