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Exclusive: Rockwell Olivier principal defects to Perth firm
The head of Rockwell Olivier’s workplace relations practice in Perth will be joining Lavan Legal.
Leanne Mezrani
Charmaine Tsang (pictured) has accepted a partnership position with Lavan Legal, although her start date has yet to be confirmed.
Prior to joining Rockwell Olivier, Tsang was a senior legal counsel at property services and engineering company UGL Limited.
She is also an accredited mediator.
Lawyers Weekly approached Tsang for an interview, but she did not return calls or emails prior to publication.
Tsang’s departure follows the resignation of an associate in her practice, Rochelle Airey. Airey left Rockwell Olivier in August to join HWL Ebsworth as a senior associate.
Rockwell Olivier’s Perth office was decimated last year with the departure of 11 staff, including insurance group head Roger Sands, who is now at Sparke Helmore.
The firm also lost Perth CEO Mark Hemery, who resigned after just nine months in the role, along with two Perth-based practice heads.
Earlier this year, another senior lawyer in Perth, special counsel Louis van Aardt, left the firm to accept a partner role in Kott Gunning Lawyers’ corporate practice.
In contrast to its Perth office, Rockwell Olivier in Sydney has increased partner numbers this year with the appointment of a new head of taxation and a new head of financial services.
The firm also has an office in Melbourne.
Rockwell Olivier is owned by ASX-listed legal services aggregator ILH and is one of only a few publicly-listed law firms in Australia.
ILH has had a horror past 12 to 18 months financially, with a net profit loss after tax of 540 per cent between FY13 and FY14.
John Dawkins, the former Federal Treasurer, also recently resigned as the firm’s chairman.
Tsang’s appointment takes the total number of partners at Lavan Legal to 22.
