Queensland firm raids rivals
McInnes Wilson Lawyers has appointed two new principals from rival firms, including McCullough Robertson.
![Queensland firm raids rivals](/images/LW_Media_Library/Ciaran-Houston.jpg)
Ciaran Houston (pictured right) has left McCullough Robertson to jointly lead McInnes Wilson’s planning and environment law practice in Brisbane.
Houston had been at McCullough Robertson for almost four years and previously worked as an associate to Judge Botting in the District Court of Queensland from 2005 to 2006.
McInnes Wilson has also poached a special counsel from Thynne + Macartney, Pierce Carstensen (pictured below), to head the firm’s new family law practice.
The Queensland-based firm has 24 principals and more than 270 staff across three offices in Queensland and two offices in NSW.
Houston is the latest in a series of defections from McCullough Robertson this year.
Over the past nine months, the firm has lost resources and infrastructure partner Brendan Tobin; corporate partners Tim Sayer and Oliver Talbot, who launched their own boutique firm; and highly-regarded young partner Matthew Burgess, who also started his own specialist law firm, View Legal.
McCullough Robertson has also been actively recruiting over this period, poaching construction partner Adam Wallwork from King & Wood Mallesons, Adrian Smith from DLA Piper and Henry Davis York partner Justin Madden.