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Sparke Helmore picks up Curwoods partners
National law firm Sparke Helmore Lawyers has scooped up four partners, along with a team of lawyers and other staff, from Curwoods Lawyers just two weeks before Curwoods' merger with McCabes Lawyers goes live.
Jerome Doraisamy
A McCabes spokesperson told Lawyers Weekly that 12 fee-earners, including four partners, from the CTP arm of Curwoods’ insurance practice group have resigned from the mid-tier and are heading to Sparkes, rather than joining the recently-announced McCabe Curwood merged entity, which comes into effect on 1 July 2018.
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The four partners have been named as Ian Jones, Renee Sadler, Matthew Seisun and Kiley Hodges.
While McCabes has said the total number of lawyers, including the four partners, is 12, a Sparkes spokesperson told Lawyers Weekly that those numbers are yet to be confirmed. The spokesperson did however confirm the partners will be joined by a "team of special counsel, senior associates, lawyers and other staff".
The McCabes spokesperson noted that no lawyer from its side of the merged entity has left or is indicating that they will be leaving.
Commenting more broadly on the matter, the current McCabes managing principal and soon-to-be McCabe Curwood managing partner Andrew Lacey told Lawyers Weekly mergers are often seen as a time for employees to look for a fresh start, so he did expect to lose a few members of the team.
“These departures account for less than 3 per cent of the staff of McCabe Curwood, which is well below the average turnover during a merger,” Mr Lacey noted.
“I believe our low attrition rate is due to both the mutual respect between the two firms, and the logic behind the merge.”
Moreover, he added that he is looking forward to the commencement of the new firm on 1 July.
"The new merged entity will give us one of the most diverse insurance practices in Australia and a solid platform for growth across both the insurance and the commercial sides of the business,” Mr Lacey said.
The new McCabe Curwood firm will employ approximately 300 lawyers, McCabes said, with the merged entity’s CTP team to still have 60 or more fee earners.
Sparkes said it was "delighted" to welcome the four new partners to its commercial insurance team.
National managing partner Phillip Salem said, “I am thrilled to welcome such an exceptional team of specialists to our firm. The addition of these individuals to our commercial insurance practice is yet another critical step in enhancing the legal expertise we provide to our insurance clients nationally."
"At a strategic level, these hires fit seamlessly with our ambition to be a market-leading Australian professional services business," he added.
