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Piper Alderman takes team from EY
National law firm Piper Alderman has bolstered its Sydney office with the addition of a new, all-female superannuation team, including two partners and one senior associate from big four firm Ernst & Young.
Lauren Croft
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The new superannuation team includes partners Lisa-Marie McKechnie and Kathy Neilson (pictured) and senior associate Kerry Jacobs – all of which joined from Ernst & Young – as well as Piper Alderman lawyer Wendy Gao.
Ms Neilson is a highly experienced financial services lawyer with over 12 years of experience both in private legal practice and at the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). She advises on a wide range of financial services issues across superannuation and life insurance, including in relation to regulatory requirements, disclosure, mergers and acquisitions such as successor fund transfers, licensing, corporate governance, prudential obligations, ASIC and Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) applications and investigations, privacy and anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) obligations.
Ms McKechnie has over 25 years of deep technical financial services experience advising clients in the areas of superannuation, general and life insurance and regulatory matters. She is a former director on the board of the Financial Services Accountants Association (FSAA), a regular presenter with the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST) and the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) and the former NSW chair of the peak body for life insurance in Australia and New Zealand, Australasian Life Underwriting and Claims Association (ALUCA).
“I am delighted to bring our superannuation team to complement Piper Alderman’s existing banking and financial services regulatory practice and to have the opportunity to continue to provide our suite of financial services to our clients in an increasingly challenging business environment,” Ms McKechnie said.
“Financial services providers are facing a number of key challenges, and there has never been a better time to offer our clients the opportunity to also access the broader services available at Piper Alderman.”
Ms Jacobs has been involved in a range of financial services matters, including superannuation, prudential regulation, regulatory compliance, privacy, corporate governance and AML/CTF.
The appointment of the new team takes the firm’s partner count to 85, following the recent partner promotions of Caterina Meduri and Craig Subocz, and the appointment of Nick Foulkes in Perth and Peter Nugent in Brisbane, as well as the promotion of 26 last month.
Commenting on the appointments, managing partner Tony Britten-Jones welcomed the former EY team to the firm.
“We are excited to welcome Lisa-Marie, Kathy and Kerry to the firm,” he said.
“The team’s exceptional skills, experience, and expertise in superannuation will undoubtedly enhance our national financial services team and strengthen our ability to provide outstanding service to our financial services clients.”
Lauren Croft
Lauren is a journalist at Lawyers Weekly and graduated with a Bachelor of Journalism from Macleay College. Prior to joining Lawyers Weekly, she worked as a trade journalist for media and travel industry publications and Travel Weekly. Originally born in England, Lauren enjoys trying new bars and restaurants, attending music festivals and travelling. She is also a keen snowboarder and pre-pandemic, spent a season living in a French ski resort.
