Former GC and firm director joins Keypoint as a consulting principal
Following its recent expansion into Perth, Keypoint Law has moved to bolster its corporate and commercial ranks in Melbourne.
Celia Armstrong (pictured) has joined Keypoint Law as a consulting principal, bringing her “extensive” experience working in mergers and acquisitions, contracts, and commercial dispute resolution.
Most recently, Armstrong served as a special counsel at Melbourne-based boutique firm Coulter Legal. Prior to this, she was a director at Being Legal, a sole practitioner for more than six years, and general counsel and company secretary at Imperium Capital Group.
She works, the national practice said in a statement, with small to medium businesses and founder-led enterprise clients, which has seen her expertise broaden over the years to encompass a range of general commercial areas, including protecting intellectual property (IP), arrangements with employees and stakeholders, trading terms and conditions, asset protection, privacy, competition and consumer regimes and dispute resolution.
The news follows the firm’s launch in Perth with a consulting principal hire earlier this month, meaning the emerging BigLaw player now has a presence in six major Australian cities.
Keypoint’s entry into the West Australian market also comes as the consultancy model practice celebrates its 10-year anniversary in Australia in 2024. It now has more than 75 partner-level lawyers across the country, practising in 25 areas of law, the firm noted in a statement.
The news also follows a year of significant growth for Keypoint in 2023 – which saw more than a dozen partner-level recruits join the consultancy model practice – as well as its recent appointments of an IP consulting principal in Melbourne in mid-March, a corporate and M&A consulting principal in Sydney in late January, and a property law consulting principal in early January.
Speaking about Armstrong’s appointment, Keypoint chief executive Warren Kalinko said: “We are thrilled to welcome Celia to Keypoint. Her joining is a hugely exciting development for our SME corporate clients in Melbourne.”
“With a background spanning private practice and in-house positions, Celia brings a distinctive understanding of SMEs and a holistic skill set tailored to cater to the diverse needs of the small business market.”
Armstrong said: “I am truly excited to join the exceptional team at Keypoint.”
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Jerome Doraisamy
Jerome Doraisamy is the editor of Lawyers Weekly. A former lawyer, he has worked at Momentum Media as a journalist on Lawyers Weekly since February 2018, and has served as editor since March 2022. He is also the host of all five shows under The Lawyers Weekly Podcast Network, and has overseen the brand's audio medium growth from 4,000 downloads per month to over 60,000 downloads per month, making The Lawyers Weekly Show the most popular industry-specific podcast in Australia. Jerome is also the author of The Wellness Doctrines book series, an admitted solicitor in NSW, and a board director of Minds Count.
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