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HFW adds team from Johnson Winter Slattery
Global law firm HFW has hired a Melbourne-based team, including two partners, from BigLaw rival Johnson Winter Slattery as it moves to bolster its restructuring and insolvency and commercial litigation capabilities.
Jerome Doraisamy
HFW has strengthened its corporate restructuring, insolvency, and commercial litigation practice with the appointment of a team from national firm Johnson Winter Slattery, including partners Paul Buitendag and Rena Solomonidis (both pictured).
The pair will be based in Melbourne and will start at HFW on 8 September.
The two partners have also brought an associate and a legal assistant across with them, both of whom will start in mid-September.
The news follows a period of substantial growth for HFW Down Under, including a “record” 12 months in the Australian market, as reported in July, and having added 12 new partners across the country since the beginning of FY2023–24.
In March, the firm promoted four new partners and one new legal director. This came after the hiring of an environment and climate change partner from Baker McKenzie in December, the addition of a partner from Clyde & Co, as well as a team of seven, in January this year after the firm nabbed five partners from fellow BigLaw practice MinterEllison, as well as a team of 15 lawyers in late November last year, as it moved to bolster its regional offerings in corporate, projects, regulatory, and restructuring.
The news also follows a recent spate of team poachings at Australia’s larger firms, including four Canberra-based partners joining Clayton Utz from MinterEllison, a real estate partner and his team leaving HWL Ebsworth for K&L Gates, and a team of seven joining Turner Freeman from Coleman Greig, all in the past month.
Speaking about the hires, HFW Australian managing partner Gavin Vallely said: “I am delighted to welcome Paul, Rena and the team to the firm.
“Paul has over 30 years’ experience and is widely recognised as being one of Australia’s pre-eminent insolvency and commercial litigation practitioners, having advised on several of the country’s largest corporate collapses. He is also renowned for pioneering litigation funding in Australia, including the introduction of ATE insurance as an alternative form of security for costs in litigation funding agreements.
“Rena is recognised as a leading practitioner in commercial litigation, corporate insolvency, and restructuring, as well as in prosecuting and defending class actions. She has been involved in a number of Australia’s high-profile commercial claims, insolvency disputes and class actions.
“Paul and Rena have been working together as a team for more than 16 years and have advised on some of Australia’s most complex corporate insolvencies and have worked with funders in the USA, UK, and Australia in significant disputes. At HFW, they will work closely with our existing restructuring and insolvency and litigation funding teams in Australia and globally to further enhance our client offering in these sectors.”
Buitendag said: “HFW is the right firm for our practice for many reasons, most notably the strength of its international network and long history in London, which continues to be an important centre not only for litigation funders but also for brokers and insurers who are developing innovative, insurance-backed litigation funding products.
“Rena and I are looking forward to working with our new colleagues at HFW and the firm’s clients both in Australia and across the global network.”
Solomonidis said: “I am excited to be joining HFW, which has ambitious growth plans in Australia and globally.
“The firm’s international reach provides an extra dimension to support our practice at a time of increasing insolvency activity in Australia that regularly involves assets, investors and alternative lenders in offshore locations.
“HFW’s extensive experience in the international tracing of assets will be highly relevant to several of our clients.”
HFW now has over 30 partners and 130 lawyers across its offices in Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney. It first entered the Australian market in 2006.
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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