Login
Exclusive: When the Levy breaks
Senior financial services partner Michelle Levy is one of four lawyers from King & Wood Mallesons who will dump the firm for Allens.
Leanne Mezrani and Justin Whealing
Levy (pictured) is joining Allens in March or April along with special counsel Michael Mathieson, senior associate Simun Soljo and lawyer Rosie Thomas. The four lawyers form KWM’s financial services regulation team in Sydney.
Lawyers Weekly also contacted Allens, which has declined to comment on the matter.
The move by Levy is the latest high-profile departure from KWM.
Levy follows the likes of Craig Semple, KWM’s former Australian head of M&A, who joined Gilbert + Tobin in January, and the firm’s former managing partner of dispute resolution, Beau Deleuil, who moved to Quinn Emanuel in December.
In May, Sue Kench replaced Tony O’Malley as the firm’s Australian managing partner.
In November, King & Wood Mallesons merged with SJ Berwin, a move that was questioned by sections of the firm’s partnership.
Lawyers Weekly asked Levy and Matheison whether their decision to leave KWM was linked to the merger with SJ Berwin or the subsequent management reshuffle, which placed global managing partner Stuart Fuller at the head of the firm’s global Executive Committee, but neither provided a response.
