Australia contributes largest group in HSF’s latest partner promotions round

Eight Australian lawyers have been elevated to partner as part of the latest Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) promotions round.

The group is the largest out of any jurisdiction across the legal giant’s global network. It includes lawyers in the corporate, disputes, employment, finance, pro bono, and real estate practices across Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney.

HSF also promoted to partner four lawyers in Asia, seven in Europe, Middle East, and Africa, and seven in the UK. Half of the lawyers promoted in the round, which is the largest since the 2012 merger that created HSF, are women. Half of all promoted lawyers in Australia are also women.

The new Australian partners are:

• Steven Catanzariti (Finance, Sydney) – Catanzariti has extensive experience advising clients across the Asia-Pacific region on high-value strategic transactions. An asset, structured and corporate finance lawyer, he specialises in complex finance transactions. He regularly advises leading Australian and international banks and lenders, borrowers, lessees, lessors and arrangers on structured finance and asset-based transactions and corporate financing transactions.
• Chad Catterwell (Disputes, Melbourne) – Catterwell, who is admitted in Victoria and Hong Kong, is known for his work in cross-border disputes and international arbitration, particularly his expertise in disputes arising from M&A activity and joint ventures in Asia, particularly China. He has advised clients on arbitrations under the rules of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre International Criminal Court, Singapore International Arbitration Centre, China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission and United Nations Commission on International Trade Law.
• Melanie Debenham (Real estate, Perth) – Debenham is an expert on Australian environment, planning, native title and heritage regulation. She advises clients on cradle-to-grave approvals, regulatory and compliance issues, the firm said. Her advice includes context of transactions, project finance, procurement and disputes. She is also extensively experienced in the mining, oil and gas, energy and infrastructure sectors.
• Kam Jamshidi (Corporate, Melbourne) – Jamshidi is an expert on large-scale public and private M&A. He has worked on some of the largest and most complex transactions in the Australian corporate market, the firm said. He has acted as M&A and defence adviser to large corporates, as well as key private equity clients. He also previously worked as an investment banker with Goldman Sachs.
• Shivchand Jhinku (Employment, industrial relations, safety; Sydney) – Jhinku is an adviser to high-profile clients, counselling on the employment life-cycle, including from contractual negotiations, through to performance management, termination of employment, and enforcement of post-employment obligations. He has extensive experience in numerous courts and tribunals, acting on some of the most high-profile employment litigation in the last decade, HSF said.
• Brooke Massender (Pro bono, Sydney) – Massender is the head of the global HSF pro bono practice. The team balancing firm-wide priorities with regional and cultural differences and delivers a wide range of initiatives, strategic partnerships and casework that connect community need with legal skills to achieve social impact in each region, HSF said.
• Nicole Pedler (Corporate, Sydney) – Pedler, a member of the firm’s Australia/Japan team, specialises in public and private M&A, corporate restructures and equity capital markets transactions. She advises across a wide range of industries and has a particular focus on the financial services and infrastructure sectors.
• Christine Tran (Disputes, Sydney) – An experienced commercial litigator, Tran is a specialist in defending class actions, particularly securities claims. She regularly advises ASX200 and multinational companies on managing class action risks and has acted in several of the most high-profile class actions in Australia. She is one of the few practitioners with trial experience in both shareholder and product liability class actions, the firm said.

Andrew Pike, HSF’s Australian chief executive partner, congratulated the eight Australian lawyers to be promoted to the firm’s global partnership.

“This career-defining milestone recognises their exceptional client work, demonstrated leadership capabilities and valuable contribution to the firm’s culture and success,” Pike said. “As a firm, we are committed to developing talent, and we take a long-term view when appointing partners to ensure that we have the right expertise in place to meet our clients’ evolving needs.”

Pike said that the new partners are “all highly experienced practitioners” who will bring “significant industry knowledge and commercial insight to bear for our clients – both in these challenging times and well into the future.”

The firm’s other new partners are:

Asia

• Isaac Chen – Corporate (capital markets and M&A), Beijing
• JoJo Fan – Disputes (commercial litigation), Hong Kong
• Jamie McLaren – Corporate (M&A), Singapore
• Gitta Satryani – Disputes (international arbitration), Singapore/Jakarta

EMEA

• Iria Calvino – Corporate (public law, regulatory, environmental), Madrid
• Armando Garcia-Mendoza – Finance, Madrid
• Stefanie Herkert – Finance, Frankfurt
• Martin Le Touzé – Disputes (FSR, banking, insurance), Paris
• Lisa McLaughlin – Alternative legal services, Belfast
• Vadim Panin – Finance, Moscow
• Evgeny Yuriev – Corporate (competition, regulation and trade), Moscow

UK

• Helen Beatty – Finance, London
• Hayley Brady – Corporate (TMT), London
• Casey Dalton – Corporate (tax), London
• Michael Hunt – Disputes (tax), London
• Tom Marshall – Corporate (infrastructure), London
• Kate Meakin – Disputes (corporate crime and investigations), London
• Aaron White – Corporate (TMT), London