Clayton Utz elevates seven to partnership

Clayton Utz has announced the promotion of seven to its partnership, effective 01 January 2022.

Promoted to partner are Dean Gerakiteys and James Neil in the firm’s intellectual property and technology practice; Tim Gordon in the public sector practice; Amanda Lyras in the workplace relations, employment, and safety practice; Paula Noble in the real estate practice; Vanessa Pallone in the banking and financial services practice; and Katie Wood in the firm’s commercial litigation practice.

Gerakiteys specialises in intellectual property advice and litigation, related commercial disputes and trade mark portfolio management and advice, as well as advice on the regulatory regime governing the listing, advertising, and supply of complementary medicines and "over the counter" pharmaceuticals.  

Neil specialises in commercial litigation/arbitration and intellectual property, including trade mark prosecution and portfolio management, as well as disputes about contracts, consumer law, technology, advertising, marketing, reputation management, and franchising.

Gordon provides public law advisory and regulatory services for clients at all levels of government, including on governance, complex statutory interpretation, constitutional law and regulatory issues. The second core aspect of his practice is public law litigation, with a particular focus on judicial review matters.   

Lyras advises a diverse range of clients on all aspects of employment law, including executive engagements and exits, sensitive discrimination and harassment matters, and complex whistleblowing complaints and investigations. She also works closely with the firm’s mergers and acquisitions (M&A) team on the employment aspects of their transactions and represent clients in contentious employment litigation.

Noble now runs a busy real estate practice assisting a mix of private sector and government clients with typical property development projects, major infrastructure projects, government acquisition/disposal work, large transactional work, and tenure advisory work.  

Pallone specialises in financial services, investment funds and superannuation work, acting for a broad range of industry clients including large wealth managers, national and international fund managers, and major superannuation funds.

Lastly, Wood specialises in regulatory and internal investigations, commercial litigation, and risk and compliance advisory in banking and financial services and consumer goods and services.

“We're very pleased to welcome Dean, Tim, Amanda, James, Paula, Vanessa and Katie to our partnership,” said Bruce Cooper, chief executive partner of Clayton Utz. “They are committed, impressive people who have chosen to build their careers with us and reflect the resilience and leadership of our next generation of talent. We're proud that they are part of our firm."