Team from national firm includes new partner and special counsel
Cooper Grace Ward is welcoming an eight-strong team from a national firm to boost its property practice.
The group includes partner Clive Nichol, special counsel Freeda Stevenson, associate Michael Donnelly and lawyer Angela Sheehy. The fee earners are supported by paralegals Laura Cottrell, Melissa Crosby, and Rebecca Escobar, as well as legal assistant Skye Nicholson.
The team is making the move from Barry.Nilsson. Chris Ward, managing partner, said that Cooper Grace Ward is grateful for the support of the group’s former firm in the transition.
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“Strategically it came at a time when Barry.Nilsson. is creating a more focused service offering, so the transition makes good business sense for both our firms,” Ward said.
The hiring expands the Cooper Grace Ward property team to 35, adding experience in a wide range of property transactions and projects, as well as complex litigation matters. The newly hired lawyers’ practice advises major shopping-centre owners, property developers, private commercial properties, SMEs, franchisors, marina operators, and aviation companies, the firm said.
Cooper Grace Ward, an Employer of Choice 2019 firm, said that Nichol is known for his extensive experience in retail leasing and management, as well as airport- and aviation-related matters. Stevenson specialises in property law, with a particular focus on acquisitions and disposals, development of community title properties, and marinas.
Donnelly is an expert in negotiation and general commercial matters, while Sheehy advises on a range of property development and commercial property transactions, the firm said.
“With the addition of eight new team members, we now have 35 people who can bring the expertise our clients need, in combination with our corporate, workplace relations, banking, insurance, litigation and private client practices,” he said.
Nichols said that his team is looking forward to the support, opportunities, and benefits that come with joining an already strong property and commercial team. This is also a homecoming for him, he said.
“I actually began my law career in Australia – after five years in London – with Cooper Grace Ward 27 years ago, so in a way I’m coming back to where it all began,” he said.