Five move up to Clayton Utz partnership

Clayton Utz will welcome five new partners on 1 January in the Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney offices of the firm.

Rob Cutler, Clayton Utz chief executive partner, said that the newly promoted senior practitioners have, for more than a decade, worked exceptionally hard to build their reputations as specialists in their respective areas and contribute significantly to the firm’s culture on numerous levels.

“We're delighted to welcome them to the partnership and look forward to watching their careers continue to flourish as partners of Clayton Utz,” he said.

The newly promoted lawyers are:

Eleanor Dickens, of the firm’s government services group in Brisbane, was promoted from special counsel. She is a specialist in public and administrative law. She has a particular focus on complex government investigations, including corruption and misconduct investigations, information law, compliance, and government decision-making processes. She is also an expert in innovation and information and data use and practice issues.

Also elevated from special counsel was corporate law specialist Liz Humphry, who is based in Perth and is a part of the firm’s corporate group. She acts for a wide range of leading Australian and international organisations on transactional and operational matters, which include M&A, corporate finance and equity capital transactions, projects, and Australian regulatory compliance issues. She has a particular focus on the energy and resources industry.

In Sydney, Samy Mansour of the corporate team was promoted from special counsel. He has significant experience advising on investments, sales, joint ventures, projects, corporate governance and supply arrangements across a number of key industries including energy, resources, transport, infrastructure, health, insurance, manufacturing and retail. Clayton Utz said that he is valued for his client-centric focus and solution-oriented approach. He is also driving best practice in the legal industry and was appointed as the first Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for Legal Innovation at the College of Law.

Alexandra Rose, of the firm’s litigation and dispute resolution practice in Sydney, is known for defending high-stakes class actions, product liability claims, and multi-jurisdictional claims. She was promoted from special counsel. Her extensive experience enables her to help clients identify and mitigate risks as early as possible in disputes, and provide practical, commercial solutions to problems, the firm said. She has a focus on health, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and consumer goods, as well as the automotive and financial services industries. 

Melbourne-based Joanne Teagle of the firm’s major projects and construction was also elevated from special counsel. She is an expert in social housing, an area in which she has 20 years' experience. She is also a specialist in facilities management contracting, services contracting, complex government procurement and work health and safety. She acts for a wide range of government social housing providers and asset owners on all aspects of their project outsourcing requirements. She is valued by clients for her ability to provide innovative, value-for-money and practical solutions, particularly with respect to end-to-end procurement processes and collaborative contracting models, Clayton Utz said. She is also passionate about work health and safety and has advised mainly government clients on the harmonised WHS Legislation since 2011.

The appointments come after Clayton Utz attracted partner Graham Read from Norton Rose Fulbright last month.