Jonathon Turner has worked across Australia, England and the Cayman Islands
Former Norton Rose Fulbright partner Jonathon Turner has been announced as Lander & Rogers’ newest partner, boosting the firm’s commercial disputes offering in Sydney.
The insolvency and disputes star joins in the wake of rising demand for specialised legal advice in relation to insolvency and restructuring matters as economic conditions worldwide decline.
“Jonathon is recognised as a leading restructuring, insolvency, and complex litigation lawyer, and has worked on some of the most complex insolvency and litigation matters of our time during his career. His considerable knowledge and expertise will be of significant benefit to our clients and our firm as we embark on the next stage of our growth in Sydney”, Lander & Rogers commercial disputes practice head Johnathan Quilty said.
Turner holds dual qualifications in Australia and England and Wales, and has represented clients in the superior courts of Australia, England and the Cayman Islands. He has tackled complex high-profile in insolvency and contentious matters, such as those involving Lehman Brothers.
At Lander & Rogers, he is set to concentrate on growing contentious matters, complex litigation and restructuring. He explained that the volatile economic environment at present is making things difficult for businesses in the US, UK and Europe – markets that he said serve as barometer for Australia’s own in relation to regulation and disputes.
“Businesses across the globe are experiencing heightened financial pressures due to a range of factors, including rising inflation and interest rates, supply-chain issues, increased costs of goods, evolving compliance obligations and risk such as. ESG issues, and geopolitical tensions”, Turner said.
Nonetheless, he pointed to the opportunities he sees in such a situation.
“On one hand, there's the prospect of repositioning a company for growth and strengthening it for future success. This could mean rationalisation, diversifying supply chains, identifying alternative markets, or leveraging distressed debt or alternative lending options for those experiencing financial distress”, Turner explained. “On the other hand, there are opportunities for acquiring underperforming businesses or assets that, with structural change and the right support, represent profitable investments that can enhance overall business value for acquiring companies or funds”.
He also highlighted the important role of advisors in capitalising on these opportunities.
“We work in partnership with clients and other professional advisers to identify issues and provide dynamic and longterm commercial solutions to strengthen performance and mitigate business risks. We look at operational and structural issues, and whether factors like additional capital or governance, structural, technology or workforce changes can help to improve the financial performance of a company”.
Lander & Rogers also commenced the 2023 LawTech Hub at the close of last month, and announced the inclusion of Deeligence, Disclosure Ready, My Life Capsule (Melbourne), Halisok (Brisbane) and Oddr (Silicon Valley) in the cohort of startups and scaleups that the firm will support this year.
The 2023 program will concentrate on AI and how it can be utilised to minimise complexities, structure data, streamline processes and enhance security in the sharing of data and files.
“Applications poured in from Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, Palo Alto, London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Brussels, Lausanne, Dubai, Lagos and Lahore, and after significant deliberation, we landed on five standout startups and scaleups who are committed to advancing the legal industry through the power of technology”, said Courtney Blackman, LawTech Hub director and head of partnerships at Lander & Rogers.
Throughout the six-month program, which ends in October, the firm’s lawyers and partners will be collaborating with the selected startups in the development of transformative legaltech. In particular, My Life Capsule will be working together with Lander & Rogers to build up its privacy-by-design and ultra-secure digital vaults for confidential data and file sharing between professional services, individuals and families, the Melbourne startup shared.
My Life Capsule said that it is expecting to glean real-time feedback and guidance from not just the firm’s lawyers, but also tech experts from its iHub as well as specialist stakeholders.
“Working alongside the Lander & Rogers lawyers and LawTech Hub community will take My Life Capsule closer to meeting its mission to master the ultra-secure client engagement services for the Australian and International legal sector”, said Pam Moorhouse, co-founder and CEO of My Life Capsule. “Some of the world's leading legal techs are alumni of the LawTech Hub, and it's an honour to be in their company”.
