Hardy Bowen, a small but significant Perth firm with strong capabilities in mining industry work, will join with global giant DLA Piper from July.
The three partner strong firm made a name for itself working on major transactions and with numerous international clients, and hasn’t seen the brunt of the mining downturn.
Founding partner Michael Bowen said the firm’s decision to join DLA Piper reflects Hardy Bowen’s need to support international clients in overseas jurisdictions.
“We have found that a lot of those clients were really strong in overseas jurisdictions and we were constantly trying to juggle the task of being able to service their corporate activity in Australia while at the same time maintain some sort of relationship with them in the jurisdictions in which they operated,” he said.
“[DLA Piper] added the global strength we require when handling these overseas assets.”
The mining and resources expansion is consistent with DLA Piper’s development globally, and follows recent partner additions in Canada, Mexico and Singapore in the resources sector and mirrors the firm’s expansion strategy, focussing on established local offices.
“This forms part of a strategic expansion of our first-tier corporate capabilities across Australia, specifically in transactional M&A, ECM and private equity,” said DLA Piper head of corporate, Asia Pacific, Bryan Pointon.
“We are gaining a high calibre, highly experienced team in Hardy Bowen.”
The announcement follows a period of expansion for DLA Piper in Australia, with a number of recent high profile lateral hires across corporate, finance, projects and real estate practices.
