Mills Oakley gains employment law pro in Perth

Mills Oakley has continued to expand its workplace relations, employment, and safety practice with the hiring of a seasoned lawyer in Perth.

Rebecca Taseff has been appointed as special counsel by the national firm, adding to the firm nearly 20 years of private-practice experience in a number of top firms in Australia. Taseff was previously a special counsel at K&L Gates, senior associate at Herbert Smith Freehills, senior lawyer at AdventBalance, and senior associate at Ashurst.

She specialises in all areas of industrial relations, employment and safety law and has particular experience in workplace change and restructuring, termination of employment claims, and conducting and advising on workplace investigations. She regularly acts for clients before the Fair Work Commission, as well as other courts and tribunals. Taseff advises corporate clients in the finance, hospitality, retail, higher educations, and health industries, as well as government agencies and NGOs.

The appointment comes as Mills Oakley’s workplace relations practice in Perth is experiencing rapid growth. Over the past year, it added several new clients, including the largest offshore vessel operator in the world and a leading international offshore construction company.

Mills Oakley said that Taseff will be working closely with partner Daniel White.

“Western Australia continues to experience strong mining, construction and oil-and-gas activity, and I am pleased to be joining a firm which has forged a reputation in these areas, not just in relation to workplace relations advice but other practices as well,” she said. “The opportunities to collaborate for the benefit of our clients are outstanding.”

In December 2017, Mills Oakley launched a new practice in Canberra with the hire of senior workplace-relations partner Andrew Klein. Last November, the firm hired long-time Herbert Smith Freehills partner Harold Downes to launch a new national practice.