Promotions highlight development programs' success at Piper Alderman

A big promotions round has highlighted the success of the development programs at Piper Alderman.

The firm elevated a total of 21 lawyers across its offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide. Two made special counsel, five were promoted to senior associate and 14 joined the roster of associates.

Elaine Cheung, who joined the firm in 2016, has been promoted to special counsel in the firm’s financial services and fintech practice. She specialises in matters related to banking and financial services, and advises on regulatory compliance and consumer credit issues, real property financing transactions, financial products and services regulation and Australian Credit Licence applications, among others.

She has reviewed and drafted commercial agreements, in addition to reviewing financing programs for anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism.

Beau Weigand has been elevated to special counsel on Piper Alderman’s dispute resolution and litigation team. He has been part of the firm since December 2017, and has worked with matters involving insolvency, litigation and commercial dispute resolution for over a decade.

Both operate from the firm’s Sydney office.

The firm also promoted the following to senior associates and associates:

Senior associates

Tania Maystrenko – commercial, Adelaide

Liberty Privopoulos – commercial, Adelaide

James Hill – corporate, Melbourne

Janet Wong – real estate, Melbourne

Amrita Howell – employment relations, Sydney

Associates:

Tom Woolford – dispute resolution and litigation, Adelaide

Daniel Owen – corporate, Brisbane

Jamin Li – commercial, Melbourne

Oscar Ruane – corporate, Melbourne

Sam Blight – corporate, Sydney

Millie Byrnes Howe – dispute resolution and litigation, Sydney

Leo Kohn – projects and construction, Sydney

Gabor Papdi – financial services and fintech, Sydney

Chelsea Payne – financial services and fintech, Sydney

Thomas Riddell – dispute resolution and litigation, Sydney

Egor Serov – corporate, Sydney

Nathan Sexton – dispute resolution and litigation, Sydney

Emer Sheridan – projects and construction, Sydney

Tom Skevington – financial services and fintech, Sydney

The promotions took effect on 1 July.

“The large number of associate appointments reflects the success of the firm’s clerk and graduate programs in recent years. Seven of those being promoted to associate joined the firm as graduates and three joined the firm through our clerk programs,” Piper Alderman said.

Managing partner Tony Britten-Jones said that the clerk and graduate programs were part of the firm’s initiative to “attracting, retaining and developing the best talent.”

“We hope that these programs will result in an increase in clerk-to-partner appointments within the firm, such as those which have occurred already like Erin McCarthy, employment relations partner, and Bianca Jennings, corporate and commercial partner, both in our Adelaide office,” he said. “The firm remains committed, even through COVID-19, to our clerk and graduate programs, and we look forward to new faces joining us in the coming months and in early 2021.”

Piper Alderman also launched a development program for senior associates and special counsel in April. The program is “designed to prepare senior associates and special counsel who wish to nominate for partnership with skills in practice management, business development and leadership,” the firm said.