The firm has also promoted three lawyers to counsel
Webb Henderson has named Sarah Keene and Ashton Goatley as partners while also promoting three lawyers to counsel.
Keene is a senior competition lawyer and regarded as a pre-eminent competition law practitioner in the New Zealand market. The firm expects her addition to the partnership in its Auckland office to enhance Webb Henderson’s competition law offering in New Zealand.
She will also work closely with the competition law specialists in the firm’s Sydney office. Corporate and finance group senior partners Garth Sinclair and Graeme Quigley said that Keene’s appointment would bolster the firm’s competition and regulatory offering in Auckland.
Meanwhile, Goatley joined the firm’s Auckland corporate team in 2017. He has worked on a number of high-profile corporate transactions and projects. His legal experience spans M&A, joint ventures, capital markets and corporate governance.
“We are very excited to have Sarah join as partner, as a pre-eminent practitioner in the competition field. She joins our competition team in Auckland and will combine well with our existing expertise there and in our Sydney office. I am also very pleased that Ashton will be promoted to partner, as one the star performers in our corporate and finance team,” partner Angus Henderson said.
Webb Henderson also promoted Megan Roberts, James Godfrey, and Sydney-based Richard Dampney to counsels.
Roberts has joined the firm in 2019. She is a senior lawyer in the firm’s corporate and finance team in Auckland, and has led a number of cases involving complex M&A matters.
Godfrey has been part of the firm’s corporate and finance team since 2012. He is a senior lawyer who has worked with several notable clients, including SkyCity, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co, Stevenson Group, Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles, IAG New Zealand, and Ironbridge Capital.
Dampney is a senior lawyer in the Webb Henderson’s Sydney TMT group. Since joining the firm in 2016, he has worked on several notable commercial and regulatory projects in the TMT field.
"Our team in Auckland is privileged to work with some of the most discerning corporate and finance clients in this market, helping them to implement their strategies and achieve their goals,” Sinclair and Quigley said.
The promotions took effect on 1 January, pending Law Society regulatory requirements.