lexvoco names NZ legal head

The Australasian firm has four new team leaders

lexvoco names NZ legal head

As it continues to challenge traditional law firms, lexvoco has named four new team leaders, including a new head of legal in New Zealand.

Louise Unger is now leading the NewLaw firm’s legal services team firm in the country. She moved from Bank of New Zealand, where she was last the head of operational risk and compliance. In her 12 years at the financial institution, she was also head of legal for its retail operations.

Unger was formerly a solicitor at MinterEllisonRuddWatts, Chapman Tripp, and Simpson Grierson. She also spent a couple years as a lawyer for the council of the London borough of Richmond upon Thames.

The other new lexvoco recruits are Daniel Gleeson, Sarah Galbally, and Ken Pang. Gleeson has been named as head of ICT, Galbally is the firm’s new head of commercial, and Pang has been appointed as head of asset finance.

The firm said that it is the only Australasian law firm to exclusively hire lawyers with in-house experience, giving it an edge over traditional law firms.

“Traditional law firms remain incapable of providing pragmatic commercial advice tailored to the client’s risk appetite as opposed to their own. As a result, such advice often remains underwhelming and impractical,” said Nat Parbhu, principal and head of legal services at lexvoco. “Matters still pass through long chains of supervision with multiple lawyers often advising on the same documents. It’s just too slow and costs too much. In-house teams are frustrated – I know this from my own experience, and we hear it constantly. I encourage them to seek out another way.”