Minter Ellison Rudd Watts has announced two high-level appointments to its competition and regulation team.
Dr Ross Patterson: Partner
Ross Patterson returns to the partnership after completing a five-year term as New Zealand Telecommunications Commissioner and member of the Commerce Commission.
He was previously based in Sydney as head of the Minter Ellison National Competition and Regulation Practice Group and, prior to that, headed the then Rudd Watts and Stone Competition Practice.
Patterson has twenty-five years’ of specialist experience in competition law and economic regulation. He has a PhD in competition law and has published many articles on competition and telecommunications issues.
He is also Chairman of Akhet Consulting, a telecommunications consultancy based in Dubai.
“Competition law and economic regulation play an important role in a modern market economy,” says Patterson. “I’m delighted to be re-joining my old firm and leading our team of specialists in this vital practice area.”
Melanie Tollemache: Special Counsel
Melanie Tollemache has also re-joined the firm. She is trained in economics, specialises in competition and regulatory law and was senior scholar in Economics and in Law at Auckland University.
Tollemache, who has been practicing for 22 years, says she’s delighted to be back at Minter Ellison Rudd Watts.
“It's a particular pleasure to be working closely with Ross Patterson and Alison Lindsay again,” she says. “I look forward to advising clients operating in this challenging environment.”
The firm’s chair,
Cathy Quinn, says the appointments reflect the firm’s “unparalleled expertise” in competition law and regulation.
“The appointments of both Ross and Melanie reflect the firm’s unparalleled expertise in the area of competition law and regulation, combining legal and economic disciplines with the experience of team members as regulators, in-house counsel in regulated industries, and advisers in the area for more than 20 years,” says Quinn.
