Andrew Darwin, DLA’s UK head, is set to relocate to Sydney and become the firm’s Australia managing partner. Ahead the move, where he will replace Tony Holland, Mr Darwin has attempted to soothe fears that he has been sent Down Under to lead a dramatic restructuring programme.

Important component

‘Fundamentally, I’m here in Australia to help develop the practice. I’m not here to shrink it or restructure it,’ Mr Darwin told Lawyers Weekly. ‘I’m not coming here with any fixed plan or preconception about what we should and shouldn’t do, or about the current levels of staff and where we should go with that. We’ve got a really big part of our business in Asia-Pacific now and it’s an important component for our future, so we need to make sure we get it right.’

Restructuring

Alarm bells first began to ring when Mr Holland – who has led the firm in Australia since the integration with DLA Phillips Fox in 2011 – confirmed that the firm had made some redundancies in under-performing areas.
Mr Darwin also took the responsibility for a UK restructuring last year which reportedly affected 251 staff.