Pinsent Masons is on the march again in Australia with the opening of a Perth office and the recruitment of four infrastructure and energy partners from Norton Rose Fulbright. The four departures from NRF are Rob Buchanan and Matthew Croagh who specialise in construction, projects partner Adrienne Parker and arbitration specialist Bill Ryan. The firm will open the Perth office, its third Australian office, in the autumn. Its other Australian offices are in Sydney and Melbourne. 

Mandates

Since launching in Australia in 2015, Pinsent Masons has acted on a number of mandates, including  the AUD$15bn Melbourne Metro Project, acting for First Solar in relation to its project finance acquisition and development of a 48MW Solar Power plant and acting for Samsung C&T on the AUD$2bn Roy Hill Iron Ore Mining dispute.

Strong growth

David Rennick, head of Australia, says: 'In less than two years, Pinsent Masons has established itself among the preeminent infrastructure firms in Australia and enhanced its reputation across the Asia Pacific region. Our strong growth and high calibre of work is being recognised and we are delighted to be able to attract a stellar team of fellow specialists to join us in expanding our business into Perth. The appointments also present an opportunity to expand further into the energy sector.'

Vision

Commenting on the opening, Richard Foley, senior partner, said: 'Our vision is to be recognised as an international market leader in the global sectors in which we operate and Australia has been significant in enabling us to serve clients domestically and across Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Europe. Our relentless focus on combing skillset excellence with sector insight and innovation continues to prove popular among our clients.'

Sustained activity

The news comes after a period of sustained activity by Pinsent Masons. In May, the firm announced plans to launch in Dublin and the acquisition of diversity-and-inclusion business Brook Graham. The month prior, the firm announced the appointment of teams in Madrid and Johannesburg to open the firm's inaugural offices in Spain and South Africa respectively. The firm will now operate 24 offices globally.