Jones Day has continued the build out of its Australian practice with the hire of five partners across Brisbane and Sydney.
The incoming partners cover disputes, real estate, energy, corporate and IP matters and have joined having led or co-led practices and offices at their former firms.
They take Jones Day's lateral partner hires in Australia to 10 so far this year and 18 since mid-2024, when it launched a growth plan in the country.
Chris Lovrien, Jones Day’s partner-in-charge of Australia, said the latest hires "bring elite talent to a market that matters deeply to our clients."
He added: “Australia is a leading market for companies in the energy and resources, technology, financial, health care and consumer products sectors. These appointments mean more capability, more collaboration and more value for clients in every direction – whether we're advising international businesses on matters in Australia or advancing the interests of Australian clients around the world."
In Brisbane the firm has hired disputes partner Dylan McKimmie from Norton Rose Fulbright, where he was head of the Brisbane office and co-head of the energy practice in Australia.
The Sydney hires include real estate transactions partner Leigh De Jong, who has has joined from MinterEllison, where led the Sydney banking and finance practice. Christopher Flynn has also moved over from Gilbert + Tobin, where he led the energy, resources and infrastructure practice, while corporate partner Lance Sacks has joined having co-led Baker McKenzie's Australian transactions practice. The final hire is IP partner Ken Saurajen, who has arrived from Clayton Utz, where he was co-partner in charge of the Sydney office and national head of the technology law practice.
The partners reflect Jones Day's pattern of growing steadily in Australia through targeted lateral hiring rather than merging with local firms.
Since launching its growth strategy, the firm's Australian practice has gone from 90 to 120 lawyers across its offices in Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney, with hires focused on areas where it said client demand was increasing, namely cross-border corporate transactions and energy and infrastructure projects, as well as litigation and arbitration, real estate and IP.
Earlier this year the firm also added a trio of disputes partners in Melbourne from Corrs Chambers Westgarth led by Brendan Critchley and in July hired restructuring partner Nicholas Dunstone from Milbank in Sydney.
The practice is not immune to departures, however – senior disputes partner John Emmerig left for independent Australian commercial law firm Thomson Geer earlier this year, shortly before it rebranded as Thomsons.
Email your news and story ideas to: [email protected]
