Professions

The break-up of once-prominent law firm Rockwell Olivier is expected to result in the opening of three ‘new’ firms in Perth, with the Civic Legal brand being revived, Taylor Olivier being launched, and Melbourne-based Mills Oakley Lawyers coming to town.

Clifford Chance, Ashurst and Gilbert + Tobin have been ranked as the top law firms in the Business News 2014 corporate finance league table, but for very different reasons.

Woods Bagot has been ranked seventh in a list of the world’s top 100 architecture firms for the second consecutive year, with the company’s Perth studio emerging as one of its most strategically important.

The digital revolution is well and truly under way, and media is at the pointy end of the changes.

Rob Ferguson has resigned as chairman of litigation funder IMF Bentham after failing in a push for the company’s three executive directors, including founder Hugh McLernon, to retire from the board.

Perth law firm Rockwell Olivier has been placed in the hands of administrators, after its sole director concluded the business was insolvent.

The international stage has helped this year’s local business and political leaders stand out from the pack – including our Person of the Year, Richard Goyder.

Western Australian Supreme Court judge James Edelman has been appointed as a judge of the Federal Court of Australia.

Mid-tier accounting firm ROCG Perth has expanded with the acquisition of specialist research and development tax consultants Insight Business.

Subiaco-based resource exploration company TNG has been awarded damages of $3.5 million after a court case that spanned more than a decade, but has cautioned that the impact of the "extraordinarily complex" judgement remains unclear.

Chief Justice Wayne Martin has thrown his support behind the establishment of a commercial arbitration centre in Perth, which is designed to win a greater share of the dispute resolution work that is often sent overseas.

Insurance broker EBM has appointed a new leadership team and announced the retirement of long-standing managing director Jeff Adams at the end of this year.

Crown Resorts chairman James Packer has appointed banker Robert Rankin to oversee his multi-billion-dollar investment portfolio.

Wesfarmers has appointed Maya vanden Driesen to the position of group general counsel, putting her in charge of a national team of 42 in-house lawyers.

The top end of the accounting profession in Western Australia has nearly doubled in size over the past decade, whereas the state’s major law firms have recorded minimal growth, according to employment data compiled by Business News.

Kerry Stokes is one of Australia’s wealthiest and most private business leaders, but that has changed with the release of two biographies in two years. However conspicuous gaps in what we know about his deals and erstwhile partners remain.

Law firm Clifford Chance has lost the two partners who established the forerunner to its Perth office, after Michael Lishman accepted an offer to join corporate advisory firm Gresham Partners. His move follows the retirement of Ian Cochrane at the end of last year.

Industrial auctioneer Smith Broughton had its biggest ever auction in September, with $14.3 million worth of used mining kit sold under the hammer.

Shares in accounting firm Crowe Horwath surged on the news it had finalised an acquisition proposal from Financial Index Wealth Accountants for about $137 million, following five months of negotiations.

WA Insolvency Solutions has announced a merger with national insolvency accounting practice Jirsch Sutherland, with the six WA offices continuing to trade under their existing name.

Toronto-based design and engineering services provider WSP Global has bought Balfour Beatty’s New York-based professional services subsidiary, Parsons Brinkerhoff, for $1.45 billion.

Global law firm Squire Patton Boggs has grown its Perth corporate practice division with the addition of Simon Rear, who is moving from Allion Legal.

FEATURE: Architecture and planning professionals have some innovative solutions to the challenges Perth faces in reaching the world's top five most liveable cities.

The GFC and new technology have put increasing pressure on law firms, but local firm HHG Legal Group is taking the opportunity to tailor a new service for the middle segment of the market.

Eighteen months on from its acquisition of Perth-based law firm Middletons, US-based law practice K&L Gates says its expectations for the tie-up have been exceeded.

Professional men in Australia are more than twice as likely as women to see their gender as an advantage in the professional workplace, a survey suggests.

Hundreds of hospital support workers in Perth will stop work today to protest against potential job losses when the new Fiona Stanley Hospital opens.

Former Norton Rose Fullbright partner Simon Bellas has joined global law firm Jones Day as a partner at the firm’s recently opened Perth office.

Deloitte has promoted six new partners in its Perth office, and transferred a seventh from Adelaide, following a 6.5 per cent increase in the accounting firm's national revenue to $1.16 billion for

Sue Ash, Frank Cooper, Hendy Cowan and Ian Ritchie are among the Western Australians to have been recognised in the Queen’s Birthday honours this year.

Accounting firm Crowe Horwath has entered into exclusive takeover talks with a partnership between wealth management group Financial Index Wealth Accountants and private equity firm KKR Asset Management, snubbing rival bidder Anchorage Capital Partners.

Two-and-a-half years after entering the Australian market, Squire Sanders is set to expand its international reach through a merger with fellow US law firm Patton Boggs.