Special Reports

While the issue of succession normally focuses on fathers and their children, in some notable cases succession has initially passed from husband to wife.

For now the Cloughs tentatively remain the largest shareholder in the engineering company that bears the family name. But that is set to change.

Among the Phillips Fox property team, which was highly rated in the Legal Elite survey, many respondents nominated Paul McQueen as the stand-out performer in a wide field of quality lawyers.

The legal profession hasn’t escaped the skills shortage affecting industries across Australia, with many respondents to this year’s Legal Elite reporting there is a shortage of lawyers available to undertake work.

The loss of a high-profile founding partner can be a challenging time for any business, but the retirement last June of Rick Crabb seems to have done nothing to dent the reputation of West Perth law firm Blakiston & Crabb.

A distinctive feature of the corporate law market in Perth is the prominence of boutique firms, which consistently give the big national firms a run for their money.

No sooner had Michael Lundberg become a partner at Mallesons Stephen Jaques in January this year than he was thrust into the action, representing Kumba Resources Ltd against Gina Rinehart’s private companies in negotiating a settlement in relation to the

An upsurge in strike activity and the prospect of major Federal Government reforms has placed industrial relations front and centre as a business issue in Western Australia.

If winning the big jobs is a measure of success, then Freehills gets top billing in the insolvency market this year after being appointed as legal adviser to the administrators of failed mining company Sons of Gwalia.

Unlike most of the categories in this year’s Legal Elite, which primarily focus on the major industry players, the planning and environment section features practitioners from both large and small firms.

WA Business News’ third annual Legal Elite feature comes at a time of solid growth by most of Western Australia’s commercial and corporate law firms.

In the practice area of banking and finance, five Western Australian lawyers were singled out as leading their field.

Economic Regulation Authority chairman Lyndon Rowe famously told an Australian Institute of Energy lunch last year that one of his key performance measures should be to reduce the amount of time spent with lawyers.

Aquila Resources LimitedProject: Hamersley Region Iron Ore Prospect

Rio Tinto Limited Operation: Marandoo Iron Ore MineLocation: 75km SW Wittenoom

The head of the WA Department of Industry and Resources, Jim Limerick, declared last week that the local nickel industry had become the state’s second most valuable mineral sector after iron ore.

Premier Geoff Gallop named the ‘Broome pearl’ as a Western Australian icon last June and, as he lauded the contribution of the industry, said it generated $200 million in annual exports.

The Australian pearl industry has responded to the weakness in the global market over the past five to six years by lifting its focus on marketing and branding.

The State Government’s capital works program in the current financial year has risen to a record $3.9 billion, with social infrastructure accounting for most of the spending.

The triangle bounded by Kwinana, Fremantle and Kewdale is home to the bulk of manufacturing and heavy industry in Western Australia, so it is not surprising that’s where some of the State Government’s most difficult infrastructure issues are located.

Industrial infrastructure is normally an arcane subject that only technocrats worry about, yet this year it has become one of the nation’s hottest political topics.

The Generation Xers who participated in the roundtable discussion presented very strong, often polarised views about their city and the benefits, or otherwise, of calling Perth home.

Freedom was undoubtedly an essential part of what those at the WA Business News forum considered important in their lives, but a professional career means freedom is tempered with a certain amount of responsibility.

One of the first, and most obvious, choices to make when choosing an employer is whether to work for a large or small organisation. Both have advantages and disadvantages, and provide a different range of experiences.

Differences between generations in attitudes, priorities and experience can lead to divergent opinions on many occasions, however the same divergence of opinions can also be found within a single generation.

Douglas Coupland’s seminal book Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, which coined the term ‘Generation X,’ also used several other expressions, most of which have not yet entered mainstream language, but nonetheless provide an entertaining insi

The debate over how Perth is viewed by those outside the state rages as heatedly now as it ever has.

In the increasingly competitive market for good employees, Generation Xers have the pick of places to work, not just within Perth, but also the national and international markets.

The inherent danger associated with applying a label to something as diverse as a generation is that such classifications can ultimately disappoint, failing to live up, or down, to expectations.

For an expert perspective on what makes a city such as Perth an attractive one to young workers, Mark Pownall spoke to US regional development guru Professor Richard Florida during his recent visit to WA.

Among the companies of which Peter Mansell is a board member only Ferngrove Vineyards Estate is not listed on the stockmarket, yet it is one of his busiest positions.

If ever proof was needed that life as a professional director is no longer a leisurely, part-time sinecure, Peter Mansell provides it.