Ben Luscombe

A flurry of high level moves in the Perth legal market leaves the profession asking what the future holds.

THE hive of recent activity in the Western Australian legal market has been added to by the arrival of Norton Rose and Allen & Overy.

THERE is no doubt that, when it comes to global players seeking a position in Perth, the lawyers have grabbed the headlines.Some of the people to have leapt from major national firms are among the state’s best-known corporate lawyers, especially in the resources sector.

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.

Most of the big law firms in Perth have shrunk in size over the past year, with Ashurst experiencing the biggest drop in staff, while only a couple of smaller firms have achieved significant growth, research by Business News has found.

Three leading professionals have joined forces to take control of the Peppermint Grove branch of the Liberal Party, which is influential in the preselection process for Colin Barnett’s state seat of Cottesloe.