ADELAIDE corporate law firm, Johnson Winter & Slattery, has continued its national expansion, recruiting two senior Freehills partners to establish a Perth office.
Mick Dulaney and Peter Smith plan to open JWS’s Perth office in late February after finishing up at Freehills.
JWS managing partner Peter Slattery said the firms’s Perth office would focus on the corporate and resources sector and was keen to expand.
“We expect to have four to five partners in Perth over the next two to three years,” he said.
JWS has expanded rapidly from its Adelaide base during the past four years, opening offices in Sydney in 2004 and Melbourne in 2005.
It has 35 partners nationally, with about 20 in Sydney.
Freehills head of office John Atkins said the loss of two partners in Perth was not expected to have a material effect on the firm.
“We’ve got a very strong energy and resources practice led by Stuart Barrymore and Reb Merrick,” Mr Atkins said.
He said Freehills’ energy and resource practice, with 30 people in Perth, was the city’s largest.
Mr Dulaney specialises in energy and related regulatory matters, while Mr Smith practices as a corporate lawyer in mining and energy.
