It has only been three short weeks since the official Norton Rose and Deacons Australia merger but the firm has already announced a boost to its dispute resolution practice in Singapore. Peter Cash, head of commercial dispute resolution, will be transferred from the Melbourne office in May to develop the practice in Singapore and his experience with large-scale disputes should attract some large clients in the region.
Singapore’s reputation as a location for dispute resolution, particularly international arbitration, has attracted the interests of law firms keen to capture a piece of this growing market and Norton Rose is no exception. “The Asian region is a major strategic growth area for our dispute resolution practice,” said David Stannard, head of Asia. “We intend to grow our offering to clients by promoting internal candidates, making lateral hires and re-locating our partners wherever in the world the business opportunities lie.”
Strategically, Cash’s transfer enhances Norton Rose’s on-the-ground presence in Singapore. “In order to take advantage of those opportunities what is needed is the capability to be able to deliver the services that the clients need and at the same time have the capacity to look for opportunities and be in a position to resource them as they arise,” said Cash. “In order to do that you need to have that capability and by me going there we can add that capacity in a fairly quick and relatively easy way.” He intends to concentrate on high-end disputes on behalf of major financial institutions as well as corporates in the life sciences sectors.
Cash is also keen to make the move to develop his experience in international commercial arbitration work and to extend relationships with clients in the region. “Most of the clients I have worked for in the past decade, such as GlaxoSmithKline, have offices throughout Asia and many of them have regional offices in Singapore,” said Cash. “There are opportunities to be able to expand client relationships to an above-country level, both for the benefit of the Singapore practice and the global practice as a whole.”
The transfer of a well-established partner like Cash from Australia to Singapore should highlight to competing firms both in Australia and Asia the global network, and perhaps more importantly the access to a large pool of experienced and relatively cheap lawyers in Australia, which has been opened up as a result of the Deacons-Norton Rose merger.
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