Growth of Australian market changes Norton Rose plans

The continued growth of the Australian economy has forced Norton Rose to reconsider its original intentions in the region. The firm has announced that leading oil and gas lawyer in the Asia Pacific region, Alex Cull, will be relocating from Singapore to Norton Rose Australia as a partner to be based in Perth. When Norton Rose first arrived in Australia, it was expected that the opposite would occur and that there would be more Australian lawyers heading to Asia, not the other way around.

“Our plans are to grow and we have already moved some of our people into Asia,” Norton Rose group deputy chief executive Don Boyd told ALB last year. In fact one of the key business objectives for Norton Rose entering the Australia market was that it would have access to high quality staff who could be more easily transferred to growing Asia markets such as Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing. “To just set up in Australia to tap into the Australian market doesn’t really make a business case…The business case revolves around resourcing Asia with Australians,” Boyd said.

Cull has advised on a large number of natural gas pipeline and LNG projects throughout Asia Pacific and has worked in the region for over 12 years having been based in Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia. “Australia is one of only a handful of global hot spots being targeted for inward investment, especially from energy hungry North Asia clients,” he said. “In addition to the conventional offshore projects, and booming coal seam gas, we are seeing shale and underground coal gasification projects emerge. Australia is also a pioneer in projects involving floating liquefied natural gas.”

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