Minter Ellison will open its new financially integrated Perth office on Monday, following a partnership split at the firm previously known as Minter Ellison Perth.

The new Perth practice will not only carry the Minter Ellison name but will also be financially integrated with the East Coast practices, unlike the previous office. “There are some particular attributes of the Perth market, which have meant that we have for some time wanted to have a fully integrated office,” said Andrew Cunningham, acting chief executive partner at Minter Ellison.

Four partners from the previous office have joined Minter Ellison in its new Perth practice, while 14 have joined international law firm Squire Sanders & Dempsey which also officially opens on October 3. Partners Leith Ayres, Ben Cockerill, John Prevost and Andrew Thompson will be joined by 26 lawyers when the Minters office opens. Cunningham said the plan was to grow the office in the near future to 10 partners and 40 lawyers but would not be drawn on how long they envisaged that to take. “I’m loath to put a date on it,” he said. 

While Perth will now be financially integrated, Cunningham said there are no plans to financially integrate the other associated Minter Ellison offices in Darwin, Adelaide and New Zealand (Minter Ellison Rudd Watts), as the model was working well for those locations.

Squire Sanders & Dempsey Perth managing partner John Poulsen said clients had welcomed the decision to form an alliance with a global firm. “Our clients very quickly sized up the benefits to be had by working with an established cost-effective Western Australia firm that now has global reach,” said Poulsen.The partners will remain in the previous office where they were housed under the Minter Ellison name. The new Perth Minter Ellison office is located at 77 St Georges Terrace, Perth.

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