Atanaskovic Hartnell (AH) has opened a London office, managing partner  John Atanaskovic has revealed. The office has been in operation since June, but the firm had opted to maintain a low profile until now. "Our competitors here in London and in Australia are gradually discovering what we are up to in London anyway," Atanaskovic told ALB.

The office is a separate legal entity from the Australian operation and is at present performing high level corporate advisory and M&A work for UK and European companies in direct competition with the UK majors. The London office is mainly advising on UK law. However, it is also advising on cross border matters, especially Australian M&A matters and also Europe-based transactions.

The London office has four lawyers at present and one partner in John Atanaskovic, who intends to split his time evenly between Sydney and London. Atanaskovic will remain managing partner of both operations.

Atanaskovic said that there were no definite plans at present as to the ultimate size of the London office. "The expectation is that we will soon have one or more UK-recruited people as partners; we will see how it goes in terms of continuing client support, but indications so far are very encouraging," he said.