Allen & Overy has announced the appointment of Perth based litigator Mark van Brakel from Corrs Chambers Westgarth. The move means that A&O will now have two disputes partners in Australia - Sydney based John Samaha and Perth based van Brakel. The Perth office did not previously have a disputes specialist “on the ground.”
van Brakel said that he would be seeking both local and cross border disputes work. “My objective is to lever off recent major dispute work I have been running, such as the Fortescue High Court matter and my international arbitration work, and tap into the international reach of A&O,” he said. “Given that over 60 percent of A&O disputes work involves two or more offices, there is likely to be extensive cross border work with the global litigation team. The Sydney A&O litigation practice is at more than full capacity, which is an encouraging sign that the A&O model works and can grow further.”
Allen & Overy’s investment in its disputes practice follows the recent announcement that global disputes firm Quinn Emanuel will be opening an Australia office. “International firms are all interested in getting a piece of the international arbitration action and big ticket work – that’s reflective of the fact that it has been a fertile area for work,” said van Brakel. “Other international firms have come [into the market] and done well on the back of litigation. The objective will be to pick up international work that has a connection with Australia – for example, an Australian project matter that might involve a counter party or contractor based offshore and the arbitration process administered through Hong Kong or Singapore or Europe.”
The subdued economic environment has not yet had any impact on van Brakel’s practice. “In my experience Perth has managed to remain buoyant in litigation both through good times and bad,” he said. “The disputes I’ve been involved with haven’t been connected to the gloomier economic climate; I haven’t seen anything in the last six or 12 months that had hallmarks of being related to a downturn in the economy. That might be the next phase and something to look out for.”
van Brakel also believes that his local experience will be an advantage in the Perth market. “In past roles I have come up against Herbert Smith Freehills quite often; they probably have the greatest depth of numbers in the litigation space,” he said. “However, other than that firms are relatively small in terms of litigation numbers in Perth - we don’t have any really large litigation practices. It’s quite a competitive environment where clients are still making choices by reference to individuals they know or have worked with in the past.”
He added that Perth remains a challenge for new lawyers entering the market in search of work. “Clients often choose litigators based on personal track record with that individual and will follow the individual rather than the firm,” he said. “Verbal recommendation seems to be a large part, although you also see tenders and formal processes too. But still quite a bit occurs based on reputation and word of mouth; recommendations of barristers and commercial lawyers and so on. Around Perth people know who the litigators are in particular areas so that has a bearing on where work gets directed.”