U.S.-based Seyfarth Shaw has announced plans to launch a specialist workplace relations practice in Australia.  Seyfarth will operate from Melbourne and Sydney and has recruited eight local partners: Darren Perry, Chris Gardner, Justine Turnbull, Ben Dudley and Luke Edwards from Herbert Smith Freehills; Rachel Bernasconi and Michael Tamvakologos from Ashurst and Henry Skene from Arnold Bloch Leibler.

It is understood that the official launch date of the practice is on hold while the firm’s new recruits negotiate exit conditions from their current firms. “Our partners have obligations to existing firms -  they’ll fulfil those and we’ll start up once we’ve got ourselves in a position to be able to do that. Obviously we’re hoping to do that as soon as we can,” said Darren Gardner, chair of the firm’s international practice. He declined to give a tentative start date. ‘We’ll be ready to go when they are,” he said.

Seyfarth Shaw has a full service offering in the U.S., but has a strong heritage as a workplace  relations focussed firm. Fifty percent of the firm’s revenues are currently derived from this practice area.
“We also have a very deep litigation practice because employment law in the U.S. tends to be more litigation than advisory,” said Gardner.  “So we’ve got a strong heritage in that space, an exceptionally large and well versed practice acting for two thirds of the Fortune 500.”

He said that the firm would focus on the “full spectrum” of workplace related matters in Australia and that there were no plans to expand beyond workplace relations in this market. The firm has a single profit pool and the eight new Australian partners will be granted equity upon commencement.