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Clifford Chance still seeking law firm takeover in bid to establish Australian foothold
BRITISH law firm Clifford Chance remains on the hunt for a platform to expand in Australia, fanning speculation of an acquisition.
Tie-up talks with national group Mallesons Stephen Jaques were cut short by the economic crisis in 2008, but it is understood the pair restarted serious talks earlier this year. Those discussions have since cooled again, as wrangling on pay parity and the size of the partnership continued to be key stumbling blocks.
Mallesons chief executive partner Robert Milliner said his firm had been in talks with Clifford Chance before the global financial crisis “but market dynamics at the time hampered the chances of a union”.
“We maintain an ongoing dialogue with a range of firms on both sides of the Atlantic and regionally,” Mr Milliner said.
However, Clifford Chance has continued to seek an opportunity in Australia and is said to have tossed around the notion of buying out smaller firms on either side of the country to roll-up into one entity under a single brand.
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It is said to have approached Sydney boutique commercial practice Chang Pistilli & Simmons as well as Perth-based Cochrane Lishman Carson Luscombe (which was set up four years ago by two former partners from Mallesons).
The soundings by Clifford Chance follow the high-profile poaching of 14 Clayton Utz partners by rival Allen & Overy earlier this year.
This allowed the British giant to set up a sizeable operation in Australia that is represented by partners on the east and west coasts.
Legal insiders note that while Clifford Chance may want to duplicate a similar defection from a top-tier firm, it may face challenges overcoming some of the restrictive covenants placed on partners at the major practices.
Clayton Utz is understood to have had comparably looser agreements with its partners that only stretched for about three months, an arrangement that has since been changed.
The attraction of a practice such as Cochrane Lishman — which has seven partners — is the foothold it would provide in Western Australia.
Name partner Michael Lishman said his firm had received many approaches from other firms and did not comment on specific proposals.
However he said he believed the resources boom made it inevitable that Perth would become a far more important centre for legal services.
“The thing that is driving interest in Perth is that this looks like becoming a global centre for oil and gas for a lot of major companies — and more of BHP will probably come over here,” he said. “Having had 20 years of being regarded as a large country town, all of a sudden we are on the radar.”
