The downturn scuppered the last attempt.. but this morning in an article entitled…Managing partners series: Robert Milliner, Mallesons – tomorrow, the world… Legal Business Online reports that
Mallesons Chief executive partner Robert Milliner doesn’t seem to be averse to trying again…
Here’s the introduction to the article published yesterday….
Is one of the legal industry’s biggest names about to get even bigger? Chief executive partner Robert Milliner gives an insight into the road ahead for Mallesons Stephen Jaques
Mallesons chief names Bhutan in three-year forward strategy". It would make a great headline – despite being nothing to do with the firm. Robert Milliner is a trekking enthusiast and already has his trips planned for the next three years – including a journey to the tiny Kingdom of Bhutan. But meanwhile, another kind of forward strategy is keeping him occupied. Recently reappointed as chief executive partner for a new tenure extending through to 2011, he’s been charged with the task of protecting Mallesons’ position as one of the genuine heavyweights of the Asia-Pacific legal scene. But the firm also has ambitions beyond merely consolidating its achievements to date.
Clifford Chance
Last year Mallesons revisited the idea of a merger with Magic Circle firm Clifford Chance, but talks were thwarted by the deepening economic downturn. Milliner does not rule out the possibility of reviving the idea. "We have a view that there are certain trends driving the legal profession – globalisation of business, the war for talent, the kind of career opportunities that talented people are seeking, further market segmentation – and in light of this, the preferred option for the firm is more likely than not to be part of a global one. I doubt we’re alone in that view," he adds. The global economic downturn has, of course, put a new complexion on these developments, but Milliner says that when positive times return, "the planets may align" once again in favour of a merger. But there is no guarantee that the partner firm will be Clifford Chance – there is no exclusive understanding between them.
Read full article at
http://au.legalbusinessonline.com/news/features/managing-partners-series-robert-milliner-mallesons-tomorrow-the-world/34906
