ALUMNI NEWSLETTER SPRING 2012

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SPRING 2012

MERGER UPDATE

Most of you will already know that Freehills and Herbert Smith will be merging on 1 October 2012. With the

merger comes an exciting opportunity to expand our alumni network to a larger, global alumni community to

ensure you benefit from the breadth of the new firm’s diversity, experience and contact base.

Perth based partner named as Australian managing partner for Herbert Smith Freehills

Following the decision of International law firms Herbert Smith and Freehills to merge from October to create a new firm Herbert Smith Freehills the firms announced the head of Freehills’ Perth office, Jason Ricketts, will be the Australian managing partner.

Herbert Smith Freehills will be a combination of Freehills’ leading position in Australasia with Herbert Smith’s strengths in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the UK bringing together two firms with complementary client bases, cultures and practice groups. It will be one of the leading global law firms with 20 offices across the world, 2,800 lawyers, 460 partners and will be the largest fully integrated law firm in the Asia Pacific. The firm will focus on providing an integrated service to clients across its 20 offices. This will be a full equity merger, with a single profit pool from day one.

The new firm will be organised around global practice groups and will be led by joint CEOs David Willis and Gavin Bell, the current Managing Partners of Herbert Smith and Freehills

respectively, with representatives from both firms on its management and governance bodies.

The Senior Management of Herbert Smith Freehills will be made up of the joint CEOs Gavin Bell and David Willis, Global Head of Disputes Sonya Leydecker, joint Global Heads of Corporate Mike Ferraro and Patrick Mitchell, Global Head of Finance, Real Estate and Projects, Patrick St John, Head of the combined Herbert Smith Employment, Incentives and Pensions practice and Freehills’ Employee Relations practice, Graeme Smith, Head of EU Competition, James Quinney, Managing Partner Industries and Clients Mark Rigotti, the four Regional Managing Partners, Managing Partner for Asia, Mark Johnson, Managing Partner for the UK Ian Cox, Managing Partner for EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), Allen Hanen, Managing Partner for Australia, Jason Ricketts, and joint COOs Janet Young and David Robinson.

‘As we have said from the

beginning, our merger with Herbert

Smith is a true merger of equals

and this is reflected in the make-up

of our management team. The

choice of Jason as Australian

managing partner not only reflects

his strong performance and

leadership, but also the importance

of Perth as a growing business hub

for Asia Pacific and its strength in

natural resources.’

GAVIN BELL

‘The management structure

reflects the overriding focus that

the new firm will have on clients

and this can be seen in the

geographical spread of our

global leadership.’

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Herbert Smith and Freehills open New York office

International law firms and merger partners Freehills and Herbert Smith have today officially opened an office in New York. The office will initially operate as Herbert Smith New York until Herbert Smith Freehills officially launches on 1 October, when it will become part of the new merged firm’s international network. Designed to offer global assistance to international clients with US-related contentious issues, the New York office will focus solely on complex cross-border disputes work, specifically focused on international arbitration, anti-corruption and cross-border investigations, litigation supporting investigations and arbitration, and handling the US end of cross-border litigation for network clients.

Freehills’ Chief Executive, Gavin Bell, who will be joint Chief Executive of Herbert Smith Freehills, said the office would open with an exceptionally strong team in place.

‘Opening in New York is a very exciting

development and a key component in

fulfilling Herbert Smith Freehills’ ambition of

offering a genuinely global service to our

international clients.’

‘We are confident the New York office will be

an excellent platform to attract a wide variety

of complex cross-border disputes work and

confirm our standing as a premier global

disputes brand.’

GAVIN BELL

UPCOMING

FUNCTIONS

– A CHANCE

TO RECONNECT

Look out for the invitation coming soon to our first annual alumni cocktail functions. There will be one held in each state so you can choose to attend the one that fits your schedule best. We encourage you to gather a group of your former colleagues together to reconnect and catch up with others in the network.

Perth on Tuesday 23 October 2012 at 6.00pm at the Freehills office.

Sydney on Wednesday 31 October 2012 at 6.00pm at Utzon Room, Opera House.

Melbourne on Thursday 1 November 2012 at 6.00pm at Vue de Monde.

Brisbane on Tuesday 20 November 2012 at 6.00pm at Mr and Mrs G’s.

If you are not currently registered for the program, please register via our website to ensure you receive your invitation.

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As a firm we were saddened recently to farewell Keith Skinner, our former Senior Partner in Melbourne, who passed away on 1 September 2012. Keith left an immense legacy at Freehills and was truly ‘a giant of the firm’. Please see below a tribute to Keith written by Rodd Levy, one of our longstanding partners, which was sent to all our Melbourne staff shortly after Keith’s passing. I am sorry to inform you that Keith Skinner, our former Senior Partner in Melbourne, passed away on Saturday. He was 78 years of age.

For those of you who did not know him, Keith was a giant of the firm. He began his articles in 1955 with Moule, Hamilton & Derham (the firm’s name in Melbourne until 1982) and was a partner for 40 years from 1959. During that time, he was the dominant commercial and corporate figure in the firm in Melbourne. He held the relationships that made the firm; relationships including Coles (where he was a director for 15 years from 1984), Dunlop, Mayne Nickless, ANZ, Santos, HC Sleigh (where he was also a director), CBC of Sydney, Beatrice Foods (where he was chairman), Bowater Scott and many others.

He worked tirelessly for the firm’s clients. He advised them on the most sensitive issues they faced and dedicated himself to ensuring that they received the best service possible. He put their interests ahead of his. He was a trusted adviser to the various CEOs and Chairmen of the clients. He would often refer to them as ‘His Nibs’, leaving many of us wondering to whom he was referring. He set an extremely high standard for others to follow. He was an outstandingly good lawyer, with excellent commercial nous and an ability to remember obscure cases on company law matters. John Rennie, the longstanding company secretary of Pacific Dunlop, said Keith was the best lawyer he had dealt with anywhere in the world.

After his retirement from partnership, he turned his attention to contributing to the writing of the history of the firm, eventually published in 2011. His encyclopaedic knowledge of the firm meant he was uniquely placed to perform this task. He had an amazing ability to recall facts and details and to research events relevant to the history. He was often at the State Library delving into old books to ensure the accuracy of the history book.

I had the privilege of working with Keith from my articles year in 1984. In those days, he wore a hat to the office, the only person I ever knew who did that. All members of staff and many partners called him ‘Mr Skinner’ (a link, I think, to the days when he started, when all partners would have been addressed as Mister). It was, as Priscilla Bryans reminded me recently, a significant milestone in one’s career when he informed you that you could call him ‘Keith’.

He took a personal interest in the lawyers with whom he worked. He was generous with his time and gave opportunities to young lawyers to meet clients and demonstrate their skills. He passed them on as clients. He was a gentleman and a gentle man. In speaking to you, he would often call you ‘my boy’, irrespective of the age of the person.

Freehills is what it is today due to the efforts of Keith and a few others like him. He set the gold standard for partners. His legacy here is immense.

Rodd Levy

KEITH SKINNER

former Senior Partner

FAREWELL

TO KEITH

SKINNER –

A

TRIBUTE

FROM

RODD LEVY

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MOVERS &

SHAKERS

The following Alumni have recently moved into exciting new positions:

David Craig has become Non-Executive Chairman of Forge Group,

Louise Capon has joined Origin as Senior Legal counsel.

If you would like to share your recent appointment in our next newsletter, please email [email protected]

At Freehills:

Partner Simon Reed has been named in the 40under40, which each year celebrates Western Australia’s ( WA) top young business people. These awards recognise outstanding, innovative young business people who have contributed to the betterment of WA.

Partner Bronwyn Lincoln, has been re-elected to the board of ArbitralWomen and appointed vice president. ArbitralWomen is an international non-government organisation gathering women practitioners that are active in international dispute resolution around the globe.

Gavin Bell was named Managing Partner of the Year at the 2012 Lawyers Weekly Awards, in recognition of his achievements securing the firm’s merger with Herbert Smith, as well as our ongoing people focused initiatives including Diversity at Freehills and Resilience@law. Rebecca Maslen-Stannage was named Deal Maker of the Year 2012 at the Lawyers Weekly Awards 2012, for her work advising on the Centro restructure, as well as a number of other high profile ECM and M&A deals this year.

Rob Bileckij

Corporate, Sydney

Jinny Chaimungkalanont

Banking & Projects, Sydney

Raji Azzam Corporate, Melbourne Andrew Blacoe Corporate, Sydney

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR

NEW PARTNERS

The following new partners took up their new roles on July 1, bringing the total number of partners in the firm to 196.

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Belinda Fan

Corporate, Melbourne William OxbyBanking & Projects, Sydney

Liz Poulos

Litigation, Brisbane Corporate, SydneyCarolyn Pugsley

Kirsty Faichen

Employee Relations, Brisbane

Gerard Pike

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DAYS & MOMENTS –

FREEHILLS FOUNDATION

AND CAREERTRACKERS

We have recently been recognised for a new training and employment program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The firm was presented with the Trailblazer award at the 2nd Annual

CareerTrackers Gala Dinner in recognition of this program, that provides pathways for Indigenous students to become more competitive in the clerkship and graduate recruitment process. Two of our people, Anna Lyons and Emmanuel Bell, were also acknowledged for their exceptional commitment to supporting Indigenous communities. This is a truly great achievement and the program has been described, by the CEO at CareerTrackers, as the first time a law firm has made such a commitment to providing a long term employment strategy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This award was covered in Lawyers Weekly1_.

Endnotes

1. Lawyers Weekly article, Freehills offers indigenous students head start.

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ANNA LYONS AND EMMANUEL BELL

EMMANUEL BELL AND HELEN CLUFF

KIMBERLEE BASHFORTH & JANE SANDERS

STAY

IN TOUCH

We are on the look-out for news

and stories about what our alumni

have been up to over the last year.

If you would be happy to share your

story, or there are topics you would

like us to cover in our next

newsletter, please let us know by

emailing [email protected]

or give us a call – we would be

delighted to hear from you.

If you’ve changed jobs recently,

please send us your up-to-date

details. The Alumni program is

open to all former staff.

MORE INFORMATION

For more information about the Freehills Alumni program, contact Carol Riley, Alumni Coordinator. [email protected]

This article provides a summary only of the subject matter covered, without the assumption of a duty of care by Herbert Smith Freehills. The summary is not intended to be nor should it be relied upon as a substitute for legal or other professional advice. Copyright in this article is owned by Herbert Smith Freehills or Freehills Patent & Trade Mark Attorneys. For permission to reproduce articles, please contact Freehills’ Public Affairs

Consultant, Megan Williams at [email protected] on +61 3 9288 1132.

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