SETTING up a new law firm has clearly done nothing to dent the professional standing of Lee Christensen, who has been ranked the State’s top insolvency lawyer for the second year running.
His firm, Christensen Vaughan, has three lawyers who featured in last year’s WA Business News Legal Elite.
Mr Christensen’s new partner, John Vaughan, was a runner-up in the insolvency category, and his new recruits include Anthony Connor, formerly of Ilberrys, who was a runner-up in the banking and finance category.
The new firm marks a reunion for Mr Christensen and Mr Vaughan, who worked together at Phillips Fox in the mid 1990s.
Mr Christensen spent the intervening years at Tottle Christensen (now trading as Tottle Partners) while Mr Vaughan was at Deacons.
Christensen Vaughan is part of the Kennedy Strang Legal Group, a federation of five independent law firms specialising in banking, commercial litigation and insolvency.
Federations have become unfashionable in the legal profession, with most of the national groups moving towards full integration over the past decade.
Deacons was the latest national group to integrate, with the Perth office financially integrating in July 2001.
Mr Christensen is happy to defy the trend, confident that Kennedy Strang offers a good mix.
“We have the best of both worlds, with the national coverage and the local management control,” he said.
Christensen Vaughan presently has eight lawyers and is planning to take on extra staff, partly to support work opportunities flowing from the firm’s national connections.
Mr Christensen said his own work has not changed as a result of setting up a new firm, with many of his old clients following him down the terrace.
