Perth's busy planning sector has caught the attention of the east coast legal fraternity and firms keen to capitalise on growth opportunities outside of the mining sector.
Perth's busy planning sector has caught the attention of the east coast legal fraternity and firms keen to capitalise on growth opportunities outside of the mining sector.
At least two boutique planning law firms in Perth have been approached regarding a merger or partnership with a larger national outfit.
It’s understood highly respected planning and environment specialist Flint Moharich has attracted two suitors.
And national firm HopgoodGanim plans to expand its Perth planning team after recruiting former City of Wanneroo in-house lawyer Karen Browne to the role of special counsel in March.
The appointment came less than two years after Queensland-based HopgoodGanim merged with Perth firm Q Legal to gain exposure to Western Australia’s resources-led economic growth.
HopgoodGanim this week revealed it planned to expand its Perth planning team, but said any growth would be measured and in line with the growth in work.
The group said these expansion plans were more likely to be achieved through the recruitment of individual personnel rather than the acquisition of an entire business, but that the outlook for work in Perth was strong.
“The planning team are generally very optimistic about the future and there are some good signs that the next year will bring some exciting public and private projects for us to work on,” a HopgoodGanim spokesperson said.
The slowdown in work from the mining and resources sector is one of several factors driving interest in legal work in Perth’s property and planning sector
A number of the bigger firms without an office in WA fly-in legal personnel to deal with issues in this jurisdiction, or they refer it to smaller, specialist firms such as Flint Moharich.
Many of the large national firms have developed very strong environment teams, but that same depth of experience is not necessarily duplicated in planning.
The acquisition of a Perth operation would allow these larger legal outfits to grow their client base in the state as well as collect fees on any work they have been outsourcing.
HopgoodGanim’s Karen Browne said the robust outlook for land development in Perth and the regions was driving a lot of planning activity in WA.
She said there was also a lot of government work in the pipeline, particularly regarding road development.
