Local lawyers recognised

A SELECT group of Western Australian lawyers has been nominated by their national peers as being among the best in the country.

The nominated lawyers have been included in publishing group Asian Legal Business’s inaugural Legal Who’s Who.

The 24 Perth lawyers who made the final cut were primarily from four practice areas – corporate and commercial, energy and resources, litigation and planning and environment, which incorporated Native Title (see table for full list).

Of the 24 local lawyers, 11 were also winners or runners-up in WA Business News’ inaugural Legal Elite survey, published earlier this year.

Freehills, WA’s largest law firm, accounted for six of the local lawyers in ALB’s Legal Who’s Who.

This was helped by corporate lawyer Justin Mannolini’s recent transfer to Perth after six years with Freehills in Sydney.

Corporate lawyer Leigh Warnick’s move from Mallesons Stephen Jaques to Blake Dawson Waldron resulted in those two firms each having four lawyers on the list.

The Mallesons lawyers included Chris Stevenson, who is currently in transition between Mallesons, which he left at the end of June, and Francis Burt Chambers, which he is due to join next month as a barrister.

Apart from the big three firms, the only other firm to get multiple entries was Hunt & Humphry.

Michael Hunt scored two mentions, for being among the best lawyers in both corporate and commercial and energy and resources, while his partner Chris Humphry was listed among the best planning and environment lawyers.

Asian Legal Business surveyed more than 3,000 partners and in-house counsel to obtain nominations for its listing.

More than 380 practitioners made the final cut, in what ALB described as the first truly independent guide to the country’s top lawyers.