Minter recruits HR practice
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Minter Ellison is set to expand its service offering in Western Australia after recruiting the human resources and industrial relations practice from a competing law firm.
Allion Legal principals Kathy Reid and Craig Boyle have agreed to join Minter as partners to head up the new HR&IR practice.
Mr Boyle commences at Minter next week and Ms Reid will start before the end of the financial year.
They will bring with them a team of six lawyers.
This move will substantially bolster the size of Minter’s WA office, which currently has 11 partners and 48 legal professionals, according to the BNiQ search engine.
That makes Minter the 11th largest law firm in WA, ahead of Squire Patton Boggs and Jarman McKenna.
Perth-based Allion Legal is currently ranked 21st on the BNiQ list with five partners and 33 legal professionals.
The head of Minter's national HR&IR business unit Jim Fox said the firm already has a top-tier HR&IR offering in other states.
“With Kathy and Craig and their team joining us, we will now be able to offer that to clients in Western Australia too,” he said.
Ms Reid said Minter's national HR&IR team would provide valuable resourcing, knowledge management and business development support, enhancing the local practice.
"Our clients increasingly have complex work they need done, often quite urgently and involving other locations in Australia and Asia, not just Western Australia," she said.
"By the same token, we have a number of significant WA-based clients who want genuine depth of knowledge of the local market and the resources to deal with their employment and safety challenges here.
"The opportunity to join the Minter Ellison team enables us to meet both of these needs and continue the prompt and pragmatic service for which we are known.”
Ms Reid advises across a range of employment law issues and industry sectors, including energy and resources, infrastructure and construction, media, government authorities and health care.
Mr Boyle is a workplace relations and safety specialist and works with clients in the construction, engineering, agriculture, transport and logistics, mining and mining services sectors.
A significant aspect of his practice is industrial relations advice, dispute resolution and enterprise bargaining.
Minter's WA managing partner, Adam Handley, said the addition of a strong workplace relations and safety team rounded out the firm’s government and corporate practice.
"Their appointment continues our already strong growth in Western Australia, where we are seeing double digit year-on-year growth across our Perth practice," he said.