Stepping up to the plate

The loss of a high-profile founding partner can be a challenging time for any business, but the retirement last June of Rick Crabb seems to have done nothing to dent the reputation of West Perth law firm Blakiston & Crabb.

Blakiston & Crabb is widely regarded as Perth’s premier boutique corporate and mining law firm, with a depth of experience unmatched by other smaller firms.

The firm is led by Michael Blakiston, who says there was a smooth transition during Mr Crabb’s planned departure.

“The biggest change has really been the focus that has come upon me to provide the commercial advice,” he said.

Mr Blakiston said he and Mr Crabb had acquired broad commercial experience from their legal practice and their roles as company directors.

“When Rick left, part of that went. The challenge for any practice in the commercial area is that those skills are driven by experience.”

Younger partners stepping into Mr Crabb’s shoes include Marcello Cardaci and Claire Boyd.

The firm also draws on the experience of senior partner, Tony Burton.

He maintains a very low public profile yet his clients include two multinational companies that are among the top five gold producers in Australia.

Blakiston & Crabb, which has 21 solicitors, is best known for its work on share market floats and capital raisings for junior mining companies, but Mr Blakiston said its work extended much wider.

“You can’t maintain a practice of our size just doing IPOs, it’s just not possible,” he said.

Mr Blakiston said the IPO market had slowed down in recent months yet the firm was still very busy.

“We’ve been kept as busy as we’ve ever been based on transactional work.”

A notable recent initiative was the separation of the investment banking arm Chatsworth Stirling, to avoid the possibility of conflicts of interest.

Chatsworth Stirling, run by John Kenny, now operates from its own premises and Mr Blakiston said he expected all Blakiston & Crabb staff to sell their equity in the investment banking firm.

On the positive side, Mr Blakiston said two significant initiatives in recent years had been the development of dispute resolution practice, headed by Mark Gerus, and a corporate governance practice areas, headed by Dalveen Belyea.

Ms Belyea is one of five solicitors at Blakiston & Crabb who work flexible or part-time hours, which Mr Blakiston believes is relatively unusual in the Perth legal profession.

He said about 65 Perth companies were currently using the firm’s corporate governance manual.

“It has enabled smaller companies to embrace corporate governance without being swamped by its apparent complexity.”

The firm’s latest move is to market its corporate governance manual to include the not-for-profit sector, and Mr Blakiston said the initial response had been very positive.

“To survive as a larger not for profit, you need to run it like a company,” he said.