18 minute read
Practice Group Insights
By Kayla Lehmann, Lawyer
Allens has one of the largest Banking and Finance (B&F) teams in Perth, with two partners and about 15 team members. Nationally, the practice group has 20 partners and about 100 lawyers.
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The Perth team works on a diverse range of matters, including: • project financing (especially in relation to construction and energy and resources projects); • corporate financing; • leveraged financing; • acquisition financing; and • debt capital markets.
We advise borrowers and lenders in domestic and international cross-board transactions. It is quite common for the matters we work on to span multiple jurisdictions. For example, we will often work both with onshore and offshore banks and borrowers (based out of many different countries) or take security over assets based in other countries. This means we often work closely with lawyers based in many jurisdictions.
As a lot of the work we do interacts with other areas, we will also work with other Allens teams. For example, we regularly work alongside the Corporate team on corporate or acquisition financing (i.e. financing for acquiring another company), and with the Projects teams on project and construction financings. Companies may go through insolvency or administration processes, and in these instances we assist the restructuring and insolvency teams by tying up the companies’ financing and assisting them through any liquidity concerns.
The flexibility of working from home throughout the pandemic has also resulted in increased collaboration on matters between Perth and our offices in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, with Perth lawyers increasingly assisting with diverse Eastern states-based matters (such as funds and derivatives work).
We have experience acing on both the borrower and lender side of transactions. On the lender side, we are on the panel for each of the major Australian banks and also act for many of the international and investment banks and many non-bank lenders. On the borrower side, we work with a range of clients including in the construction, government, shipping, healthcare, property and resources sectors. While we are primarily focused on the ‘finance’ elements of working with these clients, to fund a company or a project you need an understanding of the operational side of the business - so by working in B&F you get a great insight into a range of different companies and projects.
Some exciting transactions we have assisted with recently include: • acting for the lenders to Northern Star
Resources on the debt financing to purchase a 50% interest in the Kalgoorlie Super Pit; • acting for Wesfarmers on the refinancing of its $1.25billion syndicated facility by entering into bilateral revolving cash advance facilities and bespoke credit facilities with a number of relationship banks. We also recently acted for Wesfarmers again on converting a separate debt facility into a $400 million sustainability-link loan agreement with Commonwealth Bank of
Australia. This loan was one of the first of its kind in Australia and was linked to internal environmental and social governance targets; and • acting for a syndicate of banks on the initial
US$1.2 billion syndicated project finance facility in relation to the Karara Iron Ore
Project, the subsequent upsizing of the facility to US$1.8 billion and the complete refinancing of the syndicated financing.
As a junior in B&F, you will work closely in small teams (typically a partner, one senior associate/ associate and one junior, with additional team members depending on the size and complexity of the matter). Juniors will often have a first go at the majority of the documents (especially security documents and conditions precedent documents), which will then be settled by someone more senior. The junior on the matter will generally be in charge of acting as a quasi ‘project manager’, keeping track of where the matter is at and ensuring that things are progressing.
The variety of transactions worked on in B&F means you will generally work across a number of matters at once, rather than one large matter at a time. This means you get great exposure to a variety of different types of matters and get to work with a lot of different people, which is a terrific way of gaining experience as a junior. There is also a lot of scope for client interaction and matter responsibility at a junior level.
RESTRUCTURING AND INSOLVENCY TEAM | King & Wood Mallesons
By Patrick MacKenzie, Solicitor
At KWM the Restructuring and Insolvency team sits across a variety of practice groups, such as Dispute Resolution, Leveraged Finance and M&A, ensuring we have the necessary expertise to deal with all aspects of commercial insolvency and distressed assets. Nationally, the R&I team is led by Tim Klineberg out of Sydney. Sam Dundas is the R&I Partner in Perth, where we are also part of the Dispute Resolution practice group.
One of the most enjoyable aspects of R&I work is that it straddles the usual “front end”/“back end” differentiation between types of practice. We are involved in providing strategic advice to a number of stakeholders in relation to external administrations: • distressed companies and their directors; • insolvency practitioners in relation to their obligations under the Corporations Act and assisting in the sale/recapitalisation process; • creditors of companies who are close to entering or do enter external administration; and • secured creditors and financiers of companies of distressed companies.
There is also significant potential for curial oversight and involvement in external administrations and schemes of arrangement. There is also a high risk of matters turning litigious. This means that R&I lawyers must have a broad skill set to be able to deal with the twists and turns of what are often very fastmoving matters. R&I is also a very technical area of law requiring numerous requirements in the Corporations Act to be aware of at all times.
In my time at KWM, I have experienced a wide variety of work in the R&I space including: • advising the administrators of a dual ASX/
SGX listed lithium miner in relation to an
AU$70m recapitalisation process involving foreign buyers and history making court applications; • advising the administrators of an ASX listed zinc/gold mine in Queensland, including securing additional finance from US based lenders; • advising multiple trade creditors (including global banks and major aerospace companies) in relation to the administration of an Australian airline; • advising the administrators of a major mining services company and the subsequent sale process; • advising a European based football club as a creditor of a collapsed Australian company; • advising companies relation to the rights in relation to public examinations by a liquidator; • acting for major unsecured creditors of a major resources company that entered into liquidation and bringing claims against the directors; and • many more matters related to insolvent companies.
As a junior in these types of matters you can expect to be involved in detailed legal research, reviewing contracts, drafting legal advice, finance documents, terms sheets, sale agreements, correspondence with creditors, regulators and ASX announcements, as well as being involved in negotiations, court hearings and creditors’ meetings.
Being involved in this type of work has allowed me to work across different offices through the KWM network in Australia and abroad, as well as for a variety of clients throughout Australia, Europe and the United States.
The contentious court aspects of R&I work also mean that I have had a number of opportunities to work closely with counsel from around Australia and work in different jurisdictions (and also appear on occasion).
I highly recommend R&I as a practice group for people who are interested in a diverse, fast-paced and technical area of law with international aspects.
By Eloise Foskett, Associate, Technology, Media and Telecommunications
Before reading on, you should know one thing: I am by no stretch of the imagination a technology guru. I’m a bog-standard, Instagram posting, Reddit scrolling, Facebook messaging, Generation Y. Before starting in the Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) group, my experience of all things tech was purely on the front end: I didn’t care how the app worked, just dial me up a good internet connection and ready... steady... SCROLL!
When I started at Corrs I had pegged myself as a litigator. I wanted to do large scale construction disputes, and stay well away from any kind of transaction-based practice groups. My first foray into technology law was, in fact, a dispute which centred around the incorporation of biometric technology, in particular finger printing, on payment cards.
After my involvement in this dispute, two things became clear: (1) I no longer wanted to do large scale construction disputes; and (2) I wanted to pursue a practice area focusing on technology. The area was relevant and interesting, but in light of the caveat given in the first paragraph of this article, it was going to involve a very steep learning curve. For the first year or so of working in the team, Google was my best friend: What is an API? What is the difference between SaaS and PaaS? Who owns data? WHY AM I DOING THIS?! While there is still a bit of googling going on, I can safely say that it is much less regular.
Corrs’ TMT team is a cross-disciplinary team supporting the converging technology, media and telecommunications industries. Much of the work in which I am involved focuses on data (particularly the relationship between intellectual property and data), data governance, cyber resilience, privacy, and software development and implementation.
In 2018, following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, personal data became a “hot topic”. This was followed by a slew of high-profile data breaches, which attracted significant fines, at companies like British Airways and Marriot International. Since that time, companies are recognising the value of the data they hold, and are taking active steps to protect that data. Our team works with clients across Australia, advising on data privacy, governance, as well as assisting clients with legal questions arising from data breaches. Because the nature of data is such that it is generally located in the “cloud”, on servers across the world, the team often has the opportunity to work with international partner firms in the US, Singapore, and a number of countries in Europe.
An important part of our practice is advising on a variety of commercial transactions. We assist clients with negotiation of contracts with software vendors and implementers, often as a part of organisation-wide digital transformation. A key part of this process is ensuring that our clients’ contracts appropriately deal with customer data and valuable intellectual property. We also work closely with our corporate team to advise clients on the intellectual property and technology issues involved in mergers and acquisitions.
The most exciting thing about the practice area is that it is constantly evolving. It involves a lot of “novel thinking” arising out of issues associated with technological advancement. Yes, this means that I won’t stop googling any time soon, but it also avoids any kind of plateau in learning and development.
So, if after reading this you’re thinking that TMT might be a practice area for you, don’t be intimidated by the learning curve: stop scrolling, and start reading!
Norton Rose Fulbright is a leading construction practice in Australia with lawyers that act across all phases of development for a range of project owners, institutional investors, project sponsors, developers, occupiers, contractors and sub-contractors, financiers, consultants and suppliers on both contentious and non-contentious projects. With 13 partners nationally, the Construction and Engineering Practice at Norton Rose Fulbright is one of the largest in Australia.
Construction
The Construction team at Norton Rose Fulbright operates on a ‘shared-resource’ (as opposed to siloed) basis. As such, there is significant scope for lawyers in the Construction team to engage in matters outside of their local office. This also means that staff can be exposed to both front-end (ie. development, investment and construction phases, and accompanying negotiations) and back-end (ie. litigation and disputes) phases of the construction practice.
Some of the work that a lawyer in the broader national construction team can expect to work on includes advising principals and developers on:
• wind and solar farm development projects; • infrastructure projects and development; and • general procurement advice in the mining industry.
Norton Rose acts for some of the largest companies and Government bodies in Western Australia with their construction projects, including: WA State Government, Western Power, Horizon Power, Synergy, BHP, South32 and Fortescue Future Industries.
Disputes (back-end construction litigation)
The Perth office has a market leading construction disputes practice lead by partner Penelope Ford, who is named in the 2020 inaugural Lawdragon Global Litigation 500 guide as one of the leading litigation lawyers in the world. Penelope specialises in international arbitration & disputes, especially construction disputes.
Penelope’s team has significant experience in complex matters before superior courts and tribunals across several jurisdictions, advising both principals and contractors in relation to the resolution of construction disputes (including in respect of structured negotiation, mediation, adjudication, contested superior court litigation and international arbitration). Some of the matters that lawyers in Penelope’s team can expect to work on include:
• rapid adjudications for large ASX listed companies; • multijurisdictional international construction arbitrations; and • high-profile litigation matters for international and local clients.
Projects
The Norton Rose Fulbright Projects practice is broad with a multi-sector focus. The Perth practice specialises in projects in the mining and resources and energy sectors. The energy work includes traditional oil and gas projects as well as renewables (wind, solar and wave energy) and green hydrogen investments. The team is led by Paul Lingard (head of the Norton Rose Fulbright’s energy practice) and Miriam D’Souza (recognised in Best Lawyers (Australia) in Government Practice). Some of the work that a lawyer in the Perth office can expect to work on includes advising:
• large international mining corporations on procurement matters; • large multinational corporations on strategic project development; and • local government entities project development and procurement matters.
Some recent matters that the team has worked on includes advising:
• on the development of the world’s largest renewable energy plant; and • an Australian oil company on the negotiation of a production sharing contract in relation to the Greater Sunrise Special Regime established under the Treaty between
Australia and the Democratic Republic of
Timor-Leste establishing their Maritime
Boundaries in the Timor Sea.
CORPORATE | Herbert Smith Freehills
By Sam Scaife, Lawyer
The Workplace Relations, Employment and Safety (WRES) team at Clayton Utz works with clients across every aspect of the employment relationship, and across the full spectrum of employment law, including workplace relations, industrial relations, work health and safety, executive remuneration, and discrimination and diversity.
As well as providing what we call front-end (non-contentious) advice - drafting employment contracts, reviewing workplace policies and procedures, and providing education and training on minimising workplace health and safety risks, for example - we also assist clients in managing and resolving workplace disputes, in enterprise bargaining negotiations and in unfair dismissal cases. This aspect of the practice means we regularly appear before a range of courts and tribunals, from the Fair Work Commission to the Industrial Relations Commission and the Federal Court. As well as standard employment-related disputes, the WRES team has acted for a number of government agencies and statutory authorities at local, state and federal level. These include Fair Work Building & Construction, Fair Work Ombudsman, Western Power, Water Corporation, ATO and ASIC.
Occupational health and safety (OHS) is always a critical concern for clients, and the team’s work in this area includes advice at board level on risk and compliance, investigations into workplace fatalities, and defending OHS prosecutions. We also help clients develop and implement Fitness for Work policies (including drug and alcohol policies) in their workplaces.
The WRES team is fast growing and has built a reputation as a go-to practice for any employment law related advice.
Anecdote 1 - Mathilda Stoneman - Lawyer
“Working in the WRES team provides you with a great balance of both front-end and back-end work which is a great way to gain considerable experience across a range of industries.”
By Mary-Rose Bright, Solicitor, Corporate
Corporate is one of the most exciting, varied, strategic and client-facing practice groups law firms offer and is a popular practice group for law graduates. If you have watched ‘Suits’ you will have a sense of what being a Corporate lawyer involves...well sort of. The key elements are there - the work is challenging, complex, fast-paced, client-driven and extremely rewarding.
The clients we work for, and matters we work on, are often featured in the Australian Financial Review or in the news. The Perth Corporate team at Herbert Smith Freehills is split into Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) and Energy and Resources (E&R). We assist clients with a wide range of transactions including acquisitions and divestments, joint ventures, initial public offerings (IPOs), capital market transactions, takeovers and schemes of arrangement. We also provide advice to our clients on issues which may arise during the course of these transactions. The industries we operate in are varied and to name a few include mining, energy, power and technology.
As a junior lawyer in the Corporate team, you can expect to work on all stages of a transaction including structuring advice, legal due diligence, drafting transaction documents, meeting with your client and the other side, negotiating transaction documents and completion of the transaction. It is extremely rewarding to see a deal through from start to finish and no day at work is the same.
One of the most stimulating aspects of Corporate work is that every transaction is different. Every client will have different commercial drivers, which will impact the way in which the matter progresses and every asset will present different challenges. Understanding the features of each transaction is key, as it allows us to provide the most effective advice and assistance to our clients so that they can achieve their commercial objectives. As the nature of the work is client-driven, there are times where we work with tight deadlines. This is all part of the fun – the team pulls together, the adrenaline kicks in and the work is exciting.
Practical Legal Training
Practical Legal Training is the next step you will take after completing your law degree in order to be admitted as a lawyer. In this section, we feature profiles from the main practical legal training providers operating in Western Australia.
The College of Law
The College of Law Ground Floor, Durack Centre 263 Adelaide Terrace Perth WA 6000
collaw.edu.au
(08) 9214 0200 waadmin@collaw.edu.au
How does your course differ from other PLT courses?
We are the leading provider of PLT in Australia, and in tune with your profession. The College of Law offers the largest range of flexible Practical Legal Training programs, all purpose-driven to put your hard-earned degree seamlessly into practice.
• Legal technology, innovation and business
skills: improve your understanding of current and emerging technologies and equip yourself with the business skills you need. • Local: Learn Western
Australian-specific content from local WA practitioners. • Established: Established in
Western Australia in 2006, your Perth campus has trained 2,300 lawyers. • Start anytime: With courses starting in 10 months of the year, you don’t have to wait to start your PLT. • Flexible: 15-week full-time or 30-week part-time study options. • Locations: Study on campus at the University of
Western Australia, Murdoch
University or at our Perth
CBD campus • Career support: One-onone appointments with an experienced career adviser. • Work experience: 25 days or 75 days work experience options – or online alternative. • Learn by doing: Work through practical, relevant files that simulate what it’s like to practise as a lawyer.
How is the course structured?
1. Coursework: Complete five compulsory subjects and two electives. PLT subjects don’t have formal written exams. Instead, there’s a mix of multiple choice, oral assessments and other evaluations, each designed to effectively mirror real work as a real lawyer.
2. Work Experience: Designed to give you an insight into what it’s like to work in a real legal environment, this is your first opportunity to apply your skills to real-life problems. Choose from two formats: • 25 days of approved work experience + additional 5-week online program • 75 days of approved work experience • During the COVID-19 pandemic, we are offering an online alternative to work experience. The In
Practice Component is an 8-week online program which can be undertaken instead of work experience
3. Continuing Professional
Education: Complete 10 hours of CPE on the new skills recruiters are looking for in a modern lawyer. This will help you add value to the workplace, prepare you for the future of legal practice and give you a taste of the Continuing
Professional Development that you will need to undertake each year as a lawyer to maintain your certificate. On completion of these modules you will receive a Certificate in Legal
Tech and Business Skills in addition to your Graduate
Diploma in Legal Practice.
When does the course start?
17 May 2021: Perth CBD campus, Full-time & Part-time 14 Jun 2021: Perth CBD campus, Full-time & Part-time 5 Jul 2021: Perth CBD campus, Part-time evening 12 Jul 2021: UWA, Full-time & Part-time 12 Jul 2021: ECU, Full-time & Part-time 19 Jul 2021: Murdoch, Full-time & Part-time 23 Aug 2021: Perth CBD campus, Full-time & Part-time 20 Sep 2021: Perth CBD campus, Full-time & Part-time 4 Oct 2021: Perth CBD campus, Full-time & Part-time 22 Nov 2021: UWA, Full-time & Part-time
How long does the course run for?
Our full-time course is 15 weeks. Our part-time course is 30 weeks, and a good option for students who work full-time or have other commitments.
How do graduates enrol?
You can apply via our online application form that will take less than 15 minutes to complete. Simply visit collaw.edu.au.
What work experiences are students able to choose from?
You can choose from two formats for the work experience component of your training: • Short format: 25 days of approved work experience + additional five-week online program • Standard format: 75 days of approved work experience
During the COVID-19 pandemic, we are offering an online alternative to work experience. The In Practice Component
