Clyde & Co raids Sydney insurance firm for 30-strong legal team
Bulk of lawyers jump ship from Sydney insurance firm Lee & Lyons, which will cease trading on completion of their move
December 17, 2015 at 04:56 AM
2 minute read
Clyde & Co has hired five partners as part of a 30-strong legal team joining the firm from Sydney insurance outfit Lee & Lyons.
Founding partners David Lee and Lucinda Lyons will join Clydes in February next year alongside insurance partners David Amentas, Michelle Dunne and Christopher Smith.
The team comprises the bulk of the fee earners at Lee & Lyons, which will cease to trade on their departure. Four partners are not joining Clydes and it is as yet unclear what will happen to them, the remaining fee earners and all the boutique's support staff.
The hires raise Clydes' headcount in Australia to 19 partners and approximately 100 legal staff with a total staff count of around 160.
Australian managing partner John Edmond said: "These appointments will allow us to increase significantly our capability in general liability and further expand our professional liability claims work."
Edmond went on to say that the firm will also be adding to its financial and directors and officer's insurance practices in Australia.
David Lee and Lucinda Lyons founded Lee & Lyons in 2002. Both have experience across all major lines of insurance including financial lines, professional indemnity, public and products liability, property and statutory classes.
The news of the hires follows a number of recent additions to Clydes' Asia-Pacific offering. In November the firm hired shipping partner Andrew Gray from Hill Dickinson in Singapore. Melbourne-based partner Marcus O'Brien will join the firm early next year from Norton Rose Fulbright.
However, in recent months the firm has also seen a number of partner departures across its offices. In November DLA Piper hired Asia-Pacific projects and financial transactions head Michael Horn in Singapore. Horn also leads the firm's Indonesia practice and co-leads the Myanmar practice.
In an interview with Legal Week earlier this month, senior partner James Burns said the firm was looking to more than double its size over the next 10 years, setting out a bullish international expansion programme targeting the Americas, Europe the Middle East and Africa.
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