Australia's Mills Oakley Recruits Former PwC Lawyers as Partners
Former PwC directors Shaun Whittaker and Tony Rutherford join Mills Oakley as partners in Melbourne—the latest in the battle for talent between the Big Four accounting firms and law firms in Australia.
April 08, 2019 at 04:20 PM
2 minute read
Melbourne, Australia
Australian firm Mills Oakley has hired Shaun Whittaker and Tony Rutherford, former directors at Big Four accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, as partners in Melbourne – the latest moves in the ongoing battle for talent between the Big Four accounting firms and law firms in Australia.
Whittaker specialises in funding solutions, which includes structured finance, infrastructure and energy, fintech services, non-bank lending and stakeholder advisory. He joins Mills Oakley directly from PwC Australia, where he was a legal director focusing on the finance, energy, property and infrastructure sectors for two years.
Previously, Whittaker was an associate at Herbert Smith Freehills for more than nine years, including a two-year stint in London from 2013 and 2015, and a six-month secondment at the French bank BNP Paribas S.A.'s energy and commodities legal team in Paris.
The other former PwC director, Rutherford, focuses on infrastructure projects in the mining, oil and gas, water, road, rail, airport, hospital and power sectors. He also advises on commercial and projects disputes.
Rutherford was most recently a principal at Melbourne-based law firm Moores, which he joined in September 2017. Previously, he was a projects and finance director at PwC for two years. Rutherford also did stints as special counsel at Gilbert + Tobin and was an associate at DLA Piper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; at Allens in Sydney; and at Dorsey & Whitney and O'Melveny & Myers, both in New York.
Other Australian firms have also recruited from the Big Four accounting firms. In September, Gadens hired corporate partner James Beckley in Sydney from EY.
But hiring between the Big Four and traditional law firms has not been all in one direction. Mills Oakley itself lost financial services partner Lisa-Marie McKechnie in Sydney to EY in February. In addition, KPMG recruited financial services partner Zein El Hassan and technology, media and communications partner Damien Bailey, both in Sydney, from Norton Rose Fulbright and Herbert Smith Freehills, respectively.
Related Stories:
Big Four's EY Adds Financial Services Partner From Australia's Mills Oakley
Big Four's KPMG Nabs Herbert Smith Freehills Partner, Launches Government Practice in Australia
Australia's Sparke Helmore Launches Consulting Arm With Former PwC Partner
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