Melbourne, Australia.K&L Gates Australia Departures Continue as Melbourne, Perth Partners Leave
Melbourne-based IP partner Steven Wulff joins Mills Oakley while corporate partner Eric Fethers in Perth launches his own practice.
June 04, 2019 at 12:04 PM
3 minute read
K&L Gates, which has seen multiple partner departures in Australia during the past few months, has lost two more, bringing the total number of partners that have left the firm since December to 10.
Intellectual property lawyer Steven Wulff in Melbourne has joined Mills Oakley as a partner and will launch an intellectual property practice in the city with partner Stuart Gibson. Wulff specialises in IP procurement, litigation, portfolio management and commercialisation for startups and established companies.
Wulff joined legacy Middletons in 2012 as special counsel and stayed through the 2013 merger with K&L Gates; he made partner in 2016. Previously, Wulff was a senior associate at Melbourne-based IP boutique Davies Collison Cave and at Clifford Chance's London office.
In Perth, corporate lawyer Eric Fethers left to launch his own practice, Poplar Legal. Fethers focuses on mergers and acquisitions, equity capital markets and corporate governance. In 2014, he was part of the team that represented Melbourne-based oil and gas explorer Karoon Gas Australia Ltd. on an $800 million sale of a 40% stake in the company to Australian energy giant Origin Energy Ltd.
Fethers joined K&L Gates through legacy Middletons' three-way 2008 merger with Perth-based resources boutiques Salter Power, where he was a partner, and Franklyn Legal.
K&L Gates also recently lost partners in Brisbane, where real estate lawyer Warren Denny led a four-lawyer team to Piper Alderman, and in Sydney, where IP specialists Simone Mitchell and Nigel Lokan moved to MinterEllison – all three in April.
A few months earlier, in December and January, five partners left K&L Gates: corporate lawyer Matthew Watts, restructuring and insolvency specialist Danielle Funston and industrial lawyer Gerard Phillips, all in Sydney; property lawyer Brian Smith in Brisbane; and energy, infrastructure and resources co-practice area leader Simon Salter in Perth. Watts moved in-house to Colonial First State Global Asset Management, while Funston joined Australian firm Maddocks.
The U.S. firm has made some lateral hires since late last year – infrastructure partners Simon Ashworth and Matthew Baumgurtel in Sydney, from Corrs Chambers Westgarth and in-house at Madrid-based Fotowatio Renewable Ventures B.V., respectively, both in January; and real estate partner Randall Gerkens in Melbourne also from Corrs in November.
K&L Gates remains one of the larger international firms in Australia, with more than 60 partners across offices in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth.
|Related Stories:
K&L Gates Loses Four-Lawyer Brisbane Real Estate Team, Sydney Duo to Australian Firms
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All
Canadian Media Giants Sue OpenAI Over Alleged Copyright Violations in ChatGPT Training
3 minute read
Former Head of Finance at DLA Piper and Freshfields Quietly 'Struck Off'
2 minute read
Ashurst Bolsters Singapore Offering With A&O Shearman Hire
Trending Stories
- 1Hagens Berman Accused of Withholding Share of $13M Award in Pharmaceutical Settlement
- 2What to Know About Naming a Law Firm
- 3Texas Shows the Way Forward in Resolving Mass Tort Gridlock
- 4Ninth Circuit Rules on Inherent Authority and FRCP 37(e)
- 5Where CFPB Enforcement Stops Short on Curbing School Lunch Fees, Class Action Complaint Steps Up
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250
