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
Melbourne, Australia.
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
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