Sydney, Australia

HFW is launching an Australian employment practice with the hire of an eight-lawyer team from Dentons.

Dentons national employment and safety head Mark Sant and employment director Brendan Milne lead the team, which will be based across HFW's Sydney and Melbourne offices.

Sant joined Dentons from Gadens in late 2016 when the Australian firm's Sydney office combined with Dentons. At Gadens, he led the national workplace relationships practice.

Melbourne-based Milne specialises in employment law-related compliance and contentious work. He joined Dentons as a director in 2017 from Herbert Smith Freehills.

The team advises on a range of employment and industrial relations matters, from human resources strategies to employment agreement negotiations and workplace dispute resolution.

Australia's employment law regime went through several changes in 2018, including amendments in protection for whistleblowers, family and domestic violence leave, and flexible working arrangements.

More changes are expected in 2019, according to Sant. "The Australian Labor Party, if elected later this year, will make changes to industrial relations laws to give unions and employees more options to address this very significant issue," he said. "We are expecting a surge in demand for our industrial relations expertise in light of the union movement's focus on addressing long-term wage stagnation."

HFW opened its first Australian office in 2006 in Melbourne and the firm later added offices in Sydney and Perth. It now has more than 90 lawyers, including 24 partners, across the three offices.

The firm launched a consultancy business last year, which aimed to expand its international business in the Middle East, Asia and Australia.

Earlier this year it agreed a new alliance in Saudi Arabia, while in 2018 it launched a new Abu Dhabi office – and forged alliances in Shanghai and Indonesia.