Since establishing a presence in Australia in late 2016, our offices in Melbourne and Sydney have been quick to make a good first impression.

Last year, we were voted Law Firm of the Year in Project Finance & Development, Australia by Best Lawyers and The Australian Financial Review and achieved a Chambers Band 2 ranking in Infrastructure, Band 2 ranking in Project Finance and Band 3 ranking in Environment and Planning.

We also acted on two of Australia’s biggest infrastructure projects in recent times – the West Gate Tunnel Project and the Melbourne Metro Tunnel project, high-profile initiatives with a combined value of more than A$16.6 billion.

“Those two deals really put
us on the map and showed
what we can do.”
JOANNE DRAPER
OFFICE
EXECUTIVE PARTNER, MELBOURNE

Melbourne Office Executive Partner Joanne Draper says: “Those two deals really put us on the map and showed what we can do.

“The Melbourne Metro Tunnel project was named Asia-Pacific Infrastructure Deal of the Year in the Project Finance International Awards 2017 and Asia-Pacific Transport Deal of the Year by IJGlobal 2017, so it has really helped establish our brand here. Doing that early on has given us a good start that we hope to build on in 2019, with one of our goals to achieve a Chambers Australia Band 1 ranking for infrastructure and project finance.”

Sydney’s Office Executive Partner Joel Rennie adds: “Raising awareness of the White & Case brand in Australia has been one of the first priorities and challenges we’ve faced because, while lawyers and international companies know who we are, few domestic companies are familiar with the Firm, so we’ve looked to address that quickly.

“The great thing is that, while the market is quite mature and extremely competitive, we are perhaps the only player in the market who can claim to be truly global, with support in Asia, Europe and the Americas. That is a major differentiator, especially as Australian companies look to invest elsewhere.”

We opened our Melbourne office in November 2016 and Joel was recruited to establish our office in Sydney, which opened in March 2017.

The Melbourne office is now home to 12 partners, three counsels, 31 associates and 22 Business Services people, while our Sydney office has six partners, seven associates, two para-legals and seven Business Services professionals.

Major clients include Transurban (our client for the West Gate Tunnel project), big infrastructure funds such as IFM and QIC, and French renewable energy company Neoen.

Our Melbourne office covers practice areas such as project delivery, project finance, corporate M&A and planning and environment, while Sydney’s practices are in project finance and disputes. However, it’s fair to say the two offices operate in tandem, something that proves there are no real geographical boundaries in the Firm’s global network.

“Raising awareness of the White & Case brand in Australia has been one of the first priorities and challenges we’ve faced.”
JOEL RENNIE,
SYDNEY’S OFFICE EXECUTIVE PARTNER

Joel comments: “You can’t really talk about one office without talking about the other – it’s rare that we aren’t working on the same matters. Whether a client is based in Sydney or Melbourne, we resource the matter based on wherever we have the best expertise for that particular project, whether that’s in Australia or from the wider network.

“It actually works both ways, because the first case I worked on when joining the Firm was a deal for a client from one of our American offices. That was immediate proof that I’d joined a genuinely global firm.”

Jo adds: “We recently helped out our London team with the due diligence for an acquisition by one of their clients of a company with substantial assets in Australia, so that’s a good example of where we provide support and value-add.”

In fact, reaching out into other territories was one of the strategic reasons we opened our two offices in Australia.

Jo says: “Pivoting into Asia is a key goal of ours, both in supporting existing offices and targeting jurisdictions where the Firm doesn’t have a presence.”

Joel continues: “From an Asian perspective, the Australian market has a huge amount of deal flow. We are a sophisticated market at the cutting edge of infrastructure procurement and financing. So we have an important role to play in exporting our best practice and expertise to the wider region and the global network.

“For instance, we’re currently working with a European infrastructure fund that wants to develop off-shore wind farms in Taiwan on a project that involves people from Sydney, Melbourne, Singapore and Tokyo.”

 
Another major cross-border matter the team has worked on is a restructuring deal for the Noble Group, which was led by Chris Kelly in our Hong Kong office and Jon Tivey from the Melbourne office.

Joel says: “I can only see the volume of cross border work we do increasing. The international flavour of our work is also carrying over to our domestic clients, as Australian infrastructure funds such as IFM and QIC look to invest in the European and U.S. markets.”

Both the Sydney and Melbourne teams continued to grow in 2018, with Sydney building out its Disputes team while Melbourne added a Corporate Mergers and Acquisitions practice. Both teams have hit the ground running and won high-profile mandates as well as supporting other offices across the network.

Further growth to the team is expected when strategic opportunities arise, while Joel has been working with colleagues in Hong Kong, New York and London to develop a leveraged finance offering for the Australian market that would complement our existing corporate private equity team.

Integrating in the network

Building relationships across the network has been another priority for our Australian offices and, as part of this commitment, they sent teams to the White & Case World Cup in 2017 and 2018.

Jo explains: “We’re really keen to integrate with the wider network socially, as well as from a work perspective.

“Another example was when some of our associates travelled to Bangkok for training alongside their peers in the Asian offices. Those kinds of events forge lasting relationships.”

Strategic secondments have also been prioritised, with secondees working in our offices in London, Miami, New York and Asia, as well as for domestic and overseas clients, such as Korea’s POSCO Energy and Japanese client NEXI.

Joel says: “One of the great things about working for the Firm is the opportunities it opens up for travel and personal development.

“From a Sydney point of view, I also enjoy the fact the team is fresh, diverse and full of great people, so it’s a fun atmosphere, but there is a united passion to see the office develop and grow.”

Jo adds: “We’re a really close-knit team. It’s fairly small, so everyone knows everybody, and there is a strong family atmosphere.”