Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright announced today that well-known project and construction disputes lawyer Penelope Ford will join as a partner in Perth from February 12.
Coming from Minter Ellison, Ms Ford is a very experienced litigator with a strong history of managing construction, oil and gas, and general commercial disputes. She has a particular focus on managing complex, high stakes construction disputes and assisting her clients to resolve them.
She joins one of Australia’s largest national infrastructure, energy and construction and engineering teams, with an established track record in delivering major contentious and non-contentious construction projects for federal and state government departments and authorities, project developers, owners, financiers, domestic and international investors and construction companies across a variety of sectors.
In addition to over twenty years’ litigation experience gained from working in some of Australia’s most respected law firms, Ms Ford also brings considerable in-house experience. She has recently worked in senior legal and dispute management roles for a major international oil and gas producer and for a global energy company.
Her appointment follows the addition to the team of Phillipa Beck, who returns on February 12 as a partner to our Melbourne office having spent years advising on a range of major construction and infrastructure clients on project delivery and disputes, including the Wembley Stadium litigation while at a Magic Circle firm in London.
The firm also promoted Daniel Vicano to the Sydney partnership on December 1, who has significant experience in construction and engineering project delivery and disputes, and has been involved in a wide array of dispute resolution including litigation, adjudication, expert determination and arbitration. A particular focus has been in matters involving major rail and infrastructure projects for contractors.
Norton Rose Fulbright managing partner in Australia Wayne Spanner commented:
Penelope brings a wealth of experience working for major energy companies and large law firms. She will be a strong addition to our successful national construction and engineering and broader infrastructure and energy teams, which are growing in response to a continuing rise in client demand and lateral hires.
Our offering was also bolstered by our combination with leading Australian firm Henry Davis York late last year, which included adding experienced construction and engineering partners Kevin Arkwright, Steven Blanch, Alice Chen, Graham Read and Alex Whiteside to the business.
Ms Ford commented:
It is exciting to be joining a global law firm that has such a well-respected national construction and engineering team and a depth of expertise across the world in major energy and infrastructure projects. My clients will benefit from the increased support I will be able to offer them across our domestic and regional legal teams.
Other lateral partners to join the firm in the last six months include Gavin Scott, Ann Donohue, Natalie Lonergan, Jasmine Sprange, Martin Irwin, Adam Edelman, Vincent Dwyer (from our Singapore office) and Shamim Razavi (from our Indonesian associate firm, TNB & Partners).
On December 1, the firm also promoted Vittorio Casamento, Alice Chen, Belinda Harvey, James Higby, Stephen Iu, Anneliese Korber and Chris Mitchell to the partnership.
