Squire Patton Boggs has announced the appointment of construction partner Brendan Reilly. Mr. Reilly, who has joined the firm’s Perth office, was previously partner and head of construction and infrastructure at Allion Legal.

Mr. Reilly has over 15 years of experience advising on construction and infrastructure projects from a contentious and non-contentious perspective, particularly in the mining, energy, transport and infrastructure sectors.  He has acted for both owners and contractors on projects in Australia, Europe, the Middle East, India, Africa and parts of South East Asia.  Mr. Reilly also has in-house experience gained from senior corporate counsel roles at John Holland Group and Hancock Prospecting.

Mr. Reilly follows former colleagues Denise McLaughlin and Melissa Koo, who joined the Squire Patton Boggs construction and services contracts team last month.

Partner Greg Steinepreis, who heads the construction and services contracts team in Perth, commented: “Brendan is well-known to us, having worked with our team in the past, and we rate him very highly.  His experience from both an in-house and private practice perspective complements that of our existing team, which is known for its commercial approach to providing legal advice.”
Over the last 18 months Squire Patton Boggs has hired a number of senior lawyers in the construction and projects field in Australia.  Last year, construction partner Avendra Singh joined the firm from Colin Biggers & Paisley; project finance specialist Josh Clarke arrived from Watson Farley & Williams and the former head of Infrastructure at the Canberra office of Minter Ellison, Fabio Fior, joined the firm’s project office in Darwin.

“Brendan’s appointment is another step in the growth and further development of our construction practice,” said John Poulsen, managing partner of Squire Patton Boggs in Australia. “We are seeing an increasing demand for construction-related disputes advice and Brendan’s first-rate experience acting as a lawyer and advocate in litigation, mediations, dispute resolution boards, ICC arbitrations and UNCITRAL arbitrations, is valuable at a time when over $150 billion in energy and resources construction projects heading for completion are encountering significant contractual disputes.”

Squire Patton Boggs was “Highly Commended” for international strategy by the Financial Times at its inaugural Asia-Pacific Innovative Lawyers Awards 2014