MADDOCKS - Key Persons
Aaron works with a diverse range of clients across the healthcare, aged care and medical technology sectors. He regularly advises public, private and not-for-profit health care providers, private health insurers, pharmaceutical and medical technology companies, aged care providers, health regulatory bodies, and medical research institutions. Aaron specialises in complex, innovative transactions for buyers, sellers and developers of healthcare assets.
Aaron's expertise extends to M&A, corporations and securities law, commercial contracting (including outsourcing of management and services), corporate and clinical governance, healthcare regulation privacy and data protection. Aaron is a pragmatic and commercial advisor, recognised for his technical expertise, his command of detail, and his understanding of regulatory and policy context. His work has led him to being recognised as a leading lawyer in Doyle's Guide and Best Lawyers for Health & Aged Care.
Expertise
Corporate & Commercial Digital Transformation
Job Titles:
- Account Manager / Melbourne
With over a decade of expertise in the debt recovery sector, Aida has experience ranging from commercial debt recovery to collaboration with non-commercial small businesses at various stages of the debt recovery process. Aida's experience spans diverse industries, including local government, finance, legal, and estate management.
Possessing profound knowledge in debt recovery, Aida is dedicated to their client outcomes . Their well-rounded skillset, encompassing rapid collections, hardship management, portfolio oversight, complaint and dispute resolution, equips them to provide exemplary service. Aida's passion and ability to always meet clients' needs sets them apart in the field.
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Partner / Melbourne
- Specialist
Alanna is a Partner in the Commercial team at Maddocks. Alanna is an experienced practitioner who specialises in providing commercial, administrative and regulatory, integrity and investigative legal services to public sector and not-for profit clients. Alanna specialises in the energy transition, emergency management, environment sectors and also has a special interest in children and child protection.
She is a legal, commercial and public administration expert with a strong sense of the client imperative and a track record of providing high quality, pragmatic and strategic legal advice in high value, high risk, or sensitive matters that drives strong client solutions.
She has worked with Government departments, Ministers, agencies, private and NFP clients on high-value, high-profile, high-risk commercial and regulatory matters, including advisory, deals, major projects advice at all stages of the lifecycle, investigations, legislation development, litigation, inquiries, enforcement, and administrative law matters. Alanna is also a qualified and deeply experienced project manager having overseen and successfully delivered for Government many legal services packages to service multi-billion dollar major projects and transactions.
Alanna's areas of expertise include:
Legal strategy for high complexity government projects and initiatives (involving public law, commercial law, public finance law, infrastructure)
Economics and public finance law
Energy and emergency management law, projects and deals
Full project lifecycle advisory, negotiations and transactional services on commercial deals and major projects in relation to sustainability, water, emergency management and renewable energy transition and initiatives.
Public and administrative law legislation, public inquiries and reviews, governance, decision-making advisory
Commercial law - government projects and transactions
Regulatory and integrity investigations, inquiries and enforcement (energy, environment, emergency management, infrastructure, children and education
Public sector governance, entity establishment and restructuring, public sector board advisory, entity powers and privileges
Statutory interpretation, legislation development and advice
Prior to joining Maddocks, Alanna was the Assistant Victorian Government Solicitor and legal executive within the Victorian Government.
Expertise
Government Advisory Corporate & Commercial Climate Change
Alanna is a specialist in statutory development and interpretation, having provided advice to many public agencies on the establishment, operation, and powers under legislation, along with the interaction of legislation with interstate, Commonwealth, and international legislation and law.
Alanna provides commercial and administrative law advice to government in relation to major commercial negotiations and transactions including the sale of Heyfield Mill and Snowy Hydro, along with other significant commercial deals.
Job Titles:
- Debt Recovery Clerk / Melbourne
Alex holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Melbourne and is currently pursuing a Juris Doctor degree at Monash University, with the ambition to become a lawyer. With experience working for a government agency, he has served both in logistics and as a registration clerk. His professional background includes successful collaboration with local councils to facilitate the provision of various services to the community.
Renowned for his efficient response and exemplary recovery record, Alex has extensive experience working with Maddocks Recoveries in the area of debt management. His thoroughness, skills, resourcefulness, and personable nature have consistently contributed to outstanding results, making him invaluable asset to our team.
Alex advises private and public organisations and high net worth individuals on all aspects of commercial property. This includes, property acquisitions and disposals, conduction legal due diligence and reviewing property funding and refinancing documents. Alex has also significant experience acting for prominent property developers, including international and public listed companies.
Expertise
Real Estate
Job Titles:
- Senior Associate
- Senior Associate / Sydney
Alexandra is an experienced commercial and regulatory lawyer. Alexandra advises a range of clients across the health and aged care sector on regulatory compliance, corporate advisory matters and M&A transactions. She has extensive experience in the health and aged care sector, including through secondments at a national for profit aged care provider and a leading hospital operator.
Alexandra was previously a Principal Solicitor at the NSW Department of Justice, gaining valuable experience in government procurement, funding agreements and outcomes based contracting.
Expertise
Corporate & Commercial
Job Titles:
- Senior Associate / Melbourne
Alexandra has broad experience dealing with property law issues that arise throughout the development project lifecycle. She regularly advises institutional and boutique property developers and private clients on off-the-plan developments, acquisitions and disposals and leasing transactions. Alexandra's work currently includes land (including greenfield/master planned communities), built-form and mixed-use residential projects.
Alexandra's experience within the property development space enables her to provide solution-focused advice to meet her client's desired commercial outcomes.
Expertise
Real Estate
Job Titles:
- Partner / Real Estate / Sydney
- Partner / Sydney
"He's easy to talk to, speaks plain English and gives you informed yet unambiguous answers."
Job Titles:
- Senior Associate / Melbourne
Amber advises public and private employers, contractors, consultants and insurers on contentious and non-contentious issues arising on complex and large-scale construction and infrastructure projects. Amber has particular experience in advising on dispute resolution and avoidance, including in respect of security of payment and construction-related insurance matters. Amber returned to Maddocks in 2017, after spending eight years in London in private practice at Mayer Brown International LLP and in-house at Tube Lines Limited and JPMorgan Chase Bank.
Expertise
Construction
Job Titles:
- Special Counsel / Melbourne
Amy completed her articles of clerkship with Maddocks in 2006 and has recently returned to Maddocks following a period spent in house, most recently in the role of General Counsel at the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (ESTA). In her time at ESTA, Amy was responsible for providing legal advice in respect of a range of issues, including general contract and commercial advice, complaints and FOI, privacy and records management, governance, policy and government engagement, and litigation.
Amy was also responsible for the Board Secretary function and in the management of matters relating to Office of the Chief Executive. In that capacity, Amy provided high level and strategic advice to the ESTA Board, CEO and Executive Leadership Team. Amy has extensive experience working with internal and external stakeholders including senior executives and Board members and understands the importance of providing clear, frank and fearless advice to her clients.
During her time at Maddocks, Amy has worked with a variety of clients including local government, state government departments, statutory bodies, individuals, private business and large corporate entities.
Expertise
Corporate & Commercial Government Advisory
Andrew provides high-quality, timely and solutions-focused legal advice in the infrastructure sector. He specialises in dispute resolution and has experience in litigation, arbitration, adjudication and mediation. Andrew is experienced in reviewing and preparing contract documentation, leading contract negotiations and advising on contract administration issues. He also has experience advising on contractual matters during the course of a project including claims and contract management.
Expertise
Construction Dispute Resolution & Litigation
As the Lead Partner for the Maddocks Private Equity and Venture Capital Group, Andrew is recognised as a private equity, corporate and mergers and acquisitions specialist.
His practice includes long-standing working relationships with private equity houses, Australian-listed public companies, investment banks and overseas companies which hold Australian investments. He also has an established equity capital markets practice and expertise in advising on sports and entertainment law.
With over 25 years of experience working at international and Australian firms, and in-house as a General Counsel in a dual-listed financial services company, Andrew brings exceptional commercial and legal insight with a deep understanding of the pressures in-house teams face.
Andrew is Co-Chair of the Maddocks International Committee with responsibility for relationships with other international law firms. He is also an active member of the International Bar Association (IBA).
Andrew has been recognised for Corporate and M&A in Legal 500 Asia Pacific (2023) and as a ‘Leading' Business and Commercial lawyer in Doyle's Guide. He holds Master of Law degrees from both Duke University and University of New South Wales, specialising in corporate and securities law.
Andrew provides commercial advice to Commonwealth, State and Local Government clients, with specific expertise in contract law and contractual drafting, government tendering and procurement (including outsourcing arrangements), and information technology.
Andrew has significant experience in advising Australian corporate and family groups, property developers, Government (Federal, State and Council level), accountants and other professional advisers on all areas of Federal and State taxation law. His areas of expertise include advising on complex stamp duty and land tax issues (Australia wide), GST, GAIC and income tax law issues arising for corporate groups.
Andrew regularly provides advice on the structuring of businesses and transactions, mergers and acquisitions, sale of land and businesses and corporate reorganisations. Andrew also regularly liaises with the Australian Taxation Office and State revenue authorities in managing investigations, audits and disputes.
Andrew is a member of the Property Council of Australia Taxation Committee (Victoria) 2023-2024.
Expertise
Corporate & Commercial
Angela is well known as a leading expert in commercial and regulatory matters in the healthcare, medical device, aged care and community services sectors.
She has over 20 years of experience advising health, aged care, medical device and not-for-profit providers throughout Australia.
Angela has advised on a number of high profile matters including assisting clients to respond to the Royal Commission into Aged Care; advising on registration of goods under Australia's Therapeutic Goods Register; acquisitions in the residential aged care industry; corporate governance issues, regulatory matters, investigations, privacy, contracting and risk management.
Angela has a strong reputation for policy development, and training in privacy, capacity and consent, medication compliance and management. Angela is a regular contributor to publications including The future of aged care governance. She also is a committee member of the Northern Sydney Local Health District Human Research Ethics Committee.
Anna is the Practice Team Leader for the Maddocks Construction & Projects team in Victoria.
Anna specialises in the resolution of disputes on construction and infrastructure projects acting, primarily for a mix of Government (both State and local) and national contractor clients. The types of projects on which Anna has advised include transport infrastructure (rail, road and airport), civil infrastructure (water and gas pipelines), social infrastructure (hospitals, schools and universities) and commercial and residential developments.
Anna has previously worked in New Zealand and, subsequently, the United Arab Emirates, where she represented contractor clients in international arbitrations concerning high-value disputes arising out of a number of iconic projects, including the Burj Khalifa and the ‘Palm Jumeirah' island. She also has significant experience in court proceedings, domestic arbitration, expert determination, mediation, statutory adjudication and other methods of alternative dispute resolution.
Anna prides herself on understanding the technical and commercial complexities of construction and infrastructure projects and providing early stage practical advice to assist her clients in identifying and dealing with potential disputes at an early stage before they escalate to a costly, formal proceeding. Where a formal dispute cannot be avoided, Anna works with her clients to identify strategies to mitigate both commercial and legal risks.
Anna was named Construction Partner of the Year 2022 at the Lawyers Weekly Partner of the Year Awards. She is recognised by Best Lawyers Australia for Alternative Dispute Resolution and Construction / Infrastructure Law, Legal 500 Asia Pacific for Infrastructure Projects & Construction, and Doyle's Guide for Construction and Infrastructure Litigation.
As co-chair of the firm's Gender Equality Network, Anna leads Maddocks approach to creating equal opportunity in the workplace and spearheads significant initiatives that promote diversity and inclusion.
Expertise
Construction Dispute Resolution & Litigation
Anthony is recognised as one of Australia's leading government lawyers, with expertise in commercial, contracting, technology and IP matters. He has advised on some of Australia's largest commercial and government transactions, including leading the tender and contract development and negotiations for a number of multi-billion dollar Australian Government procurements.
Anthony is recognised as a highly skilled negotiation strategist and lead negotiator for major projects. He has advised on major contract disputes, prepared numerous template contract documents and advises on IP and technology matters.
Anthony is ranked in the Chambers Asia Pacific 2023 guide for his work in Government and TMT: Information Technology.
Expertise
Corporate & Commercial Government Advisory Digital Transformation
Job Titles:
- Chief Information Officer
Brad is the CIO at Maddocks and leads the firm's information technology team and innovation strategy. Constantly looking for new ways to improve the firm's information technology systems and processes, Brad is responsible for driving new innovation at Maddocks and drives our teams to embrace technological and innovative change to better support the firm and our clients.
Job Titles:
- Partner / Real Estate / Sydney
- Partner / Sydney
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Partner / Canberra
Catherine is the Chief Operating Officer at Maddocks, and is responsible for driving the strategic, financial and operations of the Modern Australian Law Firm. Catherine joined Maddocks in 2006 and since that time, has supported the firm with strategic advice overseeing profitable growth, while managing a range of innovative workplace solutions for our people.
Charles Jamieson joins the firm, which changes its name to Maddock, Johnson & Jamieson. Mr Jamieson's work in regional Victoria spurs the establishment of offices across the state, including Korumburra in 1895 and Daylesford in 1897.
Job Titles:
- General Manager / Melbourne
Job Titles:
- Senior Associate / Melbourne
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Partner
David Newman is appointed as the firm's CEO. Since joining Maddocks in 2000, David has held a range of leadership positions and has made a significant contribution to the firm through his involvement in developing Maddocks' innovation strategy.
David leads Maddocks as our CEO, a role he held since 2020. A passion for the law and client service drives his contribution to the greater goals of Maddocks, with a focus on investing in and empowering our people to deliver outstanding results for the firm's clients and innovating legal services.
David is a Pay Equity Ambassador for the Workplace Gender Equality Agency's national pay equity campaign.
Job Titles:
- Director, People & Culture
Deborah leads our People & Culture strategy at the firm and is responsible for driving the culture, retention and engagement strategies at Maddocks. She has been widely recognised for her market-leading work in developing organisational cultures of inclusiveness and as a leader who adds value by providing progressive HR strategies.
Job Titles:
- Recoveries Legal Advisor / Melbourne
Job Titles:
- Senior Associate / Construction, Dispute Resolution & Litigation, Government Advisory, Real Estate / Sydney
Job Titles:
- Senior Associate / Melbourne
Job Titles:
- Partner / Melbourne
- Partner / Real Estate / Melbourne
Jean Alcorn is the first woman to be appointed a partner of the firm. In 2022, 39 per cent of our partners are women.
Job Titles:
- Senior Associate / Real Estate / Melbourne
Managing Partner John Chisholm, Chairman Ian Lonie and Partner and Executive Member David Laidlaw spearhead the firm's expansion and introduces equal partnership shares. The Commercial, Property, Construction and Workplace Services teams expand their remits. These changes see a 77 per cent increase in revenue between 1994 and 1996.
John Henry Maddock, 28, and Arthur James Johnson, 21, both newly admitted to the Victorian Bar, join together on 1 August 1885 to set up the firm that is to become Maddocks. The two set up at 70 Queen Street in Melbourne. Early clients included financial institutions and property developers at the height of Melbourne's land boom.
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Partner / Canberra
"Anthony Willis is focused on getting done what we need to get done. Sometimes my requests have been quite unreasonable and he has delivered."
Job Titles:
- Head of Communications
- Media
Lyston Arthur Chisholm joins the firm as a partner. This starts a connection between the Chisholm family that continued into the 21st century. The firm subsequently becomes Maddock Lonie & Chisholm, a name that continues until 2004.
Job Titles:
- Special Counsel / Melbourne
Job Titles:
- Senior Account Manager / Melbourne
Job Titles:
- Director, Business Development and Communications
Marnie Reid leads the firm's client and market strategy. The Business Development and Communications function is a high-performance team focused on ensuring the best service for our clients, implementing emerging areas of law across Maddocks, and building the firm's reputation as a market leader in key sectors.
Job Titles:
- Partner / Employment & Workplace, Digital Transformation / Melbourne
Job Titles:
- Senior Associate / Melbourne
"He's pretty calm and laid back, and he's a good negotiator. If we ever have tough negotiations on front-end matters, he will be able to deal with those in a commercial way."
Michelle Dixon is appointed as the firm's CEO, the first woman to hold the position in the firm's history. Joining the firm in 1996, Michelle was head of the firm's Commercial Disputes team (now Dispute Resolution & Litigation) at the time of her appointment.
Job Titles:
- Director, Operational Excellence
Mitch Grant leads our Operational Excellence function that brings together our experts in knowledge, legal operations and research services.
Job Titles:
- Senior Associate / Melbourne
Job Titles:
- Special Counsel / Melbourne
Job Titles:
- Partner / Employment & Workplace / Sydney
William Ah Ket joins Maddock, Johnson & Jamieson and completes his articled clerkship. William is one of the first people of Chinese background to practise as a solicitor in Australia. He joined the Victorian Bar in 1904 and was a barrister until his death in 1936. William's contribution to the law was honoured with the inaugural launch of the William Ah Ket Scholarship in 2017.