Allens Arthur Robinson
| Allens Arthur Robinson | |
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| Major practice areas | corporate and commercial |
| Key people | Michael Rose (Chief Executive Partner) Ewen Crouch (Chairman of Partners) |
| Date founded | 1822 |
| Company type | Partnership |
| Website | |
| www.aar.com.au | |
Allens Arthur Robinson ("Allens") is a commercial law firm that operates in the Asia-Pacific region. In Australia, and throughout the Asia-Pacific region generally, it is considered to be one of the top commercial law firms.
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[edit] Offices
Allens is one of the largest law firms in the Asia Pacific region, with almost 200 partners and more than 1500 personnel. Allens also comprises a separate patent attorney firm, Allens Arthur Robinson Patent & Trade Marks Attorneys, which is closely integrated with the law firm's intellectual property group.
[edit] History
Allens Arthur Robinson was formed on July 1, 2001 by the merger of the Melbourne-headquartered Arthur Robinson & Hedderwicks (ARH) and the Sydney-headquartered Allen Allen & Hemsley (AAH), which created one of the largest law firms in the Asia Pacific. The two firms had been associated for 15 years prior to the merger through the Allens Arthur Robinson Group alliance.
The Sydney firm that became Allen Allen & Hemsley had been in existence since 1822, making Allens Australia's longest continuous legal partnership.
By the early 1920s Allens had gained a reputation as Australia's establishment firm, largely because of its high profile and wealthy clients.[1] During the 1970s the firm acted for the Australian Bankers' Association in relation to the Whitlam Labour Government loans scandle.[1] Allens has strong client relationships stretching back over decades and, in the case of Westpac, over 160 years (the second longest lawyer-client relationship in history after the relationship between Clifford Chance and Barclays Bank).[1]
Former senior partner Sir Norman Cowper, who commenced with AAH as a solicitor in 1923 and worked at the firm for over 50 years, has been credited with turning AAH into one of Australia's leading law firms.[citation needed]
In the early 1990s the firm was rocked by revelations that Adrian Powles, a former partner in the London office, had secretly accessed a client's trust account to fund a gambling addiction. Sydney journalist Valerie Lawson published a book in 1995 entitled The Allens Affair that details the Powles case and touches on much of the early history of the firm.
Arthur Robinson & Co. began trading in Melbourne on May 11, 1914, just prior to the outbreak of World War I. In 1984, Arthur Robinson & Co. merged with Hedderwick Fookes & Alston to form Arthur Robinson & Hedderwicks.
[edit] Notable alumni
- AAH alumnus James Wolfensohn served as President of the World Bank from 1995–2005.
- William Gummow AC, AAH partner 1969-1976, has been a judge of the High Court of Australia since 1995. At the time of his appointment to the High Court he had been a judge of the Federal Court of Australia since 1986.
- Sir Norman Lethbridge Cowper (1896–1987) was a partner of AAH from 1924 to 1970 and served for many years as Senior Partner.
- Sir William McMahon (1908–1988) practised as a lawyer at Allen, Allen & Hemsley between 1933 and 1939 and later served as Australia's 20th Prime Minister.
- John Lehane (1941–2001), AAH partner 1971-1995, left the firm's banking and finance practice to become a Federal Court Judge.
- Former Allens partner Ian Renard was the Chancellor of the University of Melbourne.
- Andrew O'Keefe former Allens lawyer is now a TV presenter on Deal or No Deal and Weekend Sunrise.
- Alan Loxton AM, a former AAH Senior Partner, served as President of the Law Society of NSW, as did former AAH Senior Partners Sir Norman Cowper Kt CBE (above) and William Robin Dill Stevenson OBE.
- Reginald Barrett, AAH partner 1971-1991, was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales in 2001.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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