Allens (law firm)

Allens

File:AAR logo.PNG
Company type	Partnership
Industry	Legal Services
Founded	1822
Headquarters	14 offices in 8 countries
Key people	Michael Rose (Chief Executive Partner) and Ewen Crouch (Chairman of Partners)
Number of employees	Approx. 1,600
Website	[1]

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.

Offices

Allens has staff based in 13 cities and seven countries across the region, including Bangkok, Beijing, Brisbane, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Melbourne, Perth, Port Moresby, Shanghai, Singapore and Sydney. It 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.

History

Deutsche Bank Place, Allens' Sydney offices

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. During the 1970s the firm acted for the Australian Bankers' Association in relation to the Whitlam Labour Government loans scandle. 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).

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.

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.

Australian Art Collection

Allens is known to have a large collection of Australian art (predominantly paintings).

The Allens collection dates from the late 1970s when the firm moved into offices of the then new MLC Centre, Sydney. The collection has now over a thousand works hanging in all of its offices, including several works by David Bromley and McLean Edwards. An iconic piece that is a favourite with Allens staff is a life-sized white horse made of cloth that hangs in the foyer of Allens' Sydney office. A core purpose of the collection is to support young, unknown Australian artists – Allens doesn't buy work from artists who already have a high profile. The incidental result has been a substantial increase over time in the value of the collection.

The works also reflect the passion of former partner Hugh Jamieson – the driving force of the collection. In an introduction to an exhibition of works in 1993 he wrote: "In the closing years of the twentieth century, Australians, if they are to survive, are faced with the need to find innovative solutions to their problems. This is also true in the practice of law. For those of us who work with the collection in front of us every day, the artists encourage us to confront the new, not only through the colour and vitality of their works, but also by the messages they convey. By supporting working artists, the firm is encouraging the development of Australian cultural expression. By providing a platform for this expression, the firm makes a statement about the sort of Australia it believes in."

Notable alumni

• AAH alumnus James Wolfensohn served as President of the World Bank from 1995–2005.
• AAH alumnus Justice William Gummow AC 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 former 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.
• Former AAH partner John Lehane (1941–2001) left the firm's banking and finance practice to become a Federal Court Judge.
• Allens litigation partner Michael Ball was sworn in as a judge of the Equity Division of the New South Wales Supreme Court on 13 April 2010.
• Former Allens partner Ian Renard is the current 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 Senior Partner served as President of the Law Society of NSW

External links

• Allens Arthur Robinson Website
• Allens Arthur Robinson Corporate Carbon Action Profile
• | Allens Arthur Robinson Profile on Two Steps Law Job