Freehills has appointed an additional partner to its Singapore office, reinforcing its commitment to the Asian market.
Geoffrey Grice joins Freehills after a career spanning more than 20 years working on major projects and cross border transactions in Europe, Asia Pacific and Australia. His appointment becomes effective from Monday 3rd August 2009.
Mr Grice was most recently Deputy State Solicitor in the State Solicitor’s Office of Western Australia, but he also worked with top tier law firms in London, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo and Perth.
He has degrees from the University of Western Australia and Cambridge University England, has studied at Waseda University, Tokyo and brings particular experience in energy & resources, infrastructure/PPPs and the cross-border M&A space.
Chief Executive and Managing Partner, Gavin Bell said that it was unusual for the firm to appoint a lateral hire at this level and the decision to do so reflected the importance of the Asian market to Freehills.
‘We see a lot of opportunities through the Asian market,’ he said. ‘This includes advising on major cross boarder transactions into and out of Australia, but also major Asian infrastructure and mining projects.
‘Freehills already has a substantial business in Asia working with clients such as Santos and cross boarder transactions such as the sale of some assets of OZ Minerals to China Minmetals.
‘The firm was ranked first in the Asia Pacific region in Thomson Reuters M&A legal advisory league tables for the first half of 2009.
‘Geoffrey will be working from our Singapore office which is the hub for our activities in South East Asia, India and the Middle East and his appointment is an important step to developing and servicing these markets further.’
Mr Grice said he recognised that Freehills already has a strong record in Asia and he was looking forward to building this further. ‘I’m pleased to be joining a firm with such a legal pedigree , an established reputation in Australasia and growing recognition throughout Asia.’
Freehills is an Australian based international law firm providing innovative, commercial legal advice to clients around the world, with around 1000 lawyers, including more than 200 partners across offices in Australia and South-East Asia.
This appointment is in addition to the three partner appointments announced earlier in the month.
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