John McKenna has been Freehills’ General Counsel & Chief Risk Officer since early 2008. In his role as General Counsel John advises the firm and provides training on legal, professional liability and risk management issues.
John sees his role as a recognition that in order to provide excellent service to clients, law firms need to operate as effective, healthy organisations. ‘This role enables the risks we face as a commercial law firm to be centrally managed on a whole of firm basis, and it demonstrates Freehills’ commitment to addressing risk issues in a serious and systematic manner.’ In John’s view, ‘Freehills knows and understands the issues arising from global and local economic market conditions and the impact on clients’ businesses. We are well positioned to weather the fluctuations of the economy and can proactively partner with clients to help them through business challenges they face,’ he continued.
John has been a partner of Freehills since 1997. Before moving to his current role, John was a partner in Freehills Banking & Finance group and the practice area leader for the group in Melbourne. John’s core area of expertise is acting for both borrowers and lenders in relation to a broad range of financial transactions. He has extensive experience in project finance, acquisition finance, structured finance and large scale corporate lending.
John is a contributing author to The Laws of Australia legal encyclopaedia. He graduated from the University of Melbourne with Bachelor of Laws (with Honours) and Bachelor of Commerce degrees and has subsequently completed his Master of Laws degree. John is a Senior Fellow of the University of Melbourne Law School.
