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Rumour: Partner Tony Wassaf Knocks the Jones Daylights out of AAR?
Posted by The Spy | Posted in Allens Arthur Robinson, Jones Day | Posted on 25-08-2010
In early September 2009 our friends at ALB reported that Jones Day was intending to build its Sydney office into a “full service offering”. To achieve this, the firm recruited the head of Freehills restructuring and insolvency - Philip Hoser. At the time, Hoser told ALB that Jones Day would be ramping up its presence in Australia and so too might other US firms:
“I don’t think it will happen to the same extent as [when US firms made a move in the late 80’s and 90’s to] London because the market isn’t nearly as deep but it’s absolutely clear to me that Australia, both by itself and as a regional hub, is an important place for these US firms to be … Jones Day has identified that opportunity and made a commitment to building on it.”
Ominously, Mr Hoser also added at the time:
“It takes time to bring people across from other firms so it’s not something that will happen overnight but watch this space and I think you will see [the firm] grow considerably…”
Indeed, the firm has apparently just snared its first major partnership acquisition since Mr Hoser’s September 2009 comments. In a major scoop, the Firm Spy can today reveal the rumour that a highly regarded Allens Arthur Robinson Energy & Resources partner allegedly defected to Jones Day in the last few days.
We received the following comments from an anonymous AAR spy yesterday:
Jones Day has apparently nabbed a senior mining partner from AAR, Tony Wassaf. Don’t know if it rivals Mallesons recent pain, but it does have upper management concerned at what this may mean for the firm as other foreign interlopers upset the cosy Australian apple cart. Jones Day are also apparently paying associates a tidy sum more than at Allens, something the cosy cartel of big firm salary fixers must hate.
Cozy cartel, indeed. Wassaf is still listed as a partner on the Allens website, so we can’t confirm the move at this stage. Still, as a 20-year partner of the firm, he’s quite likely to be one of the most important members of one of AAR’s more important practice groups. So yes, upper management would be very worried! Shall we call this one … an upper management upper-cut?
In the A&O raid on Clayton Utz earlier in the year, several defecting partners also operated in the coveted energy & resources space. So if Wassaf’s departure is confirmed (which will likely feature in rival media before too long), it is quickly becoming clear that international entrants in the Australian legal market have an appetite for energy & resources practitioners. And that means that the dynamic, pin-striped “mining lawyers” in your office all of a sudden got a whole lot more punching power.
But will they use that punching power to raise the issue of the Jones Day global equity fund which they might get access to upon defecting, thereby potentially receiving an A&O-style triple jump? It would knock the Jones Daylights out of your firm if a group of E&R partners demanded a dramatic increase in their equity share, so perhaps it is time to put on the boxing gloves?



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