Norton Rose Fulbright strengthens government practice with four new partners in Canberra

Update – 31 January 2019

Norton Rose Fulbright’s Canberra office and national government team continues to grow, with the addition of special counsel Veronica Seeto and senior associates Katrina Monagle and Samantha Ferry.

Along with new partners Holly McAdam, Richard Morrison, Martin Taylor and Catherine Whitby now in the Canberra office, our expanded team brings extensive experience working in partnership with Commonwealth Government departments and agencies to help them achieve their objectives across all aspects of their operations.

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright announced today that four new partners will be joining its Canberra practice, bolstering the national government team by adding a wealth of experience advising government departments and agencies on major infrastructure, procurement projects and governance issues.  

The new partners are Holly McAdam, Richard Morrison and Martin Taylor from Sparke Helmore Lawyers, and Catherine Whitby from Clayton Utz. Holly will lead the Canberra office and team. The four new partners are expected to begin this calendar year. 

Holly McAdam 

Holly will join from Sparke Helmore, where she was a senior commercial lawyer primarily advising Commonwealth government departments and agencies on major acquisition and sustainment programs from the inception stage through to implementation. With more than 15 years of experience, she focuses on tendering and contracting activities from market engagement to tender evaluation processes and enforcing program contracts. She previously worked at Clayton Utz on a range of public and private sector matters concerning capability and technology projects. 

Richard Morrison 

Richard will join from Sparke Helmore, where he has worked as a commercial lawyer specialising in major procurement projects and dispute resolution. An efficient negotiator with over 20 years of experience advising the Commonwealth, he focuses on front-end matters including procurement, tendering and contracting; and pre-litigation disputes across the infrastructure and technology industries and major government departments. He previously held roles at the Australian Government Solicitor and Clayton Utz.

Martin Taylor

Martin will also join from Sparke Helmore, where he has focused on major infrastructure projects and construction work. He advises governments, statutory utilities and private developers on project procurement and delivery, and has worked on large Australian and international construction projects in the infrastructure, mining and energy sectors. He previously worked for Herbert Smith Freehills in London and for Minter Ellison.

Catherine Whitby

Catherine recently worked at Clayton Utz, where she was a senior lawyer in the public sector practice group. She focuses on statutory interpretation, privacy, administrative/public law and regulation, procurement, legislative drafting, compliance and governance, and regulatory law. She has previously worked in house with several large Commonwealth government departments.

Norton Rose Fulbright managing partner in Australia Wayne Spanner commented:

“We highly value our strong links to federal and state governments, supported by a large and diverse national government practice. The appointment of four high calibre government advisors, in Holly, Richard, Martin, and Catherine, demonstrates our ongoing commitment to these important relationships and to investing in a strong presence in Canberra to serve the federal government into the future.”

Norton Rose Fulbright head of government Michael Greene commented:

“We’re thrilled to be adding these four accomplished partners to Canberra, who bring with them decades of experience advising government and private sector clients on large-scale infrastructure and technology projects. Their strong history of advice across procurement, contracting, regulation, investigations and dispute resolution will only enhance our offering to existing and future clients and is a substantial boost to our Commonwealth Government practice.”

These appointments demonstrate the sustained investment the firm is making in its Australian partnership across priority industry areas. In the past year it has added corporate and M&A partners Gavin Scott, Natalie Lonergan, Jasmine Sprange, Martin Irwin, Adam Edelman and Shamim Razavi (from our Indonesian associate firm, TNB & Partners), who collectively have strong connections to the energy, resources and infrastructure industries. In August, the firm also announced that Paul Lingard and Miriam D’Souza will be joining as partners in the corporate and M&A team in Perth to advise the same industries.

In May, the firm grew its project finance capability with the appointment of new partner Chris Patten and the promotion of existing partner Jo Crew to the role of national head of the project finance practice.