Norton Rose Fulbright promotes six to the partnership in Australia

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright announced today that Steven Choi, Maija Kerry, Nicki Milionis, Tamlyn Mills, Rajaee Rouhani and Alexandra Shields will be promoted to partner on January 1, 2021.

The six lawyers advise in the areas of construction and engineering; corporate and commercial; dispute resolution and international arbitration; employment and labour, including occupational health and safety; and risk advisory. 

Norton Rose Fulbright managing partner in Australia Alison Deitz commented:

“The appointments of Steven, Maija, Nicki, Tamlyn, Rajaee and Alexandra build on our record of promoting a culturally and gender diverse range of talent into our partnership. I congratulate our new partners, who have proven themselves as skilled and trusted advisors, highly experienced in the industries in which their clients operate, and ideally placed to help them navigate the changes and opportunities ahead.”

Steven Choi 

Steven is a construction and engineering lawyer based in Sydney. He has acted for developers, contractors, sub-contractors and councils, advising them on a broad range of construction projects around Australia and overseas, with a focus on renewable energy, commercial and data centre projects.  

Steven has extensive experience in drafting and negotiating a wide range of project related agreements including bespoke EPC contracts and adapting and tailoring standard form contracts (such as Australian Standards and FIDIC) for the specific requirements of a project and client. He has also acted for clients in construction litigation matters and adjudications under the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999.

Maija Kerry

Maija is a corporate and commercial advisory lawyer based in Sydney. She has a general commercial practice, working closely with clients spanning a broad range of industries, but with a particular focus on life sciences and healthcare clients and clients that operate in consumer markets including retailers, manufacturers, ecommerce, FMCG and leading Australian and international brands. 

Maija advises her clients in relation to manufacturing/supply, services, outsourcing & procurement and sponsorship arrangements; franchising, licensing & distribution; corporate governance and consumer law issues. Practical, commercial and proactive, Maija works closely with her clients to ensure that her legal advice aligns with her clients’ commercial imperatives.   

Nicki Milionis

Nicki is an employment and labour lawyer based in Melbourne, practising exclusively in the area of work health and safety law. She advises on compliance issues, including the management of concurrent duties, incident notification obligations, drafting or amending procedures, and undertaking gap analysis and review of contractual terms. She regularly provides training to organisations about safety and compliance obligations, and to boards and officers in relation to due diligence obligations pursuant to safety legislation.

Nicki also advises clients during the course of regulatory investigations in order to effectively manage the response to the exercise of investigatory powers and the issue of enforcement notices. She represents clients in prosecutions and internal and external review of enforcement notices. Whether defending prosecutions or resolving compliance-based problems, Nicki brings her years of experience acting for government and the private sector and ensures that a strategic approach is tailored to a client's commercial needs and circumstances.

Tamlyn Mills

Tamlyn has in-depth experience in international commercial arbitration and commercial litigation with a focus on complex disputes. She has acted as counsel in foreign and domestic seated arbitrations both ad hoc and under the major arbitral rules and has significant experience enforcing arbitral awards in Australia.   Tamlyn regularly advises clients on effective dispute structuring and risk mitigation in commercial contracts and is effective at successfully facilitating the early resolution of disputes through mediation and other ADR mechanisms. Her practice has a strong cross-border element, particularly across the Asia Pacific region. 

As a litigator, Tamlyn has acted in a wide variety of commercial and corporate disputes, including shareholder class actions, contractual disputes, regulatory investigations and enforcement proceedings and shareholder, joint venture and director disputes. She is experienced at both trial and appellate level across various Australian jurisdictions and is well versed in the practice and procedure of state and federal courts.  Tamlyn has a depth of experience in mining and energy, having acted for both junior and established resource companies and energy majors, as well as clients in the financial services industry.

Rajaee Rouhani

Rajaee is a contentious (litigation & regulatory enforcement) lawyer with over 15 years’ experience. He has managed disputes and regulatory investigations in over 20 jurisdictions. He has worked in private practice and in-house roles in Australia, the Middle East and United Kingdom. Rajaee has in-depth experience in providing clients with strategic advice on regulatory inquiries and investigations. His core areas of focus are Anti-Money Laundering/Counter-Terrorism Financing (AML/CTF), sanctions, anti-bribery/corruption and governance/oversight. He also specialises in root-cause identification and remediation work.

Prior to joining the firm, from 2015 to 2019, Rajaee was co-legal head, Group Monitor Liaison Office, for HSBC Group in London. In this role, he co-led a team of lawyers across England, Hong Kong and the U.S. advising HSBC senior leadership at a global and country level on compliance with the U.S. Department of Justice 2012 Deferred Prosecution Agreement and on the implementation of global standards to manage financial crime risk across the organisation. Prior to that, Rajaee was HSBC’s head of litigation and regulatory enforcement for Middle East and North Africa.

Alexandra Shields

Alexandra is an employment and labour lawyer based in Sydney, with experience across all areas of employment, workplace relationships and industrial relations law for public and private sector clients. She has a particular focus on workplace litigation, including discrimination, sexual harassment and equal opportunity claims, unfair and unlawful dismissals and consumer law claims and has a very strong government practice. Alexandra has been praised for her practical and solutions-focussed approach, her responsiveness, the quality of her work and her quick-thinking.  

Alexandra regularly represents and advocates for clients in conciliations and hearings in various jurisdictions and her expertise include strategic employment, discrimination and industrial relations advice; advising on matters involving employee management and termination of employment strategies; workplace investigations; employment contracts and policies and conducting workplace training particularly in respect of workplace behaviour and organisational cultural reviews. Alexandra is passionate about issues relating to workplace diversity, inclusion and equal opportunity. She was listed in the Doyles 2020 Guide as a Rising Star in Employment and Labour.