Established Melbourne law firm Mills Oakley is capitalising on its Melbourne success as it launches new offices in Sydney and Brisbane
Mills Oakley is an entrenched name in Melbourne legal circles. It has been in operation since 1863 and was founded on work performed for gold miners, business pioneers and early property developers. Today, with 3 capital city offices, 150 staff and a national client base, they are a leading mid-sized commercial law firm.
With the same spirit of adventure of its first clients, two new interstate offices have been opened over the last twelve months. Mills Oakley CEO, John Nerurker, 39, is passionate about how Mills Oakley has flourished of late.
When asked about the culture at Mills Oakley, Nerurker explains, "Our firm has a strong spirit of adventure and all partners have benefited from increasing our market share. One thing we all have in common is a strong sense of camaraderie and a commitment to delivering exceptional value to clients."
Before Mills Oakley set out on its eastern seaboard journey, there was significant rationalising and change at its Melbourne office as Nerurker set about assembling the right team with which to grow the firm.
He says, "Several new staff have joined the firm. With these appointments we have brought in new energy and fresh perspectives. There is now a strong and focused team with considerable 'bench strength' with which to keep moving forward."
Nerurker refers to Mills Oakley's Corporate Advisory practice as, "Probably Australia's fastest growing mid-sized corporate practice". When questioned about his firm's strategy, Nerurker explains, "We have been very successful attracting top-notch commercial lawyers that have placed us in an enviable position to compete for large commercial transactions, with the same level of expertise as the big law firms, but with a distinctly competitive cost advantage." The results have clearly paid off as Mills Oakley's Corporate Advisory division has grown into a 4 partner, 25 staff practice in the space of the last 21/2 years.
With several front page takeovers and large scale private equity acquisitions to their name, recent examples of Mills Oakley's work include:
* Sundowner Motor Inns Limited (ASX: SDR) advised on the takeover bid by Lend Lease REP2.
* Hastings Private Equity Fund and the MBO team advised on the sale of the issued share capital of Natra Group Limited to Adrad.
* Brumby's Bakeries currently advising the management team on their MBO bid (by way of scheme of arrangement).
Andrew Walker and Martin Checketts are two partners that Nerurker refers to as, "having left the top-tier and now working together at Mills Oakley, blending their experience to build a first class Corporate Advisory practice".
When asked about his partner, Andrew Walker states, "Martin and I go back a long time and understand each other well. I believe it has been our sense of co-operation and mutual respect for each other, combined with a strong work ethic that has allowed us to grow the practice so quickly."
Walker continues, "We have chosen all our staff carefully and well. Despite the employment market for quality staff being tight, we have been able to attract quality lawyers with high-end technical expertise that are looking to ply their trade in an environment that's both fun and stimulating to work in".
It has been on the back of this growth that Nerurker has been able to hang the firm's shingle up in Sydney and Brisbane. "We have ramped up our plans to continue attracting top quality lawyers. The intention is to position Mills Oakley as a genuine alternative to the top-tier by providing equivalent legal expertise, but with more partner contact and cost advantages obtained by a more realistic overhead infrastructure", he says.
Mills Oakley's Sydney success has been stellar. 10 months after first opening its doors, growth forced it to relocate to a 1000m2 office in the heart of the CBD - three times larger than its previous premises.
In Brisbane, the firm currently has 2 partners and has just secured premises in George Street, close to the courts and legal precinct.
"We are still working hard to continue to secure extra staff to service the growing demands of our offices in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane", says Nerurker.
"We are dedicated to becoming Australia's most successful medium-sized law firm and we're now well advanced in this mission. Seeing as we're only interested in hiring lawyers who share the same values and dedication to excellence, recruiting the right people takes a lot of time".
"In a competitive professional services environment, our major point of
differentiation is the quality of our people and we prefer to hand pick the lawyers we want to work with. Unlike a lot of our competitors we like to fish with a hook, not a net. That way we don't inherit any disenfranchised staff that could jeopardise the excellent working environments we've created."