Allen & Overy Australia managing partner Grant Fuzi has predicted that a second Magic Circle firm will arrive in Australia "by the end of the calendar year". Fuzi told ALB that his prediction was not based on inside information, but on his assessment of the Australian market.

"I can only judge by what we're seeing on the ground," he said. "But I look at the positive response we're getting from the market and the people that we want to hire and the strategic rationale underpinning the decision to invest in Australia. This rationale is real and sustainable. I'm sure many are watching and listening and trying to get feedback on how A&O is going in the market; and if they're getting the same messages that I'm getting, they would be thinking about it."

While Fuzi is often credited with spearheading A&O's entry into Australia, he said that the extent of his involvement had its limits: "A&O would have opened in Australia with or without me," he said. "The research and analysis that A&O did into the Australian legal market was totally independent of myself and it was the answers to those questions which drove the board and partnership to make the strategic decision to invest in Australia."

Grant Fuzi was speaking with ALB as part of the ALB-LexisNexis Managing Partner Series. This interview will appear in full in issue 8.9 of ALB magazine.

Related stories:
The Real North Face