Jones Day has expanded its footprint in Australia further with a third office in Brisbane and the hire of Australian firm McCullough Robertson’s chairman Brett Heading.
Jones Day’s new Brisbane office will be led by John Cooper, formerly an Allens partner in Sydney who joined the US firm in 2013. He was most recently the partner in charge of Jones Day’s Perth office, which was opened in 2014. Cooper has acted on many major construction disputes in Australia and is presently representing clients in disputes on major coal seam gas and coal projects in Queensland.
The new office will initially focus on M&A, projects and project-related disputes, and on the natural resources, construction, transport and agriculture sectors.
As part of the new office launch, Jones Day has appointed former McCullough Robertson chairman Brett Heading as a partner in Brisbane. Heading has 30 years of experience in M&A transactions and capital raisings, particularly in the energy, natural resources and agricultural sectors.
“Opening in Brisbane reflects the firm’s ongoing commitment to Australia, Australia’s role in the global economy, and the importance of Queensland as a strategic source of energy, natural resources, and agricultural products for the growing Asian economies,” said Stephen Brogan, Jones Day’s managing partner.
The Brisbane launch and the latest partner hire follow the recent appointment of M&A partner Mark Crean in Sydney, who was the former deputy senior partner of Herbert Smith Freehills.
The Brisbane office is Jones Day’s third location in Australia, following the opening in Sydney in 1998 and in Perth in 2014.