A&O Shearman has handed the co-managing partner reins for Australia to competition and regulatory specialist Peter McDonald, effective 1 July 2026.

McDonald joins David Jenaway, who continues as co-managing partner, to lead the firm’s Australian practice. He takes over from Jason Denisenko, who’s held the role since 2013 and will remain with the firm as an FSR partner.

And he isn’t shy about taking on the local market. “Some of those independent Australian law firms are strong, but sitting here, I like our strength better,” McDonald says.

That strength, he says, comes from being “right-sized”, with 30 local partners out of a global headcount of 4,000 who can “do deals and litigation and regulatory matters of almost any size in Australia”. With corporate clients grappling with complex cross-border issues, McDonald says the firm’s footprint across Europe, Asia and the US gives it the edge.

Of course, part of that edge comes from the merger with US giant Shearman & Sterling. According to Jenaway, the other co-managing partner, A&O led the way for a wave of mergers across the market.

“A&O was the first integrated magic circle firm to come into the Australian market. Then we had our merger with Shearman, and it’s not that long thereafter that you know, Freehills went with Kramer and Ashurst started looking to link up. We’ve picked the trends in the market for the types of firm we're trying to be.”

McDonald is based in Sydney and leads the firm’s competition team across APAC. He specialises in merger clearances, joint ventures, access to infrastructure and enforcement responses, and joins the leadership team after a stint as a senior officer at the ACCC.

The appointment caps a year of heavy investment in A&O Shearman’s Australian practice, with five new partner hires across Sydney and Perth.

Source: A&O Shearman, AFR