The Brief:
Piper Alderman hires Mason Fettell and his team from DWF to grow its national Employment Relations practice in Brisbane.
The move follows the firm’s new leadership trio setting its sights on the top tier, and last year’s six-partner raid on Squire Patton Boggs.
Piper Alderman has bolstered its national Employment Relations practice, appointing Mason Fettell as a partner in its Brisbane office.
The appointment
Fettell joins from DWF, where he was Principal Lawyer and Head of Employment, and brings his whole team with him: Senior Associates Kelvin Lee and Ashleigh O’Connor, Associate Sarah Kneipp and Paralegal Angelique Seinin.
The team brings deep experience across employment, workplace health and safety, and regulatory matters, spanning industrial relations disputes, workplace investigations, WHS incident response and prosecutions, enterprise bargaining and the management of ill and injured workers.
The firm’s national Employment Relations bench now spans Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney, giving the firm consistent coverage on federal employment law alongside jurisdiction-specific WHS matters.
The backdrop
The hire lands as Piper Alderman pushes to take on the top tier. The firm recently replaced its long-serving head partner with a new leadership trio, who are vowing to take on the traditional top tier through “quality” hires and by picking up work from offshore firms.
The strategy is already in play. Last year, Piper Alderman poached six partners from Squire Patton Boggs, bringing 16 people across and lifting the firm’s partnership to 90.
Source: Piper Alderman