Christopher Rowden, global construction practice partner and head of the Brisbane office for HFW
UK-based Holman Fenwick Willan (HFW) has launched an office in Brisbane, Queensland, led by newly hired partner Christopher Rowden, to expand its international construction practice across the region.
“Brisbane has become an increasingly important shipping and logistics hub for the east coast of Australia to support Queensland’s mining and infrastructure development, as well as providing a feeder base for Papua New Guinea’s oil and gas and mining projects, and the South Pacific islands and Oceania generally,” Gavin Vallely, HFW’s managing partner in Australia told Asia Business Law Journal.
He said Brisbane also presented opportunities for the firm and its clients in aerospace, commercial litigation and funding, energy and resources, environmental, and insolvency and restructuring.
This move further expands the firm’s presence in Australia, adding to established offices in Sydney, Perth and Melbourne.
Rowden joined the firm in October alongside special counsel Jason Pungsornruk and Thomas Law, senior associate Samantha Fry and associate William Lowes. He previously served at a principal at Australian firm CDI Lawyers for eight years.
Rowden had a remarkable career in building a substantial construction practice, specialising in complex arbitration, adjudication and litigation matters often with a cross-border element concerning issues such as termination, delay, disruption, quantum, defects and related technical disputes, said Vallely.
He also advised clients on project delivery and front-end matters on major projects throughout Australia and Asia, added Vallely.
In Rowden’s previous role, he acted for a joint venture between Australian engineering group Monadelphous Engineering and Muhibbah, a Malaysian engineering construction company, in recovering around USD131 million in one of Australia’s largest yet adjudication disputes concerning the Wiggins Island Coal Export Terminal in Gladstone.
“Our immediate priority will be supporting the successful transition of Chris [Rowden’s] practice, then to build from that base,” Vallely told ABLJ.
Vallely also said Queensland was the second most resource-rich state in Australia after Western Australia with exceptionally strong coal (thermal and metallurgical) and gas exports, which, with other mineral exports, had comprised the single largest contributor to the Queensland economy in recent years.
Other major economic contributors were the construction, agriculture and tourism segments, with the latter increasingly supported by a rapidly growing cruise sector and all of these industries were closely aligned with the firm’s practice areas, said Vallely.
He said the firm’s strategic growth would always be driven by client need and they had several clients with either their head offices or substantial enterprises in Queensland. The establishment of the Brisbane office would enhance their service offering to these clients and present HFW as a truly national firm in Australia, added Vallely.
Currently, the firm had no plans to open additional offices in Australia, said Valley.
He said its focus was on growing its regional business in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region through its current network, which included offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Shanghai.
