The roots of Minter Ellison stretch back almost 200 years. In the 1820's, a group of practitioners in Sydney ultimately morphed into Minter Simpson by the start of the 20^th Century, while in Melbourne, the Englishman John Ellison began practicing in the 1860's.

Following a succession of mergers, the modern name of Minter Ellison was first used in the late 1980's in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, with further law firm mergers Brisbane and Perth seeing local firms come into the Minter Ellison fold by the early 1990's.

Today, it stands as one of Australia's largest firms, with almost 1000 lawyers and 296 partners spread across 12 offices in Australia, Asia and London, with a further two offices with its associated firm, Minter Ellison Rudd Watts in New Zealand.

While it is a big player in the Australian legal landscape, the arrival of bigger global firms into the Australian market over the last few years has provided an emerging challenge for a national firm that has been built up studiously over 190 years.

"A lot of the consolidation of the emergence of national firms happened in the 1980's and 1990's, says Minter Ellison chief executive partner John Weber. "What we are seeing now globally and regionally is the next extrapolation of that."

Weber says that with Minter Ellison' Asian offices and presence "it hasn't been a national firm for 30 years", and that international offices such as in Hong Kong are becoming an increasingly important part of the firm's long-term strategy and revenue stream.

"We see regional development as very important, and being a senior regional firm is part of our ongoing strategy."

Total staff: 59 partners, 121 lawyers plus support staff

Locations - Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Darwin, Gold Coast, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, Auckland, Wellington, Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, London

Click on the covers to explore the story of how each of these now national firms expanded across the continent: