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Law firm cements 2nd merger in 6 months
An Australian law firm has growth aspirations front of mind, effectively completing a merger with a second boutique practice in a matter of six months.
Emma Musgrave
Velocity Legal has confirmed its combination with Melbourne-headquarted specialist employment firm, WestmoreJacobs. The move sees senior adviser Adam Colquhoun, senior associate Katherine Stewart and paralegal Fiona Bucknall join the fold.
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Velocity Legal director Scott McKenzie said the merger with WestmoreJacobs creates an expansion into another practice area for Velocity Legal.
“Velocity Legal now has deep expertise in employment law,” he said. “It was a natural fit after many years of working closely together on complex employment matters.”
Separately from the merger, Velocity Legal has also had directly acquired three new team members. Greg Thomas joins a director of the firm, while Jessica Hill and Alexandra Stapleton join as special counsel and associate, respectively.
“They bring a wealth of experience in commercial law, franchising, litigation, employment law, education law and estate planning,” Mr McKenzie said.
“Another set of familiar faces with a long-standing track record of working together.”
The merger between Velocity Legal and WestmoreJacobs comes after the former merged with Atticus Lawyers in September 2020. The merger gives Velocity further scope in commercial law, tax law, property law, estate planning, litigation and disputes and insolvency law.
“Atticus and Velocity have worked successfully together over the past three years, and during that time we’ve built a strong relationship of mutual trust and respect,” a statement from the firm said at the time.
“Good people are hard to find, so for us, it was a no-brainer – why not bring the family together under one roof and make it official.”
Velocity Legal has had a supercharged growth strategy since it was founded by Mr McKenzie, along with managing director John Storey and directors Andrew Henshaw and Rajan Verma, in 2016.
The firm, which is adamant about breaking free from the “old-school” law firm model, expanded its eastern seaboard presence in 2019 with the launch of a new Sydney practice and appears to show no signs of slowing down.
“The decision to open an office in Sydney was based on a couple of factors,” Mr Henshaw told Lawyers Weekly at the time.
“Firstly, we have a strong presence in Melbourne, however because the majority of our legal work is based on national areas of law (e.g. tax and corporate law), we have clients based all over Australia.
“In particular, as our firm has grown, the number of clients based in Sydney (or that have business operations in NSW) has also grown. Committing to a physical presence in Sydney will allow us to better service our existing NSW clients, and attract more NSW-based clients.”
Are you looking to launch your own practice but not sure where to start? Lawyers Weekly’s Boutique Law Summit returns to Sydney this month, designed for individuals who are looking to maximise their competitive edge in a post-pandemic marketplace.
The event will be held on Friday, 26 March at the Four Seasons Hotel with a full agenda available to view here. To learn more about the event, click here.
