The appointment is the latest in a series of senior hires as the firm looks to the future.

Nearly a decade on from Australia legalising same-sex marriage in 2017, it is tempting to assume that equality in the eyes of the law has been fully achieved. Marriage equality was a hard-won milestone, but from a family law perspective, many gaps remain for couples navigating property, parenting, and relationship breakdowns, writes Michael Tiyce.

While legal knowledge, experience, and accolades once defined who got hired, law firms are now rewriting the rules, elevating cultural fit and workplace alignment as the deciding factors in who gets hired and who gets left behind.

In a major overnight move, partners at global law firm Ashurst and US-headquartered BigLaw firm Perkins Coie gave the green light for a merger set to create a combined powerhouse of around 3,000 lawyers and US$2.8 billion in revenue.