Shearwood specialises in the structuring and establishment of retail and wholesale investment funds, M&A, equity capital markets, financial services law and corporate governance.

HWL has also picked up a banking & finance partner in Sydney. Paul Gatward joins the firm from Clayton Utz, where he worked for 19 years, seven of them as a partner. Gatward has advised several large listed entities on the restructuring of their debt portfolios, and has also advised on complex financial products and securities structuring.

This week the firm also appointed three new partners to its insurance practice.

Insurance partner Andrew Cheetham has joined HWL in Brisbane along with a team of lawyers from his former firm, Cooper Grace Ward. He brings special counsel Craig McIver, senior associate Kristi Riedel and solicitors Catherine Allen and Emma Wilkins.

Meanwhile, in Sydney, HWL has hired two insurance partners from Piper Alderman, Scott Hay and David Andersen, who both specialise in dust disease.

The insurance practice also received a boost in August last year with the hire of partner David Guthrie to the firm’s Melbourne office.

More recently, the firm picked up three corporate partners from Thomsons Lawyers: Sydney-based dispute resolution partner Craig Powell joined HWL in February, along with franchising partner Sean O’Donnell and information and communications technology specialist Brendon Noney, the two latter based at HWL’s Norwest office.

In October, HWL made another high-profile hire when it brought on Melbourne banking & finance partner Gillad Dalal, who left Norton Rose Fulbright after more than 12 years with the firm.

That month, HWL also dropped finance partner Alan Maclean, who defected to K&L Gates.

Lawyers Weekly exclusively revealed this month (14 Febuary) that Herbert Geer, which recently announced a merger with Thomsons Lawyers, also met HWL head Juan Martinez for a coffee last year.