At Allens, Lester will be specialising in corporate and finance matters.

He brings to the firm extensive local and international experience, having previously worked for Parker & Parker in Perth and for international giant Lovells in Hong Kong, Tokyo and London. His areas of expertise include mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity capital markets, structured finance and corporate finance.

The firm’s Perth practice director and partner Nic Tole said that the appointment would help boost Allens’ presence in what he described as “an emerging global centre”.

“Western Australia is attracting an ever increasing level of international investment and businesses here are working with overseas interests more and more. These changing market dynamics require law firms here to offer their clients both local and global solutions,” he said.

Lester is a highly recognised international lawyer who has received numerous accolades for his work, including being named one of Australia’s 10 most influential business people in Japan by The Australian, and as one of the top 40 international lawyers in “world shakers” list complied by The Lawyer.