Bakers has lured back construction specialist Alex Hartmann, after his six-year stint at DLA Phillips Fox. Hartmann will join as a partner in Sydney.

His experience includes advising on the Emirates Hotels' Wolgan Valley resort and the South Improvement Alliance for the ARTC-funded Melbourne-to-Sydney Rail Corridor Upgrade.

Meanwhile, the firm's Melbourne office has welcomed back Nicholas Grambas, who rejoins the firm from Macquarie Group. At Macquarie, Grambas was an executive director, and most recently, the head of Macquarie Capital Funds (Middle East) based in Abu Dhabi.

Grambas started his legal career at Bakers in 1986 and worked for more than 10 years as a partner at Freehills, and for three years in London at Magic-Circle firms Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Linklaters.

Also joining the firm's Melbourne office is former Blake Dawson special counsel John Mollard, who will work in the corporate and securities team. Mollard has significant Asian law experience, and worked in South-East Asia and China for more than 10 years.

He has worked on a range of cross-boarder transactions throughout the Asia-Pacific region, including China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, the Phillipines and Brunei. At Blakes, he specialised in Australian M&A, with a focus on the energy and resources sector.