Occupational health and safety lawyer Penny Stevens will join Middletons as a partner and leader of the firm's workplace relations team, bringing 16 years of experience in the area.

Stevens will be joined by special counsel Nicole Fauvrelle, senior associate Kim Grady and lawyer Sam Jackson.

"Middletons is now one of the largest workplace relations and safety practices by number of lawyers in Australia," said head of Middletons workplace relations and safety group, Gerard Phillips.

"In terms of quality, legal practitioners simply don't come any better than Penny and her team. Penny has for a long time been the pre-eminent occupational health and safety practitioner in Victoria."

The firm's workplace and safety group now consists of nine partners nationally and over 40 staff.