Login
Piper Alderman adds planning and environment team, and real estate partner, from McCabes
National law firm Piper Alderman has welcomed a planning and environment team and bolstered its partnership ranks with a new real estate partner from fellow BigLaw firm McCabes.
Jerome Doraisamy
Piper Alderman – which has offices in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney – has welcomed a planning and environment team from fellow national law firm McCabes.
To continue reading the rest of this article, please log in.
Create free account to get unlimited news articles and more!
Paul Vergotis, who was a principal at McCabes for more than six years, joins as a partner, bringing with him special counsel Alicia Chryssochoides and foreign legal associate Katherine Forster.
His team, which will be based in the Piper Alderman Sydney office, specialises in planning, environment and local government law, including litigation in the Land and Environment Court of NSW, compulsory acquisitions, civil and criminal prosecutions, heritage matters and due diligence advice work.
Speaking about his decision to join Piper Alderman, Mr Vergotis said that the BigLaw outfit, “as a full-service national law firm, offers great opportunities to expand and grow the planning and environment practice”.
“I am very much looking forward to providing clients with a complete and comprehensive planning and environment law offering,” he noted.
Piper Alderman managing partner Tony Britten-Jones added that he is “delighted to welcome Paul and his team to the firm”.
The firm has also appointed McCabes principal Marcus Andrews as a new partner for its Sydney-based real estate practice group.
Mr Andrews, who served as a partner at McCabes for over seven years, was a finalist in the real estate category at the 2021 Partner of the Year Awards. He specialises in complex property acquisitions and sales, specialist retail, commercial and industrial leasing, and compulsory acquisitions for government departments.
He brought across paralegal Kimberly Anthonissen with him to Piper Alderman, bringing the total number of hires from McCabes to five.
Commenting on his new role, Mr Andrews said: “Joining Piper Alderman presents a great opportunity to work with a well-recognised national commercial law firm that encompasses property, construction and planning law, and the ability to collaborate with some of the country’s most prominent corporate and commercial lawyers.”
Mr Britten-Jones said that Mr Andrews’ “experience and client base in Sydney will greatly strengthen our existing offering and complement our existing practice in commercial property development”.
Reflecting on the addition of the two principals from McCabes joining Piper Alderman as partners, he said that “Paul and Marcus have worked together for many years and we look forward to the new dynamic in our Sydney real estate team”.
Mr Vergotis and Ms Forster commenced their roles at Piper Alderman on Monday, 31 January, while Ms Chryssochoides starts on Monday, 7 February. Mr Andrews started earlier in January.
