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.
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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.
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.
Jerome Doraisamy
Jerome Doraisamy is the editor of Lawyers Weekly. A former lawyer, he has worked at Momentum Media as a journalist on Lawyers Weekly since February 2018, and has served as editor since March 2022. He is also the host of all five shows under The Lawyers Weekly Podcast Network, and has overseen the brand's audio medium growth from 4,000 downloads per month to over 60,000 downloads per month, making The Lawyers Weekly Show the most popular industry-specific podcast in Australia. Jerome is also the author of The Wellness Doctrines book series, an admitted solicitor in NSW, and a board director of Minds Count.
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