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NRF cyber team, including 2 Aussie partners, joins A&O
Global law firm Allen & Overy has appointed a five-strong international partner team of cyber security incident response experts, which includes two Australia-based partners.
Jerome Doraisamy
Five cyber security incident response partners – who are based in London, Sydney, Perth, and New York – have left global firm Norton Rose Fulbright to join BigLaw rival Allen & Overy.
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Of the five partners based across the United States, United Kingdom, and Asia-Pacific region, Anna Gamvros and Ross Phillipson work in Sydney and Perth, respectively.
Ms Gamvros is set to lead A&O’s Asia-Pacific privacy and cyber practice. Prior to joining the global firm, she served at NRF for eight years, including as its head of data protection, privacy and cyber security for APAC, in Hong Kong.
Mr Phillipson was at NRF for three years, including seven months as a partner. Prior to this, he was at Procter & Gamble for approximately 16 years and had stints as a senior director, associate general counsel, and senior legal counsel.
Joining the five partners at A&O are a London-based counsel and eight associates. Lawyers Weekly has reached out to A&O about whether any of those associates are Australia-based.
In a statement, A&O said the increasing sophistication of cyber security threats – when combined with the rapid global growth in data privacy laws and rising levels of follow-on litigation – creates significant legal and regulatory risk for businesses. Cyber attacks can also cause extensive financial and reputational damage, and the new team’s “crisis response expertise, combined with A&O’s existing capabilities in data privacy, technology, and litigation, will provide clients with an integrated, global cyber security solution as part of an unrivalled, holistic data offering”.
The news follows the approval of A&O’s merger with fellow BigLaw practice Shearman & Sterling in October, which was first announced back in May. The merger will see the combined entity boast almost 4,000 lawyers combined, including 800 partners globally, across 48 offices.
Speaking about the appointment of the team, A&O global co-heads of litigation Karen Seward and David Esseks said: “The global risk landscape is fast-evolving and increasingly complex. We are completely focused on helping our clients to navigate it as smoothly as possible.
“The team has extraordinary expertise in cyber security that will add to our existing data offering to provide clients with the world’s best advisors.”
