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The addition of a Brisbane-based team will strengthen Sparke Helmore’s capabilities across property and development, commercial projects, infrastructure, and regulation.
Partner Tom Young and his team, including special counsel Julie Brown and Borhan Borhani, also have deep sector knowledge in tourism, aviation and transport.
National practice group leader for property, environment and finance, Wayne Kaplan, said Young was a “significant addition to our partnership, and we are pleased to welcome him”.
“His extensive experience advising major participants across the aviation, transport, tourism and property sectors broadens our capability in areas that are increasingly important to our clients.
“Tom’s cross-disciplinary practice, which spans both property and corporate advisory work, provides immediate benefits to our clients and further strengthens the firm’s position in key infrastructure, hospitality and real estate markets,” Kaplan said.
Young’s aviation practice has evolved with technology, now advising on drones, advanced air mobility, satellites and Australia’s emerging space industry.
He and his team have advised on drone operations, flying taxis and vertiports, satellite technologies, launch facility licenses, launch permits and other approvals for space activities.
Young said the Brisbane 2023 Olympic and Paralympic Games is a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” and “will touch almost every part of the economy, from infrastructure and property development through to tourism, hospitality, aviation and transport”.
He said the attraction to Sparke Helmore was the opportunity to bring them onto a “strong national Australian platform at precisely this point in Queensland’s development”.
“We want to help our longstanding clients identify and capture the opportunities that will emerge over the coming years, and to bring that same experience and energy to Sparke Helmore’s clients across the country,” Young said.
Brown has more than 25 years’ experience across real estate, aviation, tourism and hospitality, and has advised on airport development and operations, major property transactions, drones and advanced air mobility, and space law.
Borhani has over 14 years’ experience in major property transactions, development projects, infrastructure and complex tenure arrangements, having acted for major landlords, listed REITs banks, developers, and institutional owners.
Young said Sparke Helmore’s “client focus, collaborative culture and national reach” gives his team the opportunity to combine existing client relationships and the firm’s national capabilities.
“We are looking forward to working with the firm’s existing clients, introducing our clients to the broader capability of the firm and building something genuinely exciting over the years ahead,” Young said.
“What excites us is the intersection of all these areas. Property and infrastructure are changing, tourism is changing, and aviation is moving rapidly into technologies that barely existed as commercial propositions a decade ago.
“At the same time, Queensland has 2023 on the horizon. That creates a very unusual moment. We want to be working with clients at that intersection, helping them turn ideas and opportunities into projects that can actually be delivered.”
