John Atanaskovic has seen many things during his time in private practice, from chasing fraudulent partners as managing partner at Allens to signing rugby league players for Rupert Murdoch's Super League. He tells Justin Whealing why, at 60, he still loves what he does.

John Atanaskovic

John Atanaskovic could not have imagined what lay ahead when he joined Allen Allen & Hemsley in 1990. He had already established himself as a partner for over one decade at Blake Dawson Waldron, but got itchy feet after speaking to Reg Barrett, now a NSW Supreme Court judge but then a senior partner at Allens. And while partners now change firms as often as European footballers change clubs, it was very unusual back then.

"The support for the corporate law partners at Blakes at the time was less than perfect," Atanaskovic says. "There were not a lot of senior associates to fall back on."

Barrett and Allens jumped at the chance to bring Atanaskovic across, as he was Rupert Murdoch's Australian lawyer of choice and also had an array of other corporate clients.

But if Atanaskovic thought life at Allens was going to be any easier, he was sadly mistaken. He was at the firm barely two years before one of the biggest scandals to hit the Australian legal profession broke.

Adrian Powles, the partner in charge of Allens' London office was found to have defrauded clients of the firm, of which he was once the managing partner, to the tune of $US40 million.

Atanaskovic, seen as a hard-nosed and practical lawyer, was enlisted by some of the senior partners, including Hugh Jamieson and John Lehane, to confront Powles, track down the missing money, forestall the Law Society from appointing a receiver to the firm, and help keep the firm afloat.

"I wasn't happy with the situation, obviously, but decided to take it on," Atanaskovic says. "We had to act quickly to save the firm, and that became my focus and I temporarily put client needs to one side to do that."

Atanaskovic says the stress of dealing with the Powles affair was "much more draining than any client matter, and nearly destroyed my marriage", and he was "almost worn out by it".

But when he was asked to become managing partner of Allens shortly after, he agreed.

Allens only just survived the Powles debacle, going on to become Allens Arthur Robinson and one of Australia's biggest and most successful firms. Yet Atanaskovic didn't stick around and in 1993 moved with fellow Allens partner Tony Hartnell to start Atanaskovic Hartnell (AH) with two other partners.

Most of his clients followed, including Rupert Murdoch who, when Atanaskovic told him he was starting his own firm, said; "that's fine John, but you will be taking me with you won't you"? Atanaskovic acted for News Corporation on a number of major matters over the next few years, including acting for Murdoch when he launched the rebel rugby league competition, Super League, in 1995.

He was instrumental in running the Federal Court case, which Super League won on appeal to the Full Federal Court, to allow the new competition to take place. On one memorable occasion, players from the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs even arrived en masse one evening to the offices of AH to sign contracts with the rebel league.

"There was no doubt that the Super League case was a fillip for the firm, and I was confident the whole way through we would win in the appeals stage after predictably losing before the trial judge," Atanaskovic says.

Atanskovic has certainly not shied away from controversial or high-profile clients.

He acted for James Hardie in negotiations with the NSW Government and the ACTU to establish a $3.5 billion asbestos injuries compensation fund, and also acted for four of the company's former non-executive directors, including Meredith Hellicar, in which the NSW Court of Appeal in December last year overturned previous bans and separate fines of $30,000.

So, does he ever baulk at acting for clients who are viewed as having acted reprehensibly by much of the public and media?

"I have a simple proposition that I live by, which is: 'how comfortable would I be if the story was on the front page of the major commercial newspaper?'" he says. "I am part of the everyday community as well, and I would not do something I am not comfortable with appearing on the front page," Atanaskovic says, noting that the Hardies directors he worked with acted in a "moral" way, and were paying for the decisions of previous boards in the 1970s and 80s, which Atanaskovic believes acted reprehensively.

In addition to the cases that involve a high level of media scrutiny, Atanaskovic has acted on a multitude of billion dollar corporate deals for a number of high-profile clients, such as Coca-Cola's response to a proposed $8 billion takeover by Lion Nathan/Kirin and the $20 billion merger and creation of the Westfield Group.

Atanaskovic has also twice successfully taken on the takeovers panel when acting for the Swiss commodities traders Glencore, with the Federal Court quashing the panel's orders that the company had failed to properly disclose equity swaps with investment banks.

Atanaskovic continues to act for Glencore, including with the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, in a battle to win control of the world's biggest nickel companies.

"Some of the big deals can be very boring, although working for Coca-Cola and Glencore is always very enjoyable," he says.

Blows from within

In addition to dealing with some high-profile cases and clients, Atanaskovic also had to deal with the defection of a number of partners from his firm.

In July 2006, three partners and seven lawyers, half of the firm at the time, left AH to form Chang, Pistilli & Simmons.

The founding partners of CPS subsequently initiated a claim against AH for $30,000 in unbilled legal fees. The NSW Local Court found against CPS in this matter and awarded costs to AH.

Far from acknowledging that this was a difficult period, Atanaskovic says that the departing lawyers "were not that important to the firm", with the majority of its blue-chip clients remaining (with Babcock & Brown the exception). Since then, the firm has grown and now has 10 partners and l5 lawyers, and expansion from the firm's Sydney base in the future is a distinct possibility.

Despite the litigation with CPS being put to bed and AH being in a sound position in the legal market, Atanaskovic says that retirement is not on his agenda.

"I still enjoy the commercial work greatly. I don't enjoy litigation quite as much, but clients tend come to me for both sorts of work, and one of the things I like best about this firm and my job, is that we have some of the best lawyers you could ever come across," he says. "I enjoy seeing the young lawyers come through, and seeing their intellect, energy and enthusiasm shine through. I find that most satisfying."