Mallesons Stephen Jaques can trace its history back to a Londoner who had the good sense to chase some better weather, a little opportunity and a new life on the other side of the world.

That Londoner, Alfred Brooks Malleson, borrowed ten pounds from his uncle to make the trip to Melbourne in 1856. The investment paid off: Just a few short years after arriving, he quickly earned a reputation as one of the city's best lawyers. At that point, his firm also handled the legal work surrounding the start of the National Bank Of Australasia (now NAB) in 1858, and has severed the bank ever since.

In the meantime, well a little earlier in 1849, Montague Stephen was busy building a Sydney practice, and working with key client, the Australian Mutual Provident Society, now known as AMP. Alfred Jaques later entered the Sydney equation as a partner in 1878, with the firm being known as Stephen Jaques & Stephen until the early 1980s.

In 1974, Stephen Jaque & Stephen commenced the merger activity that would eventually cement the firm as it's known today by merging with Davies Bailey & Cater in Canberra. In 1976, the firm established a London office then, four years, later, merged with Stone James of Perth - a firm established in 1832 by Western Australia's first solicitor, Alfred Stone. Finally, in 1987, the by then known Stephen Jaques Stone James merged with the Melbourne-based Mallesons to create Mallesons Stephen Jaques. The rationale, according to the firm at the time, was that Sydney and Melbourne had finally become one legal market.

The firm first entered Asia via Hong Kong in 1989. Since then, it has established a number of other offices and associations with firms like Posman Kua Aisi Lawyers in Papua New Guinea and by merging with Kwok & Yih in 2004

Total staff: 186 partners, 1000 lawyers and 1800 employees in total.

Office locations: Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, Canberra, Hong Kong, London, Beijing, Shanghai

Click on the covers to explore the story of how each of these now national firms expanded across the continent: