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Law Squared opens in NZ, launches privacy and cyber group
One of Australia’s biggest NewLaw firms is expanding to New Zealand with the launch of a new privacy and cyber practice, to be led by BigLaw hires, one year after its expansion into the UK.
Jerome Doraisamy
In July of last year, Law Squared – which already had offices in Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney – expanded to the United Kingdom, with an office in London. Now, it is opening its first office in New Zealand and unveiling a dedicated privacy and cyber practice group.
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The group is set to be headed up by Mark Anderson, who comes across from the NZ arm of international firm Wotton + Kearney, where he was a cyber and insurance partner.
Also joining the new practice at Law Squared are Jon Crass, who most recently worked at another BigLaw firm, Sparke Helmore, as a senior associate; James Cole, former senior lawyer at Emergence Insurance and head of cyber and privacy at Albrecht Burrows; and Katherine Boyles, who has been with the NewLaw firm for over three years.
Mr Anderson is based in Auckland and will spearhead the firm’s NZ expansion, while Mr Cole will soon join the firm’s UK office, and Mr Crass and Ms Boyles will remain in Australia.
Law Squared’s new practice group, it said in a statement, will provide Australian, UK and New Zealand clients with end-to-end privacy and cyber risk management support, including risk identification, breach assessment and notification, incident response planning and management, post-incident review and remediation and cyber insurance coverage.
The news follows the firm’s recent addition of three new lawyers across Australia and London in April.
Speaking about the launch of the new practice and NZ presence, Law Squared founder and director Demetrio Zema said: “Since our expansion into the UK in July 2022, we’ve had significant interest from global clients, including insurers seeking dual and multi-jurisdictional support, particularly those requiring cutting edge privacy and cyber risk support.
“Numerous UK-based companies, including insurers, are now working with ANZ businesses. This, together with the recent surge in high-profile data breaches, has created new urgency for privacy and cyber security support.”
Mr Zema went on: “The addition of privacy and cyber specialist capability with Mark, Jon and James’ expertise boosts our ability to guide clients through the legal, regulatory and commercial challenges in this space – particularly those looking for true alternatives to traditional law firms not only in Australia or the UK, but now also in New Zealand.”
“The opening of a New Zealand office is a natural extension of our client service offering, mirroring the continued expansion of our multinational, corporate and in-house counsel clients to new jurisdictions,” he concluded.
Mr Anderson added: “Human-centred law is an apt distillation of what makes Law Squared unique. Having watched the firm’s success, I am not only excited to be part of the ongoing story, but to bring a more innovative, value-based legal engagement model to the New Zealand market.
“The delivery of an international legal privacy and cyber proposition that is not constrained by borders is critical to ensuring organisations are best positioned to protect and deliver to their own clients. I am delighted to sit with some of the best advisers as we move to a new unparalleled mode of legal services.”
