Led by partner Ross Seller, who comes to the firm from Gadens Lawyers, the group will round out the service Abbott Tout can offer to its “expanding list of clients”, according to managing partner, Peter Noble.

Seller will be joined by senior associate Justin Rossetto, also from Gadens.

The creation of the new group was a natural move for Abbott Tout, which has a “strong commercial practice”, according to Seller.

“If you open The Australian Financial Review today, every transaction listed there has a tax consequence, and if you don’t understand that you can’t perform your corporate service properly,” he said.

He made the decision to leave Gadens, where he had been a partner for 10 years, after being approached by Abbott Tout, due to the difference in “attitude and philosophy” at the firm.

“Gadens has more of a banking and transactional practice and Abbott Tout has a stronger corporate practice — there’s more demand for (tax and revenue) services at Abbott Tout and the opportunity to build up a larger practice,” he said.

Seller has specialised predominantly in tax and corporate work. He began his career in the accounting profession and started to practise law in the late 1980s.

Rossetto has been with Abbott Tout since the end of last year and Seller moved across in January, with two more lawyers due to arrive from other firms, including Damien Henneken from Piper Alderman. The team will be completed by two junior lawyers from within Abbott Tout.

Seller and Rossetto have “hit the ground running”, with a task list including international work, complex trust work involving about “$20 million of income flowing through”, and work for one of Abbott Tout’s public company clients.