Announcing its Australian entry, Allen & Overy senior partner David Morley said in a statement: "We see significant opportunities for high-end, cross-border M&A and finance work in the private and public sectors, particularly in the energy, mining and natural resources sectors."

The firm said analysis of the local market indicates there is space in the Australian legal sector for a smaller high-end law firm that is integrated into a broad global network.

The core practices of the firm will be in energy, mining and natural resources; finance; infrastructure; investment funds; M&A; private equity; tax; and telecoms, media and technology (TMT).

Clayton Utz has confirmed 14 of the departures. Chief executive partner David Fagan said in a statement he was disappointed with the moves, but added the firm was still in great shape.

"Partner movements such as this occur within the lifecycle of a firm. Clayton Utz is in excellent shape and continues to be one of the strongest performing firms in the market," the statement from Fagan said.

The founding partners of Allen & Overy's Australian practice are:

Sydney office:

Jason Denisenko, partner in the Corporate/Funds and Financial Products practice

Angela Flannery, partner in the Banking practice

Grant Fuzi, partner in the Banking practice

Sonia Goumenis, partner in the Banking/Structured Capital Markets practice

Jason Huinink, partner in the Banking practice

Barry Irwin, partner in the Corporate/Energy & Resources practice

Aaron Kenavan, partner in the Corporate/M&A practice

Grant Koch, partner in the Corporate/Private Equity practice

Michael Parshall, partner in the Corporate/M&A practice

Karolina Popic, partner in the Banking/Structured Capital Markets practice

Michael Reede, partner in the Corporate/Private Equity practice

Chris Robertson, partner in the Banking practice

Andrew Stals, partner in the Corporate/Tax practice

David Wilkie, partner in the Corporate/Funds and Infrastructure practice

Perth office:

Meredith Campion, partner in the Corporate/Energy & Resources practice

Geoff Simpson, partner in the Corporate/Energy & Resources practice

Peter Wilkes, partner in the Corporate/Energy & Resources and also Banking practice

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