A commercial property specialist, Johnson has joined Mills Oakley to start a new property practice as part of the firm's plans to expand its market share in Brisbane.

Having spent four years at Holding Redlich and 11 years at Allens Arthur Robinson prior to that, Johnson said it was time to move.

"The timing was perfect for this [move] because I don't think there was much more room for me to grow at Holding Redlich. So it was good for me to make the transition," he explained.

The plans for the Brisbane office, according to Johnson, are to replicate the successes that the firm has had in Melbourne and Sydney by making lateral appointments of partners in key practice group areas to add to their existing capacity in Melbourne and Sydney.

Johnson said he was particularly attracted to Mills Oakley's plans to establish national practice groups and to develop the national branding for the property group with the firm's property group team leader, James Price.

"For me it was a greenfield opportunity to set up a practice with a strong team which I had built over the last four years at Holding Redlich," Johnson said.

"The beautiful thing about moving to a new practice area and a new division of a firm is that it un-taps an area of the firm that hasn't been serviced before, so you get all the internal and southern referrals which is fantastic."

Johnson said he and his team are looking forward to growing and taking on the "critical mass of property work" which had not been done simply because the firm did not have the people.

Commenting on the appointment, Mills Oakley chief executive officer John Nerurker said in a statement: "Andrew brings together the right mix of astute legal skills, commercial understanding and industry knowledge...He and his team fit perfectly with our strategy of hiring experts. We are very excited about working together."

- Briana Everett