Most of the foundation team have worked together for years at their former firm, K&L Gates, the new firm said in a statement.

Speaking about the launch, Kingston Reid managing partner Alice DeBoos said, “Our name is new but our experience and our collective footprint in the Australian market [are] anything but.”

“Our new firm is founded by myself and eight other deeply experienced partners who have all been at the forefront of some of Australia’s most significant employment, workplace health and safety, and industrial relations matters,” she said.

The firm’s name is inspired by the legacy of Charles Kingston and George Reid, Ms DeBoos continued, who established legislative framework for Australia’s workplaces in 1904.

The firm’s mission is to provide uncomplicated, insightful and visionary employment, workplace relations and safety law advice, delivered with an uncompromising focus on delighting clients, the statement continued.

“Our brand is unashamedly bold, timeless, colourful and unique. It symbolises unconventional ideas, innovation, and our energy, which, combined, will enable us to create a superb culture and an exceptional experience for our clients and our people,” said Ms DeBoos.

The firm will work with clients to address their most pressing workplace law matters “and navigate the issues that matter the most”, it said, and represent employers in all workplace-related jurisdictions across all industries, including government, construction, ports and logistics, manufacturing, utilities, retail, banking and finance, professional services, IT and health.

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“Our expertise is in working with Australian employers to design and implement cutting-edge workplace strategies which help facilitate their operational needs, navigate important safety matters, and tackle challenging compliance issues – not to mention run and defend all litigation,” Ms DeBoos said.

The firm intends to grow in the future both in respect of its business offering as well as its size, with Ms DeBoos noting: “We think a lot of top talent will see the benefits of working in a nimble specialist domestic firm that is able to diversify as well as handle the most complex legal work in the market.”

“Our move to establish Kingston Reid is not about doing different work or servicing different clients than we previously have; it’s about creating a specialist environment focused solely on the issues facing employers in the workplace,” she added.

“We’ve come from one of the best law firms in the country and now want to apply that experience to creating a platform that only focuses on the world of workplaces, with an uncompromising commitment to client service.

“We also know that where our clients need support in other areas of law outside of our focus, we will have the benefit of strong and continuing relationships with K&L Gates.”