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Specialist disputes, regulatory and insolvency boutique Ironbridge Legal has appointed Ava Bentley as partner, bringing to the firm a commercial and insurance litigator who has also worked in in-house legal, governance and risk roles.
Bentley is an experienced senior lawyer whose career spans private practice as a commercial and insurance litigator and in-house legal, governance and risk roles. The firm said this experience gives her a unique combination of experience across law, enterprise risk and corporate governance.
Her expertise covers commercial and insurance litigation and advisory, insurance policy interpretation and indemnity, dispute resolution, regulatory compliance and corporate governance.
She has come across from Pinsent Masons Vario, where she served as a consultant lawyer since late 2023. Prior to this, she was the group chief legal and risk officer and company secretary at Virtus Health.
The appointment follows the appointment of partner Candy Lau, who came across from global firm Norton Rose Fulbright in April.
It also reflects, the firm said, a broader strategic direction at Ironbridge Legal – growth, but on its own terms, selective and senior, and aimed at sharpening the firm’s edge at the top end of the market. Speaking about the appointment, Ironbridge Legal founder and managing partner Trevor Withane said it is entirely aligned with that vision.
“Every senior appointment sharpens the firm,” Withane said.
“Ava has been the person directors and businesses turn to when a matter turns serious, and she has done it across regulated, ASX-listed and multi-jurisdiction businesses. That perspective is rare in a disputes practice.”
“She has managed legal risk and litigation from the client’s side of the table, so she knows what a contested matter demands of a company and its board, and what it demands of its advisers.”
Bentley said joining Ironbridge was as much about the firm’s focus as its ambition.
“The advice that matters most is advice that is commercial and useful on the day it is needed,” she said.
“Ironbridge is built around that. It is senior-led, it knows precisely what it does best, and it holds itself to a high standard of execution.”
“I have spent my career inside organisations where legal, risk and governance decisions carry real consequences as well as working extensively as a litigator in private practice. I am excited to bring all of that experience to clients when matters are contested, and to work with a team that is strategic, commercial and operationally grounded.”
The firm said Bentley’s experience will help clients who face a contested matter and want external counsel who understands how the issue looks from the boardroom and from their own perspective. The timing, it added, reflects the firm’s momentum, as it invests in its people, its reputation and the way it delivers for clients.
Lau said Bentley’s background complements the firm’s regulatory and governance capability.
“Regulators, boards and counterparties all expect organisations to get governance and risk right, and when that breaks down, a dispute is rarely far behind,” she said.
