Legal
Issue No. 60 - August/ /
Fox Tucker grows its own way
When the South Australian Phillips Fox practice formally separated from the national DLA Phillips Fox network in 2009 it seemed an odd move, counter to the legal profession’s amalgamation trend.
Managing Partner, Joe DeRuvo says the separation was due to diverging strategy: a DLA Phillips Fox move into Asia was drawing much needed resources away from opportunities in SA.
“Once we separated financially, we had quite a large pool of money to play with,” Joe says. “That gave us the ability to really change our KPIs for partners and look at investing in our juniors.
“We had a lot of good senior associates that were knocking on the door and should have been made partner, but we were having some difficulty getting them across the line because of the national KPIs.”
A year after the separation, Fox Tucker was formed by a merger with tax and commercial specialist firm, Rankine Tucker.
Progress against the business plan for three to five years met its goals in the first year, with the practice growing 30% since the September 2010 merger.
“Response from clients and staff is a reflection that we have done the right thing going down the path we did,” Joe says.
“We are always seeking partners who are in the top of their field. In the past 12 months we have focused on areas where we have identified a lack of strength in the firm.”
“Real strength for us has been commercial litigation, insolvency and risk management and now we are strong in tax, corporate mergers and acquisition and China IPO and listings. We are developing our resources and property listing practice,” Joe says.
Recruiting noted corporate/governance and M&A practitioner, Brett Thornycroft from Minter Ellison was a significant coup and Fox Tucker is looking to recruit specialists in the Property and Resources areas. <...
