David Woodford has joined GrilloHiggins from HWL Ebsworth Lawyers where he worked as a Partner in the Corporate team. David advises various listed and unlisted companies across a wide range of industries such as energy and resources, retail, financial services, property development and health and nutrition.
Woodford said “GrilloHiggins’ profile in Capital Markets and Mergers & Acquisitions in the public and private sectors is unique in its combination of expertise, accessibility and adaptability in the current commercial climate. This combination was particularly appealing to me and I am looking forward to contributing to the future growth of GrilloHiggins”.
The appointment of David follows the recent acquisition of Ashleigh Le as a Senior Associate. Ashleigh brings a wealth of experience in mergers and acquisition and most recently has been in the role as General Counsel at Sushi Sushi where she oversaw its acquisition by private equity. Prior to that, Ashleigh was a Senior Associate in the Corporate team at a national law firm.
The firm is also pleased to announce that from the 17 February 2020 it officially commenced operations in Perth. Heading up the new Perth office will be Tony Petani, who will return to Western Australia after building a diverse practice in Melbourne over the past 13 years. Tony’s expertise covers M&A, capital raising, IP and general corporate and commercial work over a range of industries including energy and resources, technology, medical, entertainment and finance.
Tony will continue to serve Melbourne clients whilst developing new business on the West Coast. He will also continue to serve on the Board of the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts
Partner Alfonso Grillo said, “The targeted expansion of our team is exciting, and we look forward to David and Ashleigh enhancing our growing profile in mergers & acquisitions and equity capital markets in Melbourne. Having worked with David at our previous firm, we tracked his rapid development. It is especially pleasing to be working on several current and prospective commercial projects with David again”.
Grillo said of their expansion into Perth “We are tremendously excited about the continued growth in the GrilloHiggins brand. We have historically had a strong practice serving resources and energy clients, and WA has featured heavily in that. We are excited to continue that work, but also tap into other industries emerging in Perth, particularly in the technology space. Tony is very well suited to serve those clients.”