King & Wood Mallesons has bolstered its leading competition practice with the lateral hire of Stephen Ridgeway, one of Australia’s preeminent and most respected competition lawyers.
Stephen will join the firm’s Melbourne office from Ashurst (formerly Blake Dawson) where he was a leading partner in their competition group, acting for several public companies in all areas of competition and consumer legal cases, including merger and joint venture approvals, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) investigations, litigation and compliance advice.
Stephen’s strong track record and wealth of experience will complement King & Wood Mallesons heavyweight competition practice which is recognised for successfully managing high profile and complex competition cases and responding to regulatory investigations and enforcement actions.
The hire of such a renowned practitioner is a ringing endorsement of the King & Wood Mallesons brand which was launched to the market on 1 March of this year, combining Australia’s leading law firm and China’s leading law firm to create a powerful new global legal brand anchored in the Asian region. King & Wood Mallesons also recently announced the lateral hire of leading M&A partner Peter Stirling from Ashurst, who joined the firm this month.
“The appointment of Stephen, on top of recent lateral hires, is further proof of the level of confidence from the market in our strategic direction and the market reputation of our competition and energy & resources practices. Mr Ridgeway is a significant addition to the depth of our regional offering in key growth areas,” said Tony O’Malley, Managing Partner Australia.
Stephen has had an illustrious career, before joining Ashurst he was a senior advisor to the ACCC where he specialised in cartel prosecutions. He is also the Chairman of the Competition and Consumer Committee of the Law Council of Australia.
