HWL Ebsworth Lawyers will launch a new office in Perth on 1 July 2013, when local firm Downings Legal and its staff will join the fold. Downings Legal is a full service WA practice which dates back over 100 years and HWL has also announced plans to expand this practice.

“In the coming months, we will look to further enhance our Western Australian offering with the recruitment of additional leading partners in key areas of law of importance to our client base,"  HWL Ebsworth managing partner Juan Martinez said in a statement.

When the new Perth operation is on board, HWL Ebsworth will consist of 766 staff, including  154 partners and 357 other lawyers. The firm now has offices in Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney  CBD, Western Sydney and Perth.  HWL is originally a Melbourne firm, but has expanded rapidly from its home base in recent years.  The Canberra office was the firm’s penultimate acquisition and was launched in 2011 with six partners from DLA Piper.

“We are delighted to be joining a firm that is so closely aligned culturally and strategically with Downings Legal,” said Downings Legal managing partner Mitch Artus. “The success of both firms has been based on the principles of offering commercially and technically outstanding legal advice and unsurpassed value for money. Moving to HWL Ebsworth enables us to continue to service our clients in this way, whilst offering access to a more extensive range of market leading specialists across Australia."

Downings Legal partners who will be moving to HWL as part of this move are Mitch Artus, Andrew Davidson, Joyce Chin, Keith Thomas, Lynnette Goh and Veronica Jumeaux.