corporate and commercial key people richard spurio managing partner ian wallace chairman of partners date founded 1822 company type partnership website www.allens.com.au allens is an international commercial law firm that operates in the asia pacific region . in australia and throughout the asia pacific region generally it is considered to be one of the most prestigious commercial law firms . 1 its alumni include a former australian prime minister high and supreme court justices a former president of the world bank and asx 200 c suite executives . allens is one of the largest law firms in the asia pacific region with almost 200 partners and more than 1500 personnel . since 1 may 2012 allens has operated in association with magic circle law firm linklaters giving allens access to linklaters global network of offices . allens also comprises a separate patent attorney firm allens patent & trade mark attorneys which is closely integrated with the law firm s intellectual property group . contents 1 history 1.1 foundation of the firm 1.2 consolidation of the allens practice 1920 to 1975 1.3 client relationships 1.4 the allens affair 1.5 allens in victoria 1.6 alliance agreement with linklaters 2 corporate art collection and involvement with the arts 3 notable alumni 4 references 5 external links history edit foundation of the firm edit deutsche bank place allens sydney office allens origins can be traced to the sydney firm that became allen allen & hemsley which had been in existence since 1822 making allens australia s longest continuous legal partnership . 2 former managing partner sir norman cowper is credited with developing allens into one of asia s leading law firms 3 consolidation of the allens practice 1920 to 1975 edit by the early 1920s allens had gained a reputation as australia s establishment firm largely because of its high profile and wealthy clients . 4 during the 1970s the firm acted for the australian bankers association in relation to the whitlam labour government loans scandal . 4 allens had previously acted for the australian banks in the famous bank nationalisation case 2 retaining garfield barwick qc as lead counsel . client relationships edit allens has strong client relationships stretching back over decades and in the case of westpac over 160 years . 4 in the early years of large firm legal practice in australia allens was also able to cement relationships with other leading australian businesses including with sir frank packer s consolidated press holdings 2 later continuing the relationship with his son kerry packer s nine network holdings . 2 allens is also known to act for 55 of the world s top 100 companies by market capitalisation including for news corporation in australia . the allens affair edit in the early 1990s the firm was rocked by revelations that adrian powles a former partner in the london office had secretly accessed a client s trust account to fund a gambling addiction . sydney journalist valerie lawson published a book in 1995 entitled the allens affair that details the powles case and touches on much of the early history of the firm . 4 allens in victoria edit the other major predecessor firm of allens is arthur robinson & co. which began trading in melbourne victoria on 11 may 1914 just prior to the outbreak of world war i. in 1984 arthur robinson & co. merged with hedderwick fookes & alston to form arthur robinson & hedderwicks . allens arthur robinson was formed on 1 july 2001 by the merger of the melbourne headquartered arthur robinson & hedderwicks arh and the sydney headquartered allen allen & hemsley aah which created one of the largest law firms in the asia pacific . the two firms had been associated for 15 years prior to the merger through the allens arthur robinson group alliance . alliance agreement with linklaters edit allens dropped the arthur robinson part of its name on 1 may 2012 . from that date allens began operating in an exclusive alliance with magic circle law firm linklaters with each firm remaining financially independent . 5 allens and linklaters will operate two joint ventures in asia with one of these focused on energy resources and infrastructure services and another focused on indonesia where allens is already in an alliance with domestic firm widyawan & partners . 6 7 prior to entering an alliance agreement with linklaters allens had operated in alliance with magic circle firm slaughter & may . corporate art collection and involvement with the arts edit since the mid 1970s allens has built a substantial collection of australian contemporary art including works by rosalie gascoigne david aspden emily kame kngwarreye dale frank and ildiko kovaks . these works were purchased early in the artists careers . the firm s strategy is to continue to support emerging artists . there are over 1 500 works in its offices across australia and asia . 8 allens provides pro bono legal support to the arts law centre of australia and has a long history of supporting the arts . the firm acted in the 1971 literature obscenity trial representing australian bookseller angus & robertson which had been charged with obscenity for publishing and selling philip roth s novel portnoy s complaint in australia . 9 allens retained nobel prize winning author patrick white as lead witness for angus & robertson . 10 notable alumni edit aah alumnus james wolfensohn served as president of the world bank from 1995 2005 . michelle gordon judge judge of the high court of australia william gummow ac aah partner 1969 1976 has been a judge of the high court of australia since 1995 . at the time of his appointment to the high court he had been a judge of the federal court of australia since 1986 . sir norman lethbridge cowper 1896 1987 was a partner of aah from 1924 to 1970 and served for many years as senior partner . sir william mcmahon 1908 1988 practised as a lawyer at allen allen & hemsley between 1933 and 1939 and later served as australia s 20th prime minister . john lehane 1941 2001 aah partner 1971 1995 left the firm s banking and finance practice to become a federal court judge . former allens partner ian renard was the chancellor of the university of melbourne . alan loxton am a former aah senior partner served as president of the law society of nsw as did former aah senior partners sir norman cowper kt cbe above and william robin dill stevenson obe . reginald barrett aah partner 1971 1991 was appointed a judge of the supreme court of new south wales in 2001 . andrew o keefe former allens lawyer is now a tv presenter on deal or no deal and weekend sunrise . references edit merritt chris . big three not worried by new arrivals . the australian newspaper online . the australian . retrieved 29 february 2012 . a b c d jonathan solomon 2008 . allens arthur robinson . dictionary of sydney . dictionary of sydney trust . retrieved 29 february 2012 . rutledge martha . cowper sir norman lethbridge 1896 1987 . australian dictionary of biography . national centre of biography . retrieved 29 february 2012 . a b c d valerie lawson the allens affair 1995 pan mcmillan australia bloomberg 2012 . aar linklaters agree on alliance to compete internationally . retrieved 23 april 2012 . allens arthur robinson 2012 . allens and linklaters form integrated alliance . retrieved 23 april 2012 . the lawyer 2012 . linklaters seals allens arthur robinson alliance . retrieved 24 april 2012 . art write the art of corporate identity 18 october 2011 http blogs.cofa.unsw.edu.au artwrite tag allens arthur robinson accessed 3 october 2013 jonathan solomon 2008 . allens arthur robinson . dictionary of sydney . dictionary of sydney trust . retrieved 20 august 2013 . jonathan solomon 2008 . allens arthur robinson . dictionary of sydney . dictionary of sydney trust . retrieved 29 february 2012 . external links edit allens website v t e big six australian law firms allens blake dawson to 2012 clayton utz freehills to 2012 mallesons stephen jaques to 2012 minter ellison retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title allens law firm & oldid 733500386 categories law firms of australialaw firms established in 2001 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 8 august 2016 at 07 28 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the 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