HFW has bolstered its restructuring bench in Melbourne with the hire of partners Paul Buitendag and Rena Solomonidis from Australian firm Johnson Winter Slattery. 

Buitendag has joined London-based HFW having been national practice group head of dispute resolution at his former firm. He and Solomonidis specialise in large-scale complex multi-jurisdictional insolvencies, corporate restructuring, regulatory investigations and commercial disputes as well as the prosecution and defence of class actions, and regularly partner with litigation funders.

“Paul and Rena have been working together as a team for more than 16 years and have advised on some of Australia’s most complex corporate insolvencies,” said Gavin Vallely, managing partner, HFW Australia. ”They have worked with funders in the USA, UK and Australia in significant disputes and at HFW will work closely with our existing restructuring and insolvency and litigation funding teams to enhance our client offering.”

Vallely added that Buitendag is noted for “pioneering litigation funding in Australia, including the introduction of ATE insurance as an alternative form of security for costs in litigation funding agreements”. 

Dual qualified in South Africa and Australia, Buitendag spent more than a decade at Johnson Winter Slattery and earlier led his own firm in Pretoria. On the insolvency litigation side, his experience includes acting for the liquidators of Australian timber company Gunns – at one time the largest hardwood sawmill in the southern hemisphere – in three claims with a combined value of roughly $250m. He has also acted in class actions against Allianz, Westpac and BHP Billiton. 

“HFW is the right firm for our practice for many reasons, notably the strength of its international network and long history in London, which continues to be an important centre not only for litigation funders, but also for brokers and insurers who are developing innovative, insurance-backed litigation funding products,” Buitendag said. “Rena and I are looking forward to working with our new colleagues at HFW and the firm’s clients both in Australia and across the global network.”

Solomonidis, who worked with Buitendag at Melbourne firm Cornwalls before joining Johnson Winter Slattery in 2014, pointed to HFW’s ambitious growth plans in Australia. 

“The firm’s international reach provides an extra dimension to support our practice at a time of increasing insolvency activity in Australia that regularly involves assets, investors and alternative lenders in offshore locations,” Solomonidis said. “HFW’s experience in the international tracing of assets will be highly relevant to several of our clients.”

Australia’s corporate regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, reported recently that 7,742 companies had entered administration in the nine months to the end of March 2024, up 36.2% from the previous corresponding period. 

Other international law firms have been expanding their Australian restructuring benches to service the uptick, including Ashurst, which hired restructuring and special situations partner Richard Johnson in Perth in June from HWL Ebsworth Lawyers. Last December Pinsent Masons also hired a team from Gilchrist Connell led by partner Hannah Griffiths to launch an Australian restructuring and insolvency practice. 

For its part HFW has been reported as the fastest-growing law firm in Australia over the last 12 months by the Australian Financial Review. It has now added 12 new partners across the country since the beginning of FY24, including a corporate, projects and regulatory team from MinterEllison and an aerospace, shipping, energy and litigation funding team from Clyde & Co. 

The firm said it now has more than 30 partners and 130 lawyers across its offices in Melbourne, Perth and Sydney, and grew Australia revenue by a third in FY24.