In 2018, national law firm Piper Alderman celebrates 175 years as a continuous partnership and 20 years of legal practice in Sydney.
Since the 1840s, Piper Alderman has been the leading provider of legal services to the South Australian business community and today, Piper Alderman is a national practice with offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide.
In 1998, under the leadership of Gordon Grieve (now Chairman of Partners); Piper Alderman began its national expansion by opening an office in Sydney. In the subsequent 20 years, Piper Alderman’s Sydney office has grown from fledgling beginnings to establish itself as a market leader in its chosen practice areas. The firm has maintained its tier one status and size in the Adelaide market, while at the same time the Piper Alderman Sydney office has outgrown its parent to become the largest office in terms of revenue in the firm’s national offering. The successes of the Sydney practice have paved the way for the expansion of the firm on the eastern seaboard. The firm opened its office in Melbourne in 2000 and in Brisbane in 2004.
On 21 February 2018 in the company of clients, members of the bar, staff and alumni, Piper Alderman celebrated its transformation into a national firm and specifically the achievements over the past two decades of its Sydney office.
Tony Britten-Jones, National Managing Partner stated: “In the past 20 years, at least 20 firms originally headquartered in Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane or Melbourne have come to Sydney, but only one firm has maintained its original office at the size and quality it was 20 years ago and at the same time developed a presence in Sydney that is stronger than the office from which it sprang. That firm is Piper Alderman. Throw in the fact that we have established offices of the highest calibre in Melbourne and Brisbane along the way, you see that what we are celebrating is something unique, remarkable and a testament to those with the vision to kick things off here in Sydney, and to those who have contributed to this office along the way.”
Gordon Grieve, reflecting on the successes of the Sydney practice thanked the firm’s clients for their continuing support and attributed the firm’s success to the success of its clients. In thanking the assembled clients Gordon stated: “It has been quite a journey over the past 20 years. We made the decision to come to Sydney in the late 1990’s to capitalise on the expertise we had gained running large scale litigation coming out of the corporate collapses of the 1980’s and to sustain the firm’s growth. We thought there may be an opportunity for us here and we were right. We have been fortunate with the clients who we have attracted and retained and the work we have done. Ultimately, our successes are our clients’ successes.”
Head of the Sydney Office, Simon Morris, who was involved with Gordon Grieve in opening the Sydney office, commented: ”This is significant milestone for Piper Alderman and the Sydney practice. We can take great pride in what we have achieved over the last 20 years and, as a firm, we have a lot to look forward to. We are in the rare place of being one of the fastest growing firms in the country while at the same time being incredibly stable. We are attracting great lawyers, we embrace change and innovation and that is being reflected in the quality of our clients and the quality of our work.’
