DLA Piper boosts Restructuring practice with partner hire in Australia

Global law firm DLA Piper announces that Restructuring partner Lionel Meehan joins the firm based in Melbourne, effective 1 August.

Lionel joins DLA Piper from boutique insolvency and restructuring firm Edwin Legal, which he founded after leaving Ashurst, where he was a partner. Lionel has extensive experience in financial restructuring, large-scale insolvency and commercial law, and deep sector knowledge across the Resources, Construction, Financial Services and Fintech sectors.

Prior to his time at Ashurst, Lionel was a senior associate at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (London) and also spent time in-house at Mitsui (Tokyo) and ANZ (Melbourne). He is a fluent Japanese speaker, completing a Master of Laws at Tokyo University.

Commenting on this appointment, DLA Piper’s Managing Partner in Australia, Amber Matthews, said: “We are delighted to welcome Lionel to DLA Piper’s growing Australian partnership. Given the current global economic conditions and the recently announced temporary changes to Australian insolvency laws in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we expect to see an increase in global restructuring activity. Lionel will form a key part of our international Restructuring practice, supporting clients across the Asia Pacific region.”

DLA Piper’s Head of Finance, Projects and Restructuring in Australia, Onno Bakker, said: “Lionel is highly skilled lawyer and well-respected in the Australian restructuring market. His experience in front-end restructuring and special situations, as well as transactional banking and back-end insolvency, will be a valuable addition to our Australian and global Restructuring practice, and we look forward to welcoming him to our team.”

Lionel’s hire follows a number of partner appointments in Australia in recent months – including financial services dispute resolution and class actions lawyer Matthew Spain, tax disputes partner Paul McNab and litigation lawyer John Fogarty, and five partner promotions – taking the total number of new partners to nine.