Media release | Gadens Melbourne and Sydney bucks industry average with partnership now 44% women

Gadens has appointed three new female partners to its Melbourne and Sydney partnership, bringing the proportion of women in the partnership up to 44%.

Caroline Ord (Corporate, Melbourne), Susan Goodman (Disputes and Investigations, Sydney) and Erin Lynch (Workplace Advisory and Disputes, Sydney) join the firm, in addition to Sally Tuckfield (Real Estate and Construction, Sydney), who joined the partnership in October this year. Matt Watt (Corporate, Sydney) has been promoted to the partnership also, effective 1 January 2023.

Over the last 12 months, Gadens has added 10 people to its Melbourne and Sydney partnership.

Commenting on the appointments, Mark Pistilli, Chief Executive Officer, says:

“Gender is an important element of our diversity. I am proud that we now have a partnership that is over 40% women. These are significant appointments for Gadens. The skills and expertise that these partners bring to the firm strengthen our service offering for clients across key practice areas. With three of these appointments and one promotion in our Sydney office, we are focused on meeting the growing demand from our clients across a range of sectors.”

Caroline Ord rejoins Gadens from Ashurst as a new partner in our Corporate Group. Caroline principally advises clients on financial regulatory law, including Chapter 7 of the Corporations Act, AFSL and ACL licensing, AML/CTF compliance, payments and digital asset regulation, as well as general corporate, governance and risk matters. She also advises on the establishment of wholesale and retail managed investment schemes and the preparation of offer documents for fund managers and industry superannuation funds.

Susan Goodman was previously a Partner in the Dispute Resolution & Litigation group at Holding Redlich. Susan has a broad commercial litigation practice, with over 22 years’ experience in acting for professional and financial services firms, corporations, government clients and individuals in a wide range of commercial and regulatory disputes and investigations. Susan specialises in large complex commercial litigation and alternative dispute resolution, including class actions. She has extensive experience acting for corporations and their directors, auditors and other professional services practitioners in professional negligence claims as well as for and against insolvency practitioners, in complex litigation arising out of some of the largest corporate failures in Australia.

Erin Lynch joins the firm from Vincent Young, where she established and led the Employment & Workplace Relations team. Erin has over 14 years’ experience in employment and workplace relations. She provides advice to organisations on all matters relating to the workplace and has experience across a range of industries, including professional services, advertising, property, construction, manufacturing, and aged care. Erin’s dedication to the area of employment and workplace relations extends to her engagement as a sessional academic at both the University of Wollongong and Macquarie University, where she tutors on employment law.

Sally Tuckfield joined Gadens’ Real Estate and Construction Group in Sydney in October 2022. Sally specialises in all aspects of real estate including acquisitions and disposals, commercial, industrial and retail leasing, joint ventures, developments, distressed sales and workouts, strata collective sales and purchases and advising on the real estate aspects of business sales and corporate restructures. With over 20 years’ of experience at a range of top-tier firms across Australia, Sally continues to advise a number of Australia’s leading and preeminent real estate owners, managers and developers.

Matt Watt has been promoted to partner in the Corporate Group, effective 1 January 2023. Matt specialises in mergers and acquisitions, fundraising and corporate advisory and has broad experience working for both domestic and international clients across a range of sectors and transactions. Matt routinely assists clients to navigate Corporations Act issues including in relation to restructuring, takeovers issues, and capital maintenance matters.