Alumni news

Well done to London and Singapore alum John Gallen who took up music during lockdown and released his debut album, 1970s in May.

Read John's interview here.

Brisbane alum Rachel Ford (née Emerson, Solicitor until 2007) joined London Gatwick as General Counsel & Company Secretary in April.  Rachel has enjoyed an extensive career since leaving Blake's and joins London Gatwick from Capita, where she served as Group Legal Director and more recently as Chief of Staff to the Capita plc Group Chief Executive Officer.

Ming-Yee Ma (Sydney Senior Associate until Jun 2018) has recently moved into the role of Associate General Counsel and Head of APAC Employment Law at American multinational technology company Meta. Ming-Yee moves into this from her former position as Associate General Counsel, Labor & Employment, APAC.

Ming-Yee, congratulations on your role as Head of APAC Employment Law at Meta. Could you tell us what your role involves?

I oversee employment law advice for the Asia Pacific region, including the 13 jurisdictions where Meta has an office. I advise on day-to-day issues across the employment life cycle and lead regional advice on global projects, such as the rollout of policies and programmes that support our people and build our business. Meta has a strong set of values, which underpins the Company’s decision making. My work often involves not only delivering legal advice, but also making sure that the practical outcome of that advice is aligned with Meta’s values.

What are the biggest challenges in employment law today?

Ways of working have undergone a significant shift in the last few years. In many companies, people have been engaging with each other in new ways and in new physical spaces, including through remote working. For employment lawyers, one challenge is how we build the future of work to ensure an equitable experience for all – regardless of their working arrangements. Examples include making sure people continue to have access to valuable feedback, growth opportunities and roles. It’s an exciting time as we consider new technologies and how these can enhance people’s work experiences, in the metaverse and beyond. As employment lawyers, this is an opportunity to proactively support our clients as we look around corners and consider how we can best adopt new technology to support our people. As a regional lawyer, another constant challenge is how to develop practical solutions that can work across multiple jurisdictions – each of which has its own approach to employment law. Although APAC is described as one region, it is culturally, politically and legally diverse. Pulling together these differences to build something scalable is one of the continuous challenges of regional employment law work – but also what keeps it interesting!

What do you hope to achieve in your new role?

My goal is to continue to support the business and our clients by developing strategies that are not only legally sound, but that also build on Meta’s culture and values. Employment lawyers have a unique opportunity to influence decisions and advance a company’s culture and values. As a manager of a small team, I’m also passionate about supporting and building the careers of my team members, to help them achieve their own goals and missions.

Carla Alviano (Melbourne-based Lawyer until Aug 2006) joined a leading provider of early education G8 Education Limited as Deputy General Counsel in September. Carla has enjoyed a varied career since leaving Ashurst, including private practice and in-house roles in London and then at Wesfarmers upon her return to Australia. She joins G8 Education after heading up the Legal team at Specsavers Australia and New Zealand, in Melbourne.

What are you most excited about in your new role?

I’m excited to learn more about the early childhood education sector and how as part of a large organisation such as G8 I can help to improve how services in this sector (from both a team member and family perspective) are provided.

What's the best career advice that you've been given?

I’ve worked with some amazing women leaders and the advice to always believe in yourself has been invaluable and has stood me in good stead in some tricky situations.

What's your favourite thing to do at the weekend?

My husband and I recently relocated from Melbourne to the Gold Coast, so at the moment I am relishing warmer weather, sunnier days and living closer to the beach.

James Johnston (Brisbane Disputes Lawyer until Feb 2016) has recently moved into the role of Legal Counsel – Global Litigation at Shell, a global energy company. Since leaving Ashurst, James has enjoyed a variety of government and in-house roles in Australia and overseas, including as a diplomat and lawyer at Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), and as Senior Legal Counsel at The Star Entertainment Group.

What was your biggest learning curve on entering DFAT?

That international diplomacy isn’t all cocktail parties and state dinners! There was an enormous shift in mindset on leaving private practice, gained from the perspective of becoming both an in-house lawyer and one in public service. I loved the responsibility that came with operationalising legal advice, the expectation I would be an expert on every legal issue and jurisdiction worldwide, the breadth of unique legal matters DFAT dealt with, and - most of all – not recording my time.

What is your favourite Ashurst memory?

Some of the people I met when I started at Ashurst remain my best and closest friends. Between the dressing-up competition at Christmas parties, Friday night ‘mentoring’ and corporate sport domination, we managed to have a very good time ‘reading and considering’ legal work.

What are you passionate about outside of work?

Most of all, I love doing literally anything with my wife, baby daughter and Labrador. Although having a family has slowed me down, I also still enjoy pretending I’m a competitive triathlete and cyclist.

Visit the alumni events page for photos and videos from our Glasgow, London, Brisbane, Milan and Sydney reunions.

As part of our 200- year celebrations we have commissioned a book, by historian Stuart Kells, to tell the history of our firm.

Ashurst: The story of a progressive global law firm

The Ashurst London Christmas carol service will take place at Christchurch Spitalfields, 6.00-9:00 pm on Thursday 8 December. Alumni are welcome to attend with friends and family.

Please RSVP to alumni@ashurst.com with the number of guests in your party by Monday 5 December.

Phillip Horowitz joined Ashurst Morris Crisp in the early 1980s as an assistant in the tax and trust department after qualifying as a barrister through the bar conversion course. He had a Cambridge degree in mathematics, was ferociously intelligent and, although he specialised in trusts and wílls, his enthusiasm for research and his general sense of curiosity meant that he often helped out in other areas too, particularly where there was new legislation to analyse. He was great fun to work with and thrived in the atmosphere of robust informality which characterised the firm in those days. His lively and slightly unpredictable sense of humour meant that when he moved on he left many good friends and many good anecdotes.

After Ashurst, Philip continued his academic career with further degrees in law, philosophy and mathematics before turning back to legal practice where he worked for 20 years as in-house counsel at a series of pharmaceutical companies: Pharmacia, AB Cernelle, Bayer and Medtronic. At the time of his death he was doing work for the MHRA.

Philip passed away on 13 October. Details of the funeral on 17 November can be found via the link below:
https://www.mykeeper.com/profile/LionelPhilipHorowitz/