Team movements
Our Melbourne office welcomed Steven Pettigrove (Special Counsel) and Jake Huang (Lawyer); our Sydney office welcomed Lola Hickey (Law Clerk) and our Adelaide office welcomed Chelsea Veprek (Law Clerk). The team also celebrated the promotion of Sally Fetouh (Senior Associate, Sydney) at the start of 2022.
Significant matters
Throughout the year, we continued to represent and advise our clients, across various industries and geographies, including:
People's Choice Credit Union
Throughout the year we acted for People's Choice in relation to its proposed merger with Heritage Bank. The merger was approved by members of both institutions at meetings in November and is expected to take effect in March 2023. The merged institution will be the largest mutual financial institution in Australia.
D H Flinders Pty Ltd
Acted for D H Flinders in relation to Supreme Court proceedings against the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA).
Ferratum Australia Pty Ltd
Represented Ferratum Australia Pty Ltd in Federal Court proceedings brought by ASIC, in which ASIC alleges that Ferratum had acted in breach of the National Credit Code in relation to prohibited fees, overcharging and breaches of the general conduct obligations.
Fi-Fit Services Pty Ltd
Assisted Fi-Fit Services by drafting contracts for its proposed new product and advising on how Fi-Fit Services could take security interests in cryptocurrencies.
Immutable Pty Ltd
Supporting Immutable's Business Development team in their engagement by Digital Worlds NFTs to procure, negotiate and submit potential grant applications to Digital Worlds for approval in connection with projects building to build on the Immutable X Protocol and deploy Non-Fungible Tokens within video games.
Independent Reserve Pty Ltd
Provided commercial advice to one of the oldest and largest digital currency exchanges, conducting regulatory analysis of potential new products, cryptographic tokens and associated advice.
Lygon 1B Pty Ltd (Lygon)
Advised on corporate, commercial, employment, strategic and fundraising matters and assisting in relation to Blockchain matters relevant to the business.
Monochrome Asset Management Pty Ltd
Advised Monochrome in relation to the establishment of a Bitcoin wholesale managed fund including preparing all fund documentation, advising on and considering issues of digital asset custody within a regulated fund structure.
Oxen Foundation Ltd
Advised Oxen in relation to corporate governance and the ongoing development of their privacy centric and Blockchain based messaging service, Session.
The HBar Foundation
Supporting the HBar Foundation in its grant program where grants are provided for businesses building carbon trading and other socially beneficial financial market systems.
The Polygon Group Pty Ltd
Reviewed and advised on an updated version of The Polygon Group's online application form, which is intended to be more user-friendly than The Polygon Group's current application process.
Recognition
Across our National Financial Services & FinTech practice team, we have received a number of individual and team accolades this year. We thank our clients and colleagues for their ongoing support.
The Legal 500 Asia-Pacific
In the 2022 edition of The Legal 500 Asia Pacific, Piper Alderman was recognised across 12 areas of law including Financial Services Regulatory. Partners in our team were highlighted as recommended lawyers for this category, including Shannon Adams, Michael Bacina and Andrea Beatty.
Chambers and Partners
In the 2023 edition of Chambers and Partners, Piper Alderman was recognised as Band 3 in the Chambers Fintech Guide, Fintech Legal. Chambers also recognised the following partners:
- Michael Bacina – Chambers Fintech Guide, Fintech Legal (Band 1)
- Andrea
Beatty – Asia Pacific, Financial Services
Regulation (Band 3)
The Best Lawyers in Australia
In the 2023 edition of The Best Lawyers in Australia, 52 of Piper Alderman's lawyers are recognised across 42 legal areas including the following partners in our Financial Services and Fintech team:
- Shannon Adams – Banking and Finance Law, Corporate / Governance Practice
- Andrea Beatty – Financial Institutions, Privacy and Data Security Law, Regulatory Practice
- Mark Gordon – Banking and Finance Law, Commercial Law, Corporate Law
Doyle's Guide
In the 2022 edition of Doyle's Guide, Piper Alderman is recognised as a First Tier Leading Banking & Finance Law Firm in South Australia. Some of our partners were also recognised:
- Joshua Annese – 'Leading' Banking & Finance Lawyers in South Australia
- Mark Gordon – 'Leading' Banking & Finance Lawyers in South Australia
Michael Bacina, a partner in our Sydney office was also recognised as 'Fintech Expert of the Year' at the Leaders in Law 2022 Global Awards.
Most recently, Michael Bacina and Greg Conomos were recognised in the Autumn edition of the 2022 Mondaq Thought Leadership Awards, which showcased the top authors for Mondaq based on total readership.
We were also delighted to receive some very kind feedback from clients and contacts during the research process for the legal directories, including:
"Andrea Beatty and her colleagues have extensive industry experience having worked with numerous financial services and payment system participants over many years. This experience provides them with significant insight into the practical considerations that apply when assisting their clients." (Legal 500 Asia-Pacific, 2022)
"Extensive experience in the payments industry and financial services generally coupled with excellent legal skills. Client communication is excellent, and they are always available, often at short notice, to assist and provide advice." (Legal 500 Asia-Pacific, 2022)
"Michael Bacina and his team go above and beyond to deliver the best advice and executes well. Piper Alderman demonstrates exemplary service and conduct in the legal field." (Legal 500 Asia-Pacific, 2022)
Business Development
Our lawyers have presented at numerous conferences, seminars and workshops over the course of the year, and have conducted a number of webinars. It's been great to get back to attending events in person in 2022.
In August, Michael Bacina and Steven Pettigrove joined Lawyers' Weekly to discuss the latest regulatory updates in the non-fungible token (NFT) space, and what these changes might mean for legal practice moving forward.
The 'Blockchain Bites' blog continued again in 2022, capitalising on the success from 2021. Having developed over 40 blogs this year, Michael Bacina and his team provided weekly insights into the Blockchain and Cryptoassets space – resulting in our clients taking advantage of regular, reliable and expert industry insights.
Our team has also authored the Australian chapters of Lexology's Getting the Deal Through – Banking Regulation Australia, 2022 edition, The Consumer Finance Law Review – Australia Chapter, edition 6, and The Banking Regulation Review – 13th Edition Australia, 2022 Edition.
Andrea Beatty continued to conduct her CPD workshops, updating Australian Credit Licence (ACL) and Australian Financial Service Licence (AFSL) participants on their compliance obligations, current regulatory issues and other 'need to know' pieces of information for Responsible Managers and Representatives. This highly valuable series will continue both in-person and virtually throughout 2023.
