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Tony talks about what makes his area of law so exciting
Tony Lalor, Partner, Corporate Advisory /M&A
What is your name and practice area?
My name is Tony Lalor and I practise in Corporate where I focus on equity capital markets transactions
and mergers and acquisitions.
Why did you choose this area of specialisation?
I chose Corporate mainly due to the fact that I'm interested in the area. The corporate
activity and ASX matters have always appealed to me. In addition in corporate you get a
really broad overview of a lot of sections of the law in different industries and sectors.
What are some of the current trends you are seeing in your area?
For Corporate, trends are a lot of the time governed by what's happening in the broader
economic climate.
Currently we're seeing a continual recovery from the Global Financial Crisis so what we're
seeing for equity capital markets transactions in that climate is really an emergence of
a number of IPOs and ASX floats that had been put on hold during the financial crisis.
For mergers and acquisitions, a lot of companies took the opportunity during the financial
crisis to deleverage. Now that we're coming out of it they're using some of their spare
cash-flow to fund acquisitions and where they don't have acquisitions that they would like
to do we're also seeing a lot of those companies wanting to return capital to their shareholders.
What have you enjoyed most about your career at Clayton Utz so far?
I really love the people here. I've really been able to develop a strong camaraderie
with certain team members. I've also really enjoyed the opportunity to work on some really
fantastic work and transactions and build some good relationships with clients and other
advisers of those transactions. So it's been really enjoyable.
As a new partner at Clayton Utz, what are you looking forward to most?
I'm looking forward to really continuing what I have been doing, which is assisting our
clients achieve their commercial objectives through the transactions that they're looking
to execute. I'm also looking forward to actually having a bit more involvement and input into
the management of the firm and that will be interesting to see how that turns out.
If you weren't a Partner at Clayton Utz, what would you be?
I had a couple of years in a corporate finance role and I enjoyed that so I would probably
move back into that space because I find I enjoy transactions on all levels whether it's
legal or commercial. I just really enjoy executing the deal.
What are some of the things you enjoy doing in your spare time?
Love spending time with my wife and my daughter. I try to do that as much as I can outside
of work obviously. Also, I'm really into sport and so I take an interest in football and
rugby. Sometimes they don't sort of connect so well but I manage that as best I can.