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The firm
Arnold Bloch Leibler is a leading Australian commercial law firm with offices in Melbourne and Sydney.
The firm's aim is to provide innovative, practical solutions to our clients' business and legal problems. We place paramount importance on quality, responsiveness and meeting individual client's needs.
Our offices
Since its inception in Melbourne in 1953, Arnold Bloch Leibler has made its name acting for some of Australia's most successful privately owned businesses. Today, Arnold Bloch Leibler also regularly acts for foreign organisations, government bodies and some of Australia's largest blue chip corporations, wherever they are located.
In 2002, Arnold Bloch Leibler opened its offices in Sydney. The firm now has a strong presence in Australia's two most significant centres of commerce and offers clients a seamlessly integrated legal service and on-the-ground representation in both Melbourne and Sydney.
We operate under a 'two offices, one firm' mantra, meaning that our Sydney and Melbourne offices have the same culture and share information, resources and personnel as and when required in order to meet client needs. The firm is organised around fluid, multidisciplinary teams. This way, we are able to draw upon the right combination of personnel to provide clients with exactly the legal skills and experience they need to form a team appropriate to the specific project.
In 2006, Arnold Bloch Leibler launched the new Sydney offices located in the Chifley Tower, reflecting the firm's ongoing growth. Arnold Bloch Leibler can be contacted at:
Level 21History
333 Collins Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
Australia
Telephone 61 3 9229 9999
Facsimile 61 3 9229 9900
Level 24
Chifley Tower
2 Chifley Square
Sydney NSW 2000
Australia
Telephone 61 2 9226 7100
Facsimile 61 2 9226 7120
E-mail: info@abl.com.au
When established in 1953 by the late Arnold Bloch, the firm comprised of one lawyer, one secretary and its first case involved a client who had been bitten by a dog.
In 1953, the firm's clients were mostly Jewish refugees who had fled Europe. They had little or no capital, but possessed tremendous ambition. At a time when the marketing of law firms was forbidden, word of Arnold Bloch's timely and incisive advice and service spread quickly. It was not long before the firm started to attract more established clients and its original clients also began to grow. Today, the firm is proud that subsequent generations of these early clients are still loyal to the firm. Many of these private clients now command corporation scale enterprises.
Today, the firm has offices in Melbourne and Sydney and employs in excess of 200 people. The firm acts for more high net worth individuals and family businesses identified in Business Review Weekly's 'Rich List' than any other firm. Other clients are corporations who value what Arnold Bloch Leibler has to offer and come to the firm particularly in relation to matters of the utmost importance and sensitivity.
Recent landmark matters
- Sons of Gwalia (SOG) Committee of Creditors: in relation to its administration and reconstruction. The firm has advised the Committee on a range of complex issues arising during the course of the administration, including the conduct of creditor funded litigation and the restructure of the company's advanced minerals division;
- Patrick Corporation: in relation to its dispute with Toll Holdings in respect of their joint venture company, Pacific National, and in the subsequent takeover of Patrick by Toll. The takeover was the fourth largest ever in Australia's history at $5.8 billion;
- Ansett Airlines: acting as expert insolvency advisers and assisting the administrators in the largest administration in Australia to date;
- News Corporation: advising the Special Committee of non-executive directors of News Corporation Limited in connection with News Corporation's US$50 billion recapitalisation and reincorporation from Australia to the United States and certain related-party acquisitions from the Murdoch family;
- Orchard Funds Management (formerly SAITeys McMahon) and Lend Lease: in relation to the acquisition and lease back of Woolworths $850 million portfolio of regional distribution centres;
- Besen family: in relation to the sale of a 50 percent stake in Highpoint Shopping Centre;
- SEEK: in the acquisition of 25 percent of the business by Publishing and Broadcasting Limited and in its IPO and stock exchange listing;
- AWB: in relation to the Cole Inquiry into the Oil-for-Food Program;
- Visy Industries: in relation to the ACCC investigation into a cartel in the paper box industry; and
- Slater & Gordon: in relation to BAT and the estate of Rolah MCabe, and in relation to its IPO.
- 2012: Winner of the Insolvency & Restructuring Deal of the Year for the Centro Restructure at the Australasian Law Awards;
- 2011: Winner of the Insolvency & Restructuring Deal of the Year and Corporate Citizen Firm of the Year at the Australasian Law Awards;
- 2010: Finalist in the Insolvency & Reconstruction Deal of the Year category at the Australasian Law Awards and winner of Corporate INTL’s awards for Business Crime Legal Excellence, Corporate Governance Excellence and White Collar Law Firm of the Year in Australia;
- 2009: Winner of BRW’s Client Choice Award for delivering the best value to clients and Corporate INTL’s Practice Excellence Awards for commercial property law and white collar crime in Australia;
- 2008: Finalist in three categories at the Australasian Law Awards, including Insolvency & Reconstruction Deal of the Year, Equity Market Deal of the Year and Best Melbourne Law Firm;
- 2007: Nominated in four categories at the Australasian Legal Business Deal of the Year Awards and winner of the Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) Deal of the Year for our involvement in the takeover of Patrick Corporation by Toll Holdings;
- 2006: Peter Seidel, head of the firm's public interest law practice, is awarded the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission's 2006 Human Rights Award in the law category; Ken Gray, head of the firm's property & development practice, is awarded the Law Institute of Victoria (LIV) Legal Award for his commitment to specialisation and understanding of its value;
- 2005: Senior Partner, Mark Leibler, is appointed a Companion in the General Division of the Order of Australia in recognition of his 'service to business, to the law, particularly in the areas of taxation and commercial law, to the Jewish community internationally and in Australia, and to reconciliation and the promotion of understanding between indigenous and non-indigenous Australia'; nominee in a number of categories at the Australian Law Awards including banking & finance, commercial property, taxation and Firm of the Year (51-500 practicing certificates), and Senior Partner Mark Leibler AC nominated for the Lifetime Achievement Award; nominated in nine categories at the Australasian Legal Business Deal of the Year Awards and winner in three categories, including Construction Deal of the Year (Mitcham-Frankston Tollway project), Media & Entertainment Deal of the Year (News Corporation's reincorporation in the United States), and International Deal of the Year (News Corporation's reincorporation in the United States);
- 2004: Winner of the Australian Law Firm of the Year Award (25-100 practising certificates) at the Australian Law Awards, and nominee in the community support and insolvency award categories;
- 2003: Nominee for the Community Support Award at the Australian Law Awards;
- 2002: Winner of the Boutique Firm Award and the Tax and Trusts Practice Award at the Australian Law Awards; and
- 2001: Winner of the Boutique Firm Award at the Australian Law Awards.
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