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Our people : Jim Hunwick When did your career with Johnson Winter & Slattery start? I started at Johnson Winter & Slattery as a summer clerk in January 1997 and became an associate soon after that. I worked on a wide variety of matters, split fairly evenly between transactional and litigation, including M&A, insolvency litigation, working on the privatisation of South Australia's electricity entities and various other matters advising SA government entities. Why did you leave the firm after 3 years? Previously an exchange student to Japan, I wanted to spend more time there and combine work and my interest in Japan and the language. So in March 2000 I went to Allen & Overy, Tokyo to work in their International Capital Markets department. I worked there for 3 years on securitisations, convertible bond issues and derivative transactions. The deals were typically listed on the London, Luxembourg or Irish stock exchanges and issuers included some major Japanese corporates and banks such as SEGA, Citizen Watch and Daiwa. Clients included Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Nomura, Nikko Citigroup and Mizuho. When did you return to Johnson Winter & Slattery and why? After 3 years working in Japan I wanted to return to Australia, but continue developing my expertise in finance. This meant working in Sydney. At the time I returned Johnson Winter & Slattery did not have an office in Sydney and I went to another national firm and worked in their wholesale financial services group. There I covered debt capital markets including synthetic CDOs and securitisations and also assisted the corporate group with finance aspects of their transactions. When Johnson Winter & Slattery opened its Sydney office in 2004 I followed its development with interest and eventually contacted partners of the firm and rejoined in February 2005, as it was clear that the office was developing rapidly and attracting clients of a high calibre. Since rejoining I have worked on a wide variety of finance matters including in the areas of capital markets, acquisition finance, derivatives and property finance. Clients I have worked with at Johnson Winter & Slattery have included Allco Equity Partners, Envestra, Macquarie and Australian Communication and Media Authority, Australand and National Australia Bank. What do you enjoy most about your job? I enjoy working on a diverse range of finance-related matters and not being confined to a narrow field. It can be demanding but ultimately enables me to develop the broad skills and commercial acumen necessary to deliver valuable advice. I also enjoy working with other partners who I respect and can learn from, in an environment which is structured to ensure collaboration between partners and all practitioners to deliver the best outcome for our clients. |
