The Japan awarded scholarship pioneer, MBA graduates?
Lester has spent the past 13 years working in London, Hong Kong and Tokyo with international law firm Lovells.
He recently relinquished his role as a global equity partner and managing partner of Lovells’ Tokyo office, returning to Perth to join Allens Arthur Robinson as a partner.
Once he had decided on a move to Australia, there was only one place that he and his family were going to settle.
“I’m a Perth boy and have practised here, so coming back to Perth was an easy choice to make,” Lester says.
“The decision was made easier when looking at the state of the market here as compared to, say, the Sydney or Melbourne markets. Perth - and WA - stand out for their incredible levels of transactional activity and I think the prospects for greater activity remain high.
“While transactions have grown in size and complexity, what also attracts me is the increased sophistication in the market here. Together, this creates an exciting opportunity to apply my skill set here at home as the market grows and develops.”
In addition to his recognition as a leading corporate and finance specialist, Lester is fluent in Japanese. His long association with Japan began straight after high school when he spent a year there as an exchange student.
After graduating from the University of Western Australia, Lester was awarded a WA government scholarship to Keio University in Japan, studying Japanese law and business. Up until a few weeks ago, he was chairman of the Australia and New Zealand Chamber of Commerce in Japan, helping to strengthen business ties between the two countries.
He now sits on the executive committee of the Australia Japan Business Co-operation Committee - Australia’s peak Japan-focused business body, chaired by Rod Eddington. After 13 years away, the last seven years in Japan, Lester’s decision to return to Perth was driven by what he refers to as a “perfect convergence of need, timing and opportunity”. And with the eldest of his three children nearing secondary-school age, he says he realised that now was the ideal time to return to Perth.
“From a personal perspective, I’d always wanted to come back to Australia to live and work and I thought if I were to stay away any longer I might fall into the category of a forever wandering expat and find it too hard and too difficult to come back,” he says.
Lester says that the decision to join Allens in Perth was a natural one. He has worked with the firm over many years and is confident that his overseas experience and specialist knowledge of working in Asia will fit well with Allens.
“Allens has a very impressive footprint in Asia, with eight offices across the region, so I was confident that my skill set in Asian matters would be a good fit,” he says.
MALLESONS Stephen Jaques partner Emilios Kyrou has been appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria. A commercial litigation and insurance law specialist, Kyrou was a senior partner in the firm’s Melbourne dispute resolution group. His appointment to the court will become effective on May 13.
BEN Burney has joined Middletons as a partner in its Sydney banking and financial services group. Burney was previously head of the banking practice at Sparke Helmore and brings with him a team made up of senior associates Adam Fuller and Adam Howell, lawyers Maggie McGushin and Michael Chance and paralegal Kylie Hayton.
LANDER & Rogers have appointed Grant Scott-Hayward as chief operating officer. Scott-Hayward moves into the newly created role after leaving Beaton Consulting. He has held general management positions at law firms and other executive roles in the business world, including chief executive and adviser to the king of the Royal Bafokeng tribal nation in South Africa.
KATHRYN Rigney has joined Sydney-based insurance, reinsurance and commercial litigation specialists Yeldham Price O’Brien Lusk as a director. Rigney, a corporate and regulatory specialist, joins YPOL from Ebsworth & Ebsworth where she was head of the financial services group.
DEACONS has beefed-up its Brisbane banking and finance team with the appointment of David Lyons as partner and Matthew Bode as special counsel. Corporate, commercial and project finance specialist Lyons joins Deacons from TressCox and Bode moves from Corrs Chambers Westgarth.
« Computer Science Scholarship Program from Microsoft | Free Youth Scholarship - Scholarship Young Adults »