The Managing Partner of Clifford Chance's Sydney office and his deputy are both leaving the firm.

MP Mark Pistilli and partner Danny Simmons founded Clifford Chance's Australian presence in 2011 when their firm Chang Pistilli & Simmons joined CC. Pistilli has led Clifford Chance's Sydney office since its inception. However, Diana Chang (the other name above the door at legacy CPS) will now take over as Managing Partner.

It is not entirely clear why Pistilli and Simmons, who are due to depart at the end of June, are leaving. While a source claims that issues arose because the Aussie operation was not generating enough work, a spokesman for Clifford Chance would only say that the pair decided that "the time is right ... to step down to pursue new opportunities".

 
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Clifford Chance said the duo had "made a valuable contribution" in helping to establish a "strong and growing practice in Australia", illustrated by the fact that Clifford Chance has tripled the number of its lawyers in the country to 70 over the last four years. RollOnFriday asked to see the Sydney office financials for that same period but Clifford Chance said that its policy is not to provide office-specific breakdowns.
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Comments

Anonymous 12 February 16 14:58

Neither was asked to leave. There has been a fair few teething problems following the Australian mergers (e.g. the Sydney office lost all its referral work after joining CC). You also have to consider that there is a reason that otherwise capable partners choose to start boutique firms. They want to avoid all the politics and bullshit of a big law firm. So its really not surprising that they chose to get out when they did.

Anonymous 15 February 16 23:39

I heard one of them farted on the Shanghai retreat while Mr Charlton was sharing one of his favourite anecdotes. It was so loud that Peter stopped for a second and everyone lost concentration. He was furious and pulled them up about it afterwards, but these guys were offended that he thought the fart was deliberate. That was the beginning of the end...