Gilbert + Tobin

Gilbert + Tobin is an Australian top tier law firm with offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. It provides legal services to corporate and government clients across Australia and internationally.

Gilbert + Tobin
HeadquartersSydney, Australia
OfficesSydney; Melbourne; Perth
No. of attorneys450+ lawyers
No. of employees1000+ employees
Major practice areasCorporate Advisory; Competition and Regulation; Banking and Infrastructure; Disputes and Investigations; Technology and Digital; Energy and Resources; Intellectual Property; Real Estate and Projects
Key peopleDanny Gilbert (Managing Partner and Founder); Tony Tobin (Founder); Sam Nickless (COO)
Date founded1988
Company typePartnership
Websitewww.gtlaw.com.au

Established in 1988 by Danny Gilbert and Tony Tobin, the firm employs approximately 1000 people, and has one of the highest proportions of female partners of any major Australian law firm.[1]

Unlike many of its competitors, Gilbert + Tobin has a flat hierarchy with no formal band structures. This means that all of its legally trained employees are referred to as "lawyers", rather than associates or senior associates.[2]

Gilbert + Tobin’s well-established base of corporate clients include many of the ASX 100 leading companies, major infrastructure and services providers, large financial institutions, transport and logistics companies, as well as government and public authorities.

In 2021, Gilbert + Tobin advised Afterpay Limited on the acquisition of Afterpay by Square. The A$39 billion deal is the largest public M&A deal in Australia's history.[3]

Awards and recognition

Gilbert + Tobin has 20 practice areas ranked in the Chambers Asia-Pacific Guide 2021.[4] It is also ranked by Chambers as a leading firm globally.[5]

Gilbert + Tobin was named the Most Innovative team headquartered in the Asia-Pacific and Australia in 2020 by the Financial Times[6]. In 2020, it was awarded Intellectual Property Team of the Year by Lawyers Weekly and was named Australian Law Firm of the Year (101-500 Lawyers) at the Australasian Law Awards.[7]

Other recent awards include:

  • Legal 500 Asia-Pacific (2021) - Tier 1 in ten practice areas (Banking and Finance, Capital Markets, Competition and Trade, Corporate and M&A, Data Protection, Dispute Resolution, Intellectual Property, IT and Telecoms, Project Finance, and Restructuring and Insolvency.
  • Australasian Law Awards (2020) - Corporate Citizen Firm of the Year.
  • Best Lawyers Australia (2022) - Law Firm of the Year for Competition Law.
  • Client Choice Awards (2021) - Most Innovative Law Firm.
  • Mergermarket Australian M&A Awards (2021) - Technology, Media and Telecom M&A Legal Adviser of the Year and Private Equity Legal Adviser of the Year.

Corporate social responsibility

Gilbert + Tobin is a foundation signatory to the National Pro Bono Aspirational Target.[8]

In 2000, Danny Gilbert agreed to support a centre for public law at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, and in 2001 the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law was founded. It functions as a research centre specialising in constitutional and administrative law, Indigenous legal issues, and human rights.[9]

Gilbert + Tobin dedicates significant resources to its Indigenous Legal Cadetship Program, employing Indigenous law students on a part-time basis for the duration of their degrees in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. The program aims to increase the number of Indigenous people entering the legal profession.

In 2017, Gilbert + Tobin was a key campaigner for marriage equality in the Australian Same-Sex Marriage Postal Survey.[10]

Criticism

Gilbert + Tobin has been criticised for pressures placed on staff. The firm has been investigated by SafeWork NSW twice, following complaints of workplace fatigue and excessive hours being worked by staff.[11] Danny Gilbert, the managing partner, was also criticised for justifying the work hours of lawyers within Gilbert + Tobin.[12]

References
  1. "Gilbert + Tobin".
  2. "GTLaw".
  3. "Afterpay Transaction".
  4. "Chambers".
  5. "Chambers".
  6. "Innovative Lawyers - Financial Times". rankings.ft.com. Retrieved 2017-07-19.
  7. User, Super. "2016". www.auslawawards.com.au. Retrieved 2017-07-19.
  8. "Target Signatories - Australian Pro Bono Centre". Australian Pro Bono Centre. Retrieved 2017-07-19.
  9. "About us". University of NSW. Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  10. "AFR".
  11. "SafeWork to investigate top law firm over work hours". Australian Financial Review. 2019-11-15. Retrieved 2020-06-11.
  12. "Gilbert + Tobin boss wrong about long hours". Australian Financial Review. 2019-11-21. Retrieved 2020-06-11.
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