Aitken Partners growing during COVID-19 Crisis with recruitment of Alex Nicol

Insolvency: 28 April 2020

While the rest of the legal world is standing still and indeed reducing salaries or hours (or both), Aitken Partners is expanding its team through the recruitment of Alex Nicol as a principal lawyer for its Insolvency Team.

While the rest of the legal world is standing still and indeed reducing salaries or hours (or both), Aitken Partners is expanding its team through the recruitment of Alex Nicol as a principal lawyer for its Insolvency Team, headed by Michael O'Brien.

Mr Nicol re-joins Aitken Partners after a 10-year absence that has seen him rise to senior associate at a prestigious national firm, before spending two years as a founding director of a boutique disputes and insolvency practice. His breadth of experience within the insolvency and commercial disputes fields makes his recruitment a coup for the firm, and his energy and modern approach to the law ensure that Aitken Partners have an eye to the future.

Aitken Partners Insolvency Team now boasts three principal lawyers and a further eight lawyers, making it a significant practice and one capable of handling the most complex matters within the personal and corporate insolvency spheres. Alex is excited to be one of the principal lawyers responsible for further developing an already impressive team into one of the leading insolvency and disputes practices in Melbourne.

"Joining Aitken Partners this time proved both easy and hard, not least because of the strange times we are all dealing with,Mr Nicol said. "I was enjoying many parts of being involved and running a boutique practice, but I missed the ability to call on lawyers from other disciplines easily, and with Aitken Partners being essentially full service I am looking forward to working lawyers from departments as diverse as Family Law and Business Law.

"The firm has changed a lot since I was last here - it has moved to an impressive new office space (albeit used less at the moment) and has a number of emerging leaders such as senior associates Paolo Tatti and Jonathon Lean within the insolvency and disputes team.

"The firm has also developed significantly on the technology front which has allowed the firm to work through the COVID-19 crisis with things like a paperlite office and the ability to work from home, and I'm thrilled to bring my experience in a Newlaw firm to bear in assisting Aitken to become a truly paperless, collaborative and modern law firm.

"While it has been a huge adjustment in the middle of a crisis, for me the time was right and the opportunity was too good to let slip. I will continue to provide quality service focused on my clients desired outcomes (albeit in a new environment) and look forward to the many mutual opportunities that will present themselves at a firm with a history as rich and diverse as Aitkens.