New acquisition for Aitken Partners

General News: 18 March 2019

Melbourne based law firm Aitken Partners has added to its strength in compulsory acquisitions with the recruitment of Peta Olive. Peta was formerly a partner with SBA Law where she was responsible for building and developing that firm's compulsory acquisition practice. 

Aitken Partners has experienced significant growth in compulsory acquisition work over the past number of years, and Peta's appointment adds further experience to the team headed by Anton Dunhill.

"As a law firm we have been active in compulsory acquisition for many years and that practice area for us has seen a spike in growth as our expertise has become more widely known,Aitken Partners' managing partner, Andrew Blogg explained.

"We have been representing land owners, businesses and tenants affected by projects such as the Regional Rail Link and the Harcourt Water Pipeline Modernisation Project but with other infrastructure projects like the East-West Tunnel coming on stream we realised we needed to look to ways of increasing our representation for affected persons.

"When the opportunity came up to bring someone with Peta's experience and knowledge in the field, we jumped at it."

Peta, on the other hand, sought Aitken Partners when she decided to move firms.

"I like the fact that Aitken Partners does not represent authorities. It has chosen to represent only claimants such as land owners, businesses and tenants in compulsory acquisition disputes, and the reputation of the team headed by Anton Dunhill is first class,she said. "I wanted to move to a firm with the right culture and the right approach to representing its clients, and I feel that is best done when you stand on one side of the fence only.

"I want to be part of a team that cares about the rights of its clients and works hard for the right outcomes, and from my experience in compulsory acquisition there was only one firm I wanted to join."