Australian Law Awards 2020

With thanks to all our clients, Wright Legal has finished up a very busy year with significant honours. We were shortlisted as a finalist in the 2020 Australian Law Awards in the category of Banking and Finance Team of the Year, Dom McGreal was shortlisted as a finalist in the Dealmaker of the Year award. and Trish Chapman shortlisted as Banking & Finance Partner of the Year.

Organised by Lawyers Weekly, the awards recognise the achievements of Australian legal teams and are judged on excellence in practice, proven benefits to clients and industry leadership.

These awards recognise the achievements of Wright Legal in the Y2019-20 financial year with the firm delivering nearly $2billion in transactions. Completing a massive volume of complex banking and finance deals for domestic and international projects included market leading resources deals and property finance transactions (many with non-bank lenders). Despite being a small, boutique firm Wright Legal has easily matched the efforts of big international law firms in any capital city, globally.

As one of Australia's only law firms specifically dedicated to banking and finance law, the team at Wright Legal has demonstrated industry leadership, extraordinary client focus, and a deep understanding of the particular requirements of borrowers and non-bank lenders, achieving outcomes that best meets the commercial and legal imperatives of complex transactions.

Dom McGreal said “Wright Legal has developed a reputation as a fearless but fair team; working to achieve our clients’ objectives and foster good long term relationships between all parties throughout the financing process. Major deals during this time of which I am particularly proud include Resolute Mining's Toro Gold / Mako Gold Mine (Senegal) acquisition financing and its Ravenswood Gold Mine disposal vendor financing plus Northern Star Resources’ Super Pit (50% interest) acquisition financing. These were commercially significant and complex transactions with multiple stakeholders that needed to be completed within tight time frames. It is an honour to be recognised for achievements like these.”

Transactions like these are especially significant for Wright Legal as they, among others completed during the year, were of a size and complexity commonly undertaken by the major national and international law firms.

Dom explains the drivers of the team. “We strive for optimal client outcomes while working constructively with our client’s counterparties. Each of us has many years of banking and finance experience acting for lenders and borrowers, and this provides us with an insight into what is and is not acceptable to both lenders and borrowers in financing transactions. As such, we are one of the most experienced teams of banking and finance lawyers in Australia. We have geared our staffing levels to suit our specialist borrower practice. This means that our clients benefit from far greater senior lawyer contact and transaction involvement than they would using a large firm. Being recognised in these awards is an endorsement of the trust our clients have placed in us with their most important and transformational transactions.”