National law firm Mills Oakley is delighted to announce the appointment of three outstanding women to the partnership across the Insolvency, Private Advisory and Public Law teams. The appointments bring the total number of partners to 154, following a record number of entrants to the ranks in 2023.

Taline Chater joins the Commercial Disputes, Restructuring and Insolvency team from MinterEllison. She has acted on several complex and high-profile corporate restructuring advisory and formal appointment roles on debtor-side mandates, as well as for secured and unsecured creditors, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission and the Australian Taxation Office. Taline’s experience of more than 20 years spans financial services, retail, mining and resources, property, construction and infrastructure. “The dynamic changes in the market offer unique opportunities and challenges for our clients and I am very much looking forward to being part of the highly regarded Mills Oakley national team,” she said. Taline is based in the Sydney office.

Emily Baggett is the latest recruit to the Public Law team at Mills Oakley. With almost two decades of experience she joins the Sydney office from Moray & Agnew Lawyers, where she was a Partner. Emily has advised and litigated matters for Commonwealth agencies and other entities across a range of statutory schemes. She is keen to build on existing relationships with valued clients in the newly expanded team.
“The pulling together of top legal practitioners in the Public Law space into what I consider to be the premier Public Law team was irresistible,” Emily said.
Emily’s appointment follows the recent arrival of highly regarded partner and Minters national practice group leader Julian Pinder in Sydney, while David McLaren joined as a partner in the Brisbane office last year. Anthony Gardner, Max Hopkins, Taylor Young, Claire Laizans and Abby Tinlin added to the strength of the group. Liam Dennis also joined forces with the public law team as a partner in 2023.

Donnelle Hestelow joins the Private Advisory team in Perth after managing a specialist estate planning practice. During her years in private legal practice, Donnelle has advised high net worth clients in relation to probate, business structuring, property and transaction-based deals. The growth of her client base and market offering will now benefit from the support of a larger firm.
“I’m confident that joining the Private Advisory group will give clients the very responsive and full-service delivery that Mills Oakley can provide,” Donnelle said.

Mills Oakley Chief Executive Officer John Nerurker said the appointments highlighted the firm as an employer of choice attracting excellent people, while continuing to grow the services and expertise the firm offers to clients.
“Taline, Emily and Donnelle are strategic additions to the partnership at a time of continued growth aimed at providing our clients with the best legal services available nationally. We are committed to offering new partnership opportunities to women at Mills Oakley as we recognise that diversity contributes to our, and our clients’, success,” he said.

About Mills Oakley
Mills Oakley is a national law firm with offices in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. With a proud history of 160 years, we remain innovative and focused on our clients.