Philip Harvey, Senior Associate, Banking & Finance, Sydney

I joined Mallesons as a graduate in 1999 and took a leave of absence in mid-2002 to work in London for just over two years at Slaughter and May in London.  When I decided to return to Australia from London, I had no hesitation in choosing to return to Mallesons.  I had thoroughly enjoyed working in the banking and finance group before I left, having found the breadth and depth of work both challenging and interesting.  The type of deals I have been working on since my return are certainly on a par with anything I came across in London in terms of size and complexity.  However, it was the team with whom I had worked that drew me back above all else. Mallesons does seek to foster a real team environment and, although some of the faces had changed, from graduates and junior solicitors right through to senior partners, there is a genuine sense of working together to get the job done.