Best aged care lawyers recognised

Australia’s top aged care and retirement living lawyers have been recognised in the Best Lawyers List for 2014-2015.

This year, four lawyers earned the top accolade of Health and Aged Care Lawyer of the Year including Victor Harcourt, principal at Russell Kennedy and Lucille Scomazzon, a partner at Maddocks in Sydney.

The 2014 list of over 2,200 leading lawyers in Australia from 85 specialty areas is based on confidential peer evaluations from other lawyers within the field. The survey results, produced by  US organisation Best Lawyers, is now in its 7^th year.

Mr Harcourt leads the public law, litigation and aged care team at Russell Kennedy and has been recognised in the Best Lawyers list since 2012.

Throughout his extensive career in aged care law, Mr Harcourt has been involved in challenging accreditation and sanctions decisions made by the department and Accreditation Agency (now Quality Agency), as well as advising providers on complaints handling and assisting with coronial investigations and inquests.

More recently, Mr Harcourt has advised aged care providers on mergers and acquisitions and clinical and corporate governance issues.

He said he was attracted to working with a sector that was committed to caring for and improving the lives of others.

“The people that I come across, whether they are aged care providers or consultants or within the peak bodies, they all have a very genuine desire to work in this service area and they bring with it a compassionate attitude,” he said. “It’s not just all about business, it’s about people.”

As the sector prepares for the implementation of the Living Longer, Living Better legislation, Mr Harcourt has focussed a lot of his time on helping providers to understand the legal implications of the regulatory reform and to meet the new requirements.

Corporate and commercial lawyer Lucille Scomazzon, currently with Sydney law firm Maddocks, has spent the past 16 years advising a wide range of clients in the health and aged care sectors including small and large aged care providers, and developers to ASX-listed companies seeking to invest in the sector.

In 2005, Ms Scomazzon was involved in the landmark purchase by the Macquarie Group of the Salvation Army’s 14 aged care facilities, which marked the beginning of a wave of sector consolidation prior to the global financial crisis.

Ms Scomazzon said as a large, dynamic industry she enjoyed the varied nature of the work, which included everything from large corporate transactions to staff training and complaints management.

“One day you will be working on a large transaction and the next day you can be assisting a client with drafting a new privacy policy,” she told AAA.

Ms Scomazzon has also closely followed the aged care policy setting and been involved in writing submissions to the Productivity Commission and contributing to policy forums.

A total of 67 legal professionals were recognised on the Best Lawyers list in the health and aged care and retirement villages and seniors living areas, and five lawyers, including Ms Scomazzon, received a mention in both categories.

Robin Lyons from Minter Ellis in Brisbane and Rosemary Southgate from Russell Kennedy were among those named Lawyer of the Year in the area of Retirement Villages and Senior Living law.

Lawyers of the Year 2014-2015

Health & Aged Care Law

• Shane Evans, Minter Ellis (Brisbane)
• Alice McCormick, Minter Ellis (Canberra)
• Victor Harcourt, Russell Kennedy (Melbourne)
• Lucille Scomazzon, Maddocks (Sydney)

Retirement Villages and Senior Living Law

• Robin Lyons, Minter Ellis (Brisbane)
• David McElhone, Minter Ellis (Sydney)
• Rosemary Southgate, Russell Kennedy (Melbourne)
• Julia Sweeney, Fisher Jeffries (Adelaide)

Best Lawyers – Health and Aged Care Australia 2014 include:

Sydney

• Wayne Cahill, Ashurst
• Andrew Saxton, DibbsBarker
• Bradley Russell, Herbert Smith Freehills LLP
• Alison Choy Flannigan, Holman Webb Lawyers
• John Kell, Hunt & Hunt
• Geoff Bloom, HWL Ebsworth
• Kerrie Chambers, HWL Ebsworth
• Julie Hamblin, HWL Ebsworth
• Brit Mainhoff, HWL Ebsworth
• Aaron Kloczko, Maddocks
• Lucille Scomazzon, Maddocks
• Lucinda Smith, Thomson Geer
• Scott Chapman, TressCox
• Dominique Egan, TressCox
• Karen Keogh, TressCox
• Don Munro, TressCox

Melbourne

• Michael Regos, DLA Piper Australia
• Natalie Franks, Health Legal
• Claudia Hirst, Health Legal
• Brendan Earle, Herbert Smith Freehills LLP
• Jeremy McCarthy, HWL Ebsworth
• Paris Petranis, K&L Gates LLP
• Craig Penn-Tonkin, Norton Rose Fulbright Australia
• David Ruschena, Nous Group
• Michael Gorton, Russell Kennedy
• Victor Harcourt, Russell Kennedy
• John Petts, TressCox

Adelaide

• Kathryn Lincoln, Finlaysons
• Geoff Black, Wallmans Lawyers
• Margaret Byrnes, Wallmans Lawyers

Brisbane

• Justine Beirne, Avant Law
• Carol Lee, Cooper Grace Ward Lawyers
• Julie Cameron, Corrs Chambers Westgarth
• Eddie Scuderi, Corrs Chambers Westgarth
• David John Herbert Watt, K&L Gates LLP
• Tim Longwill, McCullough Robertson
• Shane Evans, Minter Ellison
• Robin Lyons, Minter Ellison
• Katharine Philp, TressCox

Canberra

• John Carroll, Clayton Utz
• Stephen Jaggers, King & Wood Mallesons
• Alice McCormick, Minter Ellison
• Paul McGinness, Minter Ellison

Perth

• Dominic Bourke, Clayton Utz
• Alan Churley, Corrs Chambers Westgarth

Retirement Villages and Senior Living law

Sydney

• Nikki Robinson, Clayton Utz
• Garry Pritchard, Emil Ford & Co Lawyers
• Arthur Koumoukelis, Gadens
• Lucille Scomazzon, Maddocks
• David McElhone, Minter Ellison
• Lucinda Smith, Thomson Geer
• Guy Vinden, Atkinson Vinden

Melbourne

• Steven Smith, HWL Ebsworth
• David Inglis, Minter Ellison
• John Corcoran, Russell Kennedy
• Kathryn Elleman, Russell Kennedy
• Wai Hwoon Low, Russell Kennedy
• Donna Rayner, Russell Kennedy
• Rosemary Southgate, Russell Kennedy

Adelaide

• Julia Sweeney, Fisher Jeffries
• Rebecca Barr, O’Loughlins Lawyers
• Alf Macolino, O’Loughlins Lawyers
• Peter Myhill, O’Loughlins Lawyers
• Trevor Edmond, Wallmans Lawyers

Brisbane

• Brian Herd, Carne Reidy Herd
• Mark West, McCullough Robertson
• Robin Lyons, Minter Ellison
• Julie McStay, Hynes Legal

Canberra

• John Carroll, Clayton Utz
• Alfonso Del Rio, Clayton Utz

Perth

• Martin Matthews, Borello Legal
• Alan Churley, Corrs Chambers Westgarth

Source: Best Lawyers, www.bestlawyers.com