Anna Lenahan – July 2004
Partner
Sydney
Anna.Lenahan@aar.com.au
View CV
Know
the changes in the law and know your clients. Your career strategy should be to keep the law and market
under constant review.
For Anna Lenahan, moving to Australia meant the chance to start a new career, as well as a new life in another country.
Anna had trained and worked as a clinical psychologist in her native Ireland but was required to retrain in Australia before she could practice here.
Faced with the prospect of returning to study, she decided to pursue a different career and chose law, an area she had always been interested in.
While studying for her law degree at the University of Western Australia, Anna was offered a job as research and personal assistant to the WA Director of Public Prosecutions, and completed her degree part-time while she worked there.
She then did her articles in the Crown Solicitor's office in Perth in 1994, before returning to the DPP's office to work as a crown prosecutor.
Although she had predominantly practised criminal law, when her husband was transferred to Sydney, Anna decided to change direction to corporate law and joined the then Allen Allen & Hemsley in 1996.
She began in the property department but Anna's practice has since grown, mirroring the strong growth in the funds management practice group, and now encompasses the full gambit from property to property funds management to pure funds management transactions.
Anna became a partner on 1 July this year.
Anna advises fund managers and other financial services providers on the development, enhancement and distribution of financial products. She also advises on a broad range of matters arising in relation to the operation and management of funds.
Anna enjoys the technical aspects of law and the challenges this presents.
'I enjoy nutting out problems and knowing that there's a solution at the end,' she says.
'It's quite rewarding being involved in starting up funds from scratch – getting the licence, establishing the fund, seeking investors – and helping in the creation of a business moving forward.'
Anna advised Westpac Banking Corporation on the acquisition of the BT funds management business and the Rothschilds funds management business. These were deals that she particularly enjoyed because they gave her a great insight into the day-to-day operations of a funds management business.
Another major deal Anna worked on was acting for Deutsche Asset Management in the merger of the Deutsche and Paladin trusts.
Anna advises young lawyers to not be afraid to sit back and see where their chosen area of law is heading.
'Try and keep one step ahead and keep on top of where the market is going,' she says.
'Know the changes in the law and know your clients. Your career strategy should be to keep the law and market under constant review.'
Outside work, Anna tries to spend as much time as possible with her husband and three daughters, aged 23, 20 and 13, and she returns to Ireland once a year to see her extended family. Anna also enjoys skiing, walking and reading.
