Friday 8 October 2010
Middletons wins the Shipping & Maritime Law Firm of the Year for Australia
at the fourth annual ACQ Law Awards
Middletons has won the Shipping & Maritime Law Firm of the Year for Australia at the fourth annual ACQ Law
Awards. Each year ACQ magazine has a number of awards voted for by its readers; highlighting the best and
brightest in the industry around the world.
Fully independent and collated with absolute confidentiality the awards provide a snapshot of exactly who the market
most respects. ACQ Finance Magazine has 28,000 subscribers and is based out of the UK. The readership is mainly
that of the UK, Europe and USA.
Middletons' Head of Transport, Logistics and Defence, Stephen Thompson said, "This high recognition reflects the
hard work of Middletons' national team and all our dedicated lawyers and support staff. It is particularly pleasing as
we neither nominated ourselves nor lodged a submission. The award is entirely client and peer driven."
Mr Thompson said, "In an increasingly multi-modal world of vertically integrated supply chains, clients expect their
lawyers to offer a similarly broad range of services. This award vindicates Middletons' longstanding "one-stop-shop"
service model for the transport sector."
Mr Thompson added, "In addition to the core competencies of our 15-strong dedicated Transport group, Middletons'
broader transport team provides commercially sound, straight talking, multi-jurisdictional advice on all aspects of ship
finance and tax, port development, insurance, industrial relations, OH&S and environmental pollution."
"We have been retained in many of Australia’s most significant admiralty cases and have provided services to
suppliers and users of shipping services across the breadth of commercial law. We were at the forefront of the
campaign in response to the ATO's draft ruling on royalty withholding tax, an issue for which two of our partners were
named Newsmakers of the Year. Our clients are engaged in innovative projects in terms of their corporate
structures, their operational models and the approaches to crewing and labour utilisation. We are proud to be
associated with these industry leaders."
Finally Mr Thompson paid tribute to the long history of support provided by the firm, "For more than 100 years,
transport, logistics and defence has been an area of strength for Middletons and its predecessor firms."
Middletons recently won the prestigious BRW ANZ "Private Business of the Year" award for 2010. The BRW ANZ
Private Business Awards formally recognise the outstanding achievements of private businesses, and acknowledge
the significant and valuable contribution they make to the Australian economy.
Further information
Jeremy Hyman
Media and Communications Manager
T: +612 9513 2451
F: +612 9513 2399
M: +614 49 953 890
E: jeremy.hyman@middletons.com
NEWS 
