DLA Piper advises on transactional and regulatory matters across the financial services, payments fintech sectors. Samantha O’Brien, a name to note for major financial institutions and innovative fintech players, has extensive expertise in product regulation, design and distribution, as well as the sale and transfer of insurance and financial services businesses. She oversees the practice with Dylan Burke, who advises clients at all stages of the corporate life cycle, from early-stage start-ups to public companies. Jon Ireland heads the funds team, while Ann-Marie Coleman advises on regulatory reforms, licensing, product development and distribution models, as well as breach response and remediation programmes.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'The team is approachable, responsive, and committed to providing clear, actionable guidance rather than theoretical analysis. They adopt a collaborative style, work efficiently under pressure, and leverage technology to improve both turnaround times and client engagement.'
- 'Dylan Burke is particularly strong in navigating multi-faceted matters where financial services regulation intersects with emerging technology. Their guidance is clear, pragmatic, and tailored to the pace of innovation in the sector.'
- 'Great responsiveness and timely turnarounds. Deep expertise in corporate matters. Compared favourably on timeliness of advice, commercially and expertise.'
- 'The DLA Piper Australia team has deep expertise across the range of areas which affect our business, making them a reliable and trusted partner of ours. One thing that sets them apart from other practices is their ability to operate at different levels depending on our business needs - for example, they can provide complex advice on the interpretation of sections of the Corporations Act, and can also get their hands dirty reviewing terms & conditions and commercial agreements for compliance with laws.'
- 'Ann-Marie Coleman is a rising star in Australian financial services law and a trusted adviser to our Australian business. Her advice is always clear, timely and thorough. She has a very good grasp of the variety of legal and regulatory frameworks that affect our business.'
- 'Samantha O'Brien is an exceptional operator - one who knows the insurance industry and has taken the time to understand our business (along with our commercial objectives and priorities). As a result, she understands how to frame and adjust her advice to help us achieve our desired outcomes with pragmatic and clearly implementable advice and guidance.'
- 'The team we deal with are highly knowledgeable individuals but provide straightforward, practical advice often within very tight timeframes.'
Key clients
- Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets PLC
- TMF Group B.V.
- St Andrew’s Insurance(Australia) Pty Ltd
- Accel-KKR Co LLC N
- Touch Ventures Limited
- FinVolution Group
Work highlights
Represented TMF Group in its acquisition of Vasco Trustees and provided subsequent support on the integration of the Vasco business within the TMF Group.
Advised Accel-KKR, through its New-Zealand -based portfolio company Unimarket, on its 100% share acquisition of VendorPanel Group, an Australian-based technology company that provides a source-to-contract procurement platform.
Supported St Andrew's Australia with the formation of their partnership with a new distributor, including negotiating the associated distribution agreement and policy administration agreement, as well as the reinsurance treaty supporting the policies underwritten through the partnership.
Practice head
Samantha O'Brien; Dylan Burke
Other key lawyers
Jon Ireland; Ann-Marie Coleman