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Mills Oakley

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Mills Oakley is known in the market for commercial, retail and industrial leasing transactions. The team is led by the quintet of James Price in Melbourne, Tim L’Orange in Sydney, Edwina Reynolds in Brisbane, Patrick Thaung in Perth and Stephen Hill in Adelaine. Price excels in sales and acquisitions, while L’Orange specialises in leasing and master planned projects. Reynolds is well versed in property structuring and joint ventures. Thaung handles a mix of strata titles, subdivisions and off-the-plan sales, and Hill regularly advises on landlord and tenant portfolio leasing. The team was bolstered by several new additions: Tamara Heng joined from Lavan in October 2024, while in April 2025, Shanna Kruger joined from Gadens Lawyers, Randall Gerkens from K&L Gates and Mike Ellis from Vincent Young.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘The group provide true and honest advice on how goals can be achieved.’

  • ‘The team are open and proactive characters that have a sense for commercial issues as well.’

  • 'We appreciate the Mills Oakley team as they have great knowledge of our portfolio and us as a client and know what our risk profile is. The team can cover a wide field of expertise which makes it easy for us in case we need advice on items which are not in our daily workload requests.'

  • 'Pablo Fernandez has worked on our portfolio for several years and built a great and trusting relationship with us. We appreciate him as a great lawyer, person and being straightforward in his legal approach. He has deep knowledge and we feel well represented by him.'

  • 'Matt Minas is doing great work for our portfolio and understands the needs of our industry and how to work efficient in this market.'

  • ‘The team understand our risk appetite very well and are seen as an extension of our in-house legal team.’

  • ‘Mills Oakley have a dedicated team who are passionate about retail leasing. Mills Oakley have compiled a team of specialists, and we benefit from their understanding of market trends and an ability to anticipate and then manage issues.’

  • ‘Stephen Hill and Kylie Seifert are always approachable, and provide clear and well-thought-out advice. As specialists in their practice area, they also provide market leading insights.’

Key clients

  • Barings Property Group
  • Blackstone Real Estate Australia
  • Charter Hall Group
  • ESR / LOGOS
  • Goodman
  • Investa Property Group
  • Mirvac
  • GPT Group
  • China Investment Corporation
  • Mulpha Group
  • Gateway Capital
  • Heworth Holdings Group

Work highlights

Acted for Barings on the acquisition of an industrial portfolio, including due diligence on the properties, negotiation involving 11 contracts, umbrella deeds and various ancillary documents.
Acted for the vendor, Heworth, on the sale of Balmain Leagues Club site to Mitsubishi Estate Asia (MEA) and Versatile Group’s PERIFA.
Acted for AFIAA in its acquisition of 628 Bourke Street, a 16-level commercial office tower consisting of 24,000 square metres of net lettable area on a very large landholding spanning approximately 3,300 square metres from Bourke Street to Little Bourke Street, Melbourne.

Practice head

James Price; Tim L’Orange; Edwina Reynolds; Patrick Thaung; Stephen Hill

Other key lawyers

Kylie Seifert; Pablo Fernandez; Tamara Heng; Shanna Kruger; Randall Gerkens; Matt Minas; Mike Ellis