Meritas

Williams + Hughes is the exclusive Western Australian member firm of Meritas, the world’s largest Tier 1 global legal network. Meritas is one of the few global alliances rated as Elite (Chambers and Partners 2020).

Meritas firms work together to provide clients with a local legal partner with deep international resources. Our place in this network gives us fast, direct access to over 7,500 highly skilled lawyers in 186 law firms in 251 markets across 91 countries. Membership is by invitation only, following a rigorous approval process, with recertification required every three years. All Meritas firms have quality assurance controls in place to ensure the highest standard advice that adds value, every time.

Benefits to our clients

Quality Assurance - Meritas has well established, stringent processes to monitor and enhance the quality of its member firms.  To maintain our membership, we undertake a regular re-certification programme and client service evaluations. Meritas is the only alliance of law firms with an established means of monitoring and enhancing the quality of its member firms. As part of this quality-assurance process, in 2019 Meritas implemented cybersecurity standards for all current and future member firms. These measures ensure that alliance firms continually provide superior legal service.

Peer-Review Process – service quality is monitored through client and member evaluations, conducted for every referral. These evaluations generate a ‘Satisfaction Index Score’ for each firm. These scores are used to ensure all Meritas firms are maintaining a high standard of service,  and those failing to meet the standards are asked to leave the network.

Global coverage – With access to 186 law firms in 251 markets worldwide in 91 countries, we are able to offer our clients immediate access to pre-qualified expertise in practically any global jurisdiction. No other legal alliance has wider reach.  

Our global alliance partners have produced a range of useful guides and insights to doing business overseas including specific guides for countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America, Europe and the Middle East. These guides are written by local firms with an in-depth understanding of their local market. You can find these guides at Meritas Insights and Resources.

The Australian and New Zealand Meritas firms have also produced the publication COVID-19: An Introduction to Temporary Changes Affecting Businesses in Australia and New Zealand.

For more information about Meritas, please visit www.meritas.org and Meritas' Linked In page.

NEED ADVICE FROM AN AUSTRALIAN LAWYER?

Williams + Hughes is an independent Australian law firm specialising in commercial law and commercial litigation, intellectual property and dispute resolution. Based in Perth, capital city of Western Australia, we share a business time zone with 60% of the world’s population. This includes the UK, China, Russia, Japan, India, the Middle East, Africa, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Europe and parts of the United States. The benefit of these overlapping business hours is real-time, person-to-person contact with our office meaning more efficient solutions for you and your clients.

The convenience of shared time zones means we are well placed to be your first call for Australian legal advice. We advise on all national Australian laws including company law, contract law, competition, IP and insolvency.

Williams + Hughes’ primary focus is commercial work, providing services in the commercial and corporate law, resources, commercial litigation, intellectual property, trademarks, domain names and dispute resolution fields. Although this focus means that we do not deal with family law, criminal, motor vehicle injury, workers' compensation or personal injury matters, we maintain a wide range of contacts with other legal practices who specialise in those areas to whom we can refer.

Williams + Hughes was established more than 30 years ago and we have seen and been involved in Perth’s evolution into a major hub for investment into Australia.  Factors including Perth’s strategic proximity to Asia’s mega economies and WA’s recognition as one of the the world’s top investment jurisdictions (according to the Fraser Institute) for mining companies and its emergence as a corporate centre for the resources sector, has led to a movement of corporate activity within Australia from the East coast to the West.  This shift has included globally recognised finance and consultancy establishing operations in Perth.

With a well established reputation for providing commercially astute and pragmatic legal advice, Williams + Hughes attracts a wide range of quality work from the resources sector and beyond. Our clients include high net worth individuals, small to large businesses, private companies, public listed companies and multi-national groups. We are well experienced in advising international clients investing in Australia with expertise in all aspects of establishing and maintaining businesses across a range of industries.

GUIDES TO BUSINESS INVESTMENT AND EXPANSION IN AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND AND ASIA

The Australasian Meritas member firms have assisted in creating a helpful Legal Guide for Business Investment and Expansion in Australia and a Legal Guide for Business Investment and Expansion in New Zealand. A similar guide for Asia is available - Asia: A Legal Guide for Business Investment and Expansion. 

PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION ROADMAP AND GUIDE; COMPLIANCE WITH GDPR

Meritas has also produced the very useful Global Roadmap to Personal Data Protection - Asia Pacific, Europe & USA (2nd edition) and the Meritas Guide to the Steps Companies Should Take to Comply with GDPR.

ALLIANCE WITH ASSOCIATION OF CORPORATE COUNSEL

Meritas partners with the Association of Corporate Counsel. This includes initiatives such as ACC QuickCounsel, a collection of online research guides designed to provide brief but accurate overviews of timely topics for in-house lawyers, with related links for further information. For more details see here.

OUR MERITAS PARTNER FIRMS IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

We are proud to be members of Meritas with the other member firms in Australia and New Zealand:

Bennett & Philp, Brisbane

DMAW, Adelaide 

Madgwicks, Melbourne

Martelli McKegg, Auckland

Swaab, Sydney