ANDREW WILLIAMSON, LL.B (Hons), LL.M
Special Counsel Corporate
awilliamson@simpsons.com.au
S
Andrew joined Simpsons Solicitors as a Special Counsel in July 2009.
Andrew primarily focuses on corporate and commercial advice and transactions in the media space, and advising owners, directors and executives on strategic matters.
He offers clients a unique mix of legal and commercial experience as, in addition to practicing for many years with leading commercial law firms in Australia and New York, he was previously Group Head of Strategy and Development at John Fairfax Holdings Ltd (now Fairfax Media), an executive at BP Solar, and general counsel of Text Media. Long ago, he established a boutique intellectual property practice in Melbourne that was appointed to Telstra’s intellectual property and commercial law panels.
Andrew offers commercially pragmatic legal and strategic advice to his local and international clients. His extensive experience includes:
- Multiple private equity transactions (share and assets sales and associated agreements), including the acquisition of media assets such as newspapers, magazines, digital properties, radio stations;
- Negotiating and documenting shareholder’s agreements (including media industry, funds management industry);
- Structuring and managing joint ventures and other strategic business alliances (including online businesses);
- Commercial agreements, including licensing, distribution and agency agreements;
- Confidentiality agreements;
- Corporations Act and Listing Rules advice;
- Ongoing commercial issues following successful IPO of a property fund ($1.7 billion assets on Completion), including restructuring issues, renegotiation of management agreements and other arrangements with related parties, compliance with ASX requirements, advice to directors, and compliance issues; and
- Negotiating the world’s then largest solar power project: $50 million remote rural solar-electrification scheme in Philippines requiring substantial negotiations with senior government officials and aid agencies.
Andrew received a Bachelor of Laws with first class honours from the University of Melbourne in 1984, and a Master of Laws from the University of Michigan in 1986 (where he studied media, entertainment and corporate law).