It has been an absolute plea­sure to have Pierce Bedog­ni around the Swaab office for the Mer­i­tas ANZ Intern­ship Exchange. In Pierce’s two weeks at Swaab, he has spent time in our Prop­er­ty, Plan­ning & Projects, Com­mer­cial and Lit­i­ga­tion depart­ments absorb­ing knowl­edge, shar­ing expe­ri­ences and learn­ing all the ropes of the Aus­tralian cul­ture and legal environment.

The lawyer exchange is the first of its kind in the ANZ Mer­i­tas region and has been a valu­able expe­ri­ence. We say thank you and farewell to Pierce and wish him the best of luck in future! We recent­ly took some time out to ask Pierce a few ques­tions about his expe­ri­ence in Australia.

  1. What have you enjoyed most about your stay in Syd­ney? ​“I love Syd­ney Har­bour and the fact we are close to the water!”
  2. How does Martel­li McK­egg dif­fer from Swaab? ​“Much the same actu­al­ly! Both firms are quite sim­i­lar although in NZ I work in an open plan area. Every­one at Swaab has been so help­ful and accommodating.”
  3. How has the exchange been ben­e­fi­cial to you? ​“It has been a great way to expe­ri­ence first-hand, the inner work­ings of anoth­er firm, in a dif­fer­ent coun­try and to share the learn­ing expe­ri­ence with like­mind­ed peo­ple with­out the risk!”

Thank you, Pierce for par­tic­i­pat­ing in this ini­tia­tive and for set­ting the stage for future exchange through­out the Mer­i­tas ANZ net­work of firms.

If you would like to repub­lish this arti­cle, it is gen­er­al­ly approved, but pri­or to doing so please con­tact the Mar­ket­ing team at marketing@​swaab.​com.​au. This arti­cle is not legal advice and the views and com­ments are of a gen­er­al nature only. This arti­cle is not to be relied upon in sub­sti­tu­tion for detailed legal advice.

Publications

Assess­ing Scope 3 Emis­sions: An analy­sis of the impli­ca­tions of Den­man Aberdeen Muswell­brook Scone Healthy Envi­ron­ment Group Inc v MACH Ener­gy Aus­tralia Pty Ltd [2025] NSW­CA 163 (the Mount Pleas­ant decision)

Intro­duc­tionOn July 24, 2025, the New South Wales Court of Appeal (NSW­CA) deliv­ered a land­mark rul­ing in Den­man Aberdeen Muswell­brook Scone…

Work­place Rela­tion­ships: The Legal Posi­tion (Cold­play Con­cert Edition)

The recent sto­ry of col­leagues (a Chief Exec­u­tive Offi­cer and Chief Peo­ple Offi­cer (CPO)) whose appar­ent rela­tion­ship was cap­tured on…

Dis­missal for Dissent?

The recent unfair dis­missal deci­sion of the Fair Work Com­mis­sion, Shaun Turn­er v Dare­bin City Coun­cil [2025] FWC 1763, in which Deputy…

In the News

Michael Byrnes is quot­ed in the arti­cle, ​“Employ­ee award­ed $305k in record sex­u­al harass­ment pay­out”, pub­lished in HRM Online on 12 August 2025

Michael Byrnes is quot­ed in the arti­cle, ​“Employ­ee award­ed $305k in record sex­u­al harass­ment pay­out”, pub­lished in HRM Online on…

Michael Byrnes appeared on Mon­ey News with Evan Lucas on 2GB on 4 August 2025 to dis­cuss the pro­posed Vic­to­ri­an state gov­ern­ment work from home laws

Michael Byrnes appeared on Mon­ey News with Evan Lucas on 2GB on 4 August 2025 to dis­cuss the pro­posed Vic­to­ri­an state gov­ern­ment…

Julie Briscoe attend­ed an event last night host­ed by NSW Gov­er­nor Mar­garet Bea­z­ley, cel­e­brat­ing Tour de Cure’s sup­port for world-class can­cer research breakthroughs.

Her Excel­len­cy the Hon­ourable Mar­garet Bea­z­ley AC KC, Gov­er­nor of New South Wales, and patron of Tour de Cure, host­ed…

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