King & Wood Mallesons has bolstered its competition practice with the appointment of Stephen Ridgeway, a leading competition lawyer.

Ridgeway joins the firm’s Melbourne office from Ashurst (formerly Blake Dawson) where he was a partner in the competition group, acting for public companies in all areas of competition and consumer legal cases, including merger and joint venture approvals, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) investigations, litigation and compliance advice.

Ridgeway is the second competition partner to leave the firm since its merger with Ashurst and the third competition partner to leave this year. Ayman Guirguis joined Corrs Chambers Westgarth in late March while Daniel Preston departed for Freehills in January.

Before joining Blake Dawson Ridgeway was a senior advisor to the ACCC where he specialised in cartel prosecutions. He is also the chairman of the Competition and Consumer Committee of the Law Council of Australia. “The appointment of Stephen, on top of recent lateral hires, is further proof of the level of confidence from the market in our strategic direction and the market reputation of our competition and energy & resources practices,” said KWM managing partner Australia, Tony O’Malley.

King & Wood Mallesons also recently welcomed Ashurst M&A partner Peter Stirling.

Related stories:
Corrs ups the competition with Ashursts hire 19 March 2012

Freehills adds Blakes partner to competition practice 25 January 2012