Law firm Allens poaches PwC M&A tax executive Ellen Thomas

Law firm Allens has poached M&A tax expert Ellen Thomas from PricewaterhouseCoopers ahead of another busy year of corporate deals. Picture Gaye Gerard/NCA Newswire

International law firm Allens is supercharging its lucrative tax practice, poaching M&A supremo Ellen Thomas from accounting and advisory major PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Ms Thomas will join Allens as a partner in the firm’s tax team in Sydney as a mergers and acquisitions tax specialist. She has 20 years’ experience working on domestic and international transactions.

Allens continues to dominate the M&A space, having advised on $250bn worth of transactions in Australia and on most of the 10 largest public M&A deals in the country for 2021.

Prior to joining Allens, Ms Thomas was partner and head of the PwC tax deals team since January 2018, where she worked on corporate restructures, post-acquisition integrations, international tax planning, distressed debt transactions, infrastructure investments and financial arrangements.

Ms Thomas comes to Allens after a career at top law firms, serving as partner at Baker & McKenzie and Norton Rose Fulbright. She started her career at MinterEllison and later moved to King & Wood Mallesons as a senior associate.

Allens partner and tax practice lead Martin Fry said Ms Thomas’ appointment will help grow the firm and its tax practice.

“We are pleased to welcome Ellen to Allens. She is a trusted M&A tax adviser who has a strong reputation as a highly-skilled tax expert,” he said.

Ms Thomas’ hire comes after fellow large firms have added to their ranks in the new year, with Corrs Chambers Westgarth having recently poached two Allen & Overy banking partners.

Corrs announced on Monday that James Abbott and Simon Huxley would join the firm’s team in Sydney shortly after former Allen & Overy debt and projects boss Adam Stapleton’s arrival last week.

Ashurst also bolstered its financial regulation team in Sydney, adding former Clayton Utz partner Narelle Smythe to its ranks.