Stars in a league of their own

OF the hundreds of lawyers who were considered worthy of inclusion in the Chambers and Partners rankings, 10 have been singled out.

Gina Cass-Gottlieb

OF the hundreds of lawyers who were considered worthy of inclusion in the Chambers and Partners rankings, just 10 have been singled out as "star individuals".

For five of them, this is nothing new. They were also at the top of the rankings last year.

This time they have been joined by five new stars -- one from Freehills, one from Blake Dawson, one from Allens Arthur Robinson and two from Clayton Utz.

One of the repeat performers is Gina Cass-Gottlieb of Gilbert + Tobin, who was described last year as "pre-eminent" among competition and anti-trust lawyers.

This year, Chambers quotes Ms Cass-Gottlieb's peers and clients as saying she "supersedes everybody else" and commands respect in an unaggressive way.

Ms Cass-Gottlieb's practice area -- competition and anti-trust law -- is one of the three in which her firm was ranked in band one, the elite level of practice.

But among the firms, the recognition by Chambers of two more Clayton Utz partners as stars gives that firm the strongest performance on this measure.

Clayton Utz now has three of the 10 stars listed in this year's rankings: Gary Best, David Cowling and Doug Jones.

The other firms with strong performances on this measure were Freehills (see accompanying report) and Blake Dawson -- soon to be renamed Ashurst -- which each had two stars.

Mr Jones, like Ms Cass-Gottlieb, was also named as a star in last year's rankings.

He heads the construction practice at Clayton Utz and was described as "a phenomenon" during the interviews with clients and peers that formed part of the assessment process for the rankings guide.

Mr Best is national head of the Clayton Utz real estate and real estate markets group, and specialises in major development projects.

Mr Cowling, who practises in insolvency and restructuring, was principal legal adviser to PPB, the voluntary administrators of Lehman Brothers Australia Group.

The star performer at Allens Arthur Robinson is Larry Magid, who was described by one client as "head and shoulders above anyone else in the Australian tax market".

The head of the construction practice at Mallesons, Peter Pether, is again ranked among the stars after one client told Chambers he was Sydney's strongest construction litigator.

This year's guide contains 894 rankings for solicitors and barristers, with some lawyers ranked in more than one practice area.