Herbert Smith Freehills' world-leading Alternative Legal Services practice announces Australian promotions

Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) announced it has promoted four talented Australians within its Alternative Legal Services (ALT) practice, ensuring that HSF can continue to provide clients with innovation and value through the market-leading application of technologies. 

From 1 January 2024, Brisbane based Gina O’Neill and Sydney based Ben Urdang have been promoted to Head of eDiscovery and Legal Technology, with Joseph Cook and Tahmina Ahsan both promoted to Head of Disputes (acting). Together, they join a leadership team at the helm of one of the largest New Law practices in Australia. 

These promotions reflect the long-term investment that Herbert Smith Freehills has made into developing the team in its ALT Practice since Australian operations commenced its first-of-kind offering in 2015. These appointments build on the recent promotion of Akshaya Ravi, who was promoted to Head of Corporate and Real Estate for ALT Australia on 1 October 2023.

Being an Australian trailblazer, Herbert Smith Freehills has built the capabilities of the ALT team alongside the emergence of new technologies, and through this process, looked to ensure that its people have the skills and knowledge to realise the best outcomes for clients. 

Director of Alternative Legal Services in Australia, Emily Coghlan, congratulated the team on their promotions. 

Gina, Ben, Joseph, Tahmina and Akshaya have demonstrated their strong leadership skills over their time here at HSF, so we are excited to see them continue to develop their careers here with us as part of the leadership team. 

“They each offer the cross-disciplinary skills needed to see our clients achieve their business goals by delivering targeted commercial outcomes, which are bespoke to the individual problems and opportunities they face.”