A celebration of an occasion like this lends itself to being broken down into three parts – the past, the present, and the future.

Daniel recalls walking along the beach on the South Coast in 2004, thinking about breaking free from the big law firm life and setting up a law business. It wasn’t going to be a law firm. It wasn’t going to be standard, average or normal. It was going to be something limitless, quality driven, special, personal. This is when Moulis Legal was born. With me as his co-conspirator, we crafted the byline “commercial + international”, which might sound pedestrian, but everything behind it is important, and it was different.

The journey since then has been an amazing one; so many interesting matters, so many interesting people.

We’ve worked in countries and for companies all over the world: China, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Spain, Sweden, Indonesia, Brazil, USA, India and more.

We represent a very large number of the world’s steel companies.

We’ve been involved in most of the major Commonwealth building transactions here in Canberra, sometimes more than once.

We have argued our clients’ cases in lower courts, and in the Federal Court and through to the High Court of Australia. We have acted as foreign counsel in the General Court of the European Communities and on appeal to the European Court of Justice.

We are the “partner of choice” for international and national level law firms who need specialised advice for their clients on matters that touch and concern Canberra and Commonwealth affairs, in areas such as trade compliance, renewable energy, investment, transport, food law, competition and consumer rights.

To all of our clients over that time, and to all of our clients today, we say thank you. Thanks for sharing your ideas and ambitions with us, and in trusting us to help you succeed.

Some milestones we would like to note:

• When the three-person team of Daniel Moulis, Philippa Reed and Jun Wang moved out of the first Moulis Legal office in 2005 – which was the dining room at our home in Canberra;
• Setting up at Brindabella Park in Canberra, where we are to this day – and a big thanks to the Capital Airport people who really have created an excellent place for our kind of practice – we love it;
• Moving across the atrium, to bigger premises, in 2010, and hosting our good friends from the national law firm of Maddocks for a short six months,;
• Opening our Brisbane office in 2013, under the enthusiastic and trusted leadership of Chris Hewitt;
• Shaun Creighton joining as a partner in 2016, adding new strings to our bow;
• Changing our structure to an incorporated legal practice, also in 2016;
• Opening our Melbourne office in 2017;
• Expanding, again, our Canberra premises in 2020; and now,
• Opening our Adelaide office in 2020.

Quite a first 15 years!

Over that time many talented people have passed through Moulis Legal. We pay special tribute to our alumni, at all levels, who remain our friends.

Which brings us to the present. It is nice to be publicly recognised:

• Chambers Asia Pacific and Global Band 1 for WTO/International Law
• Best peer-ranked trade lawyers outside Geneva, Brussels and Washington by Who’s Who
• Top 20 ranked Australian law firm, Chambers Asia Pacific 2015.

But the most important recognition is that we get on a daily basis, and at a personal level, from our network of friends and clients.

What does the future hold?

The demand for relationship-based legal advisers is growing. Sure, there’s a commoditisation of law as well, but that’s not where we play. We are well placed to flourish in a world which will value diversity, strategy and clarity more than ever before.

We are growing, in a way that is designed to make sure our culture and our camaraderie stay intact. A reproduction and spreading of what we have managed to create – bigger, better, and maintaining our essential culture.

We have thanked a lot of people generally, but now would like to be more specific:

Creatik, our design gurus; Simon at Spyda IT; Alex Breen at Kinsella; Courtney and co at Red Havas, our PR and marketing team; Michael and all our friends at the Commonwealth Bank; Sally Hieatt, our fitout maestro – thank you.

Alistair, Emily, Graeme, Lucinda, Dorothy, Caroline, Caroline, Caroline (no, that’s not a typo), Macky, Mitchell, Maddison, Joan, Sharon, Kumudu, Lochlan, Rocky, Yunjin, Andrew, Shelveen, Mia, Teaghan, Stephanie – our employees, thank you.

Charles Zhan, recently elevated to partner and heading our China Business Desk – thank you.

Shaun Creighton, skilful and committed business partner – thank you.

Lastly but by no means least, to all of you – you are our clients and our friends, thank you for your support. You’re a valued part of our team.