Feb. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Allen & Overy LLP, the U.K.’s fourth- largest law firm, said it will open offices in Sydney and Perth for the first time, adding 17 new partners in Australia to target mining and natural resources merger work.

“We see significant opportunities,” Senior Partner David Morley said in a statement today. Fourteen of the new partners are from Australian law firm Clayton Utz, which confirmed their resignations. The offices will be open by March 1, said Campbell McIlroy, a London-based Allen & Overy spokesman.

The firm’s announcement comes after fellow U.K. firm Norton Rose LLP’s merger with Deacons Australia took effect on Jan. 1 and Washington-based Jones Day hired two partners for its Sydney office as it continues expanding with a plan to double from 25 to 50 lawyers there.

“International firms have realized there are opportunities to service the Australian legal market,” said Chris Ahern, the partner in charge of Jones Day’s Sydney office. “The large Australian firms may have to get used to competition,” he said.

Thomas Brown, Allen & Overy’s Asia-Pacific managing partner said in a statement that the expansion also improves the firm’s access to the “deep pool of high quality lawyers that exists in Australia.” The firm has more than 450 partners and about 5,000 staff globally.

Highly Regulated Investments

Australian lawyers will allow Allen & Overy to provide advice on investments in natural resources and technology and media, both highly regulated areas of overseas interest, according to Sheena Brand, a Hong Kong-based legal management consultant at Professional Development Asia Ltd.

“The advantage of having specialized Australian qualified lawyers available is that while very good lawyers, they operate from a lower cost base than say, their counterparts in Hong Kong,” she said.

More than half of Allen & Overy’s revenue came from outside the U.K. in the year that ended April 30. During that time, it opened offices in Munich and Sao Paulo, bringing its total to 31 offices in 22 countries.

Joining the U.K. firm is Geoff Simpson, who had been partner in charge of Clayton Utz’s Perth office and joint head of its national energy and resources group, according to the Australian firm’s web site.

Australian law firms were the second, third and fourth placed advisers on mergers in the Asia Pacific last year, according to Bloomberg data, as buyers including China’s Yanzhou Coal Mining Co. bought Australian resource assets like Felix Resources Ltd. U.K. law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP was the leading adviser in the region in 2009.

To contact the reporter on this story: Debra Mao in Hong Kong at dmao5@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 8, 2010 05:14 EST