Gowling WLG has welcomed Andrea McMahon to the firm as a partner within its Government team.
Andrea joins the firm from the Government Legal Department, where she recently held the position of Senior Civil Servant Lawyer and Deputy Director within the Cabinet Office Propriety & Ethics Team.
Andrea bolsters the firm's Government team - appointed to the Government's Crown Commercial Service (CCS) - which has in-depth expertise and capacity to deliver comprehensive specialist legal services to public sector bodies. Securing a place on the CCS framework enables the firm to build on its strong track record of delivering high quality legal services to Government bodies, the NHS and the wider public sector.
Andrea has spent almost 20 years in the UK Government Legal Department and she brings a wealth of significant legal and leadership experience from her time within the Cabinet Office Propriety & Ethics team, Ministry of Defence, Home Office and Ministry of Justice as well as private practice.
Andrea's unique background and career includes in-depth experience of complex public and private law litigation and inquiry work combined with leading on internal investigations and related policy at the centre of government. Her work within the Government Legal Department and the Cabinet Secretary's group in the Cabinet Office has included supporting and advising senior individuals at the highest level, including Permanent Secretaries, Ministers and Secretaries of State, on high profile and sensitive matters. Her appointment will strengthen the firm's Commercial Litigation team further and support the expansion of their Dispute Resolution group, which has also promoted five new internal candidates to partner in the last 18 months.
Michael Luckman, co-head of the firm's Government team, said: "Public sector investigations, Government inquiry work and complex litigation are growing areas of focus in the Government sector. These are important projects for the country and are usually both complex and long-running, involving many intertwining strands and multiple stakeholders at various levels.
"Andrea's many years of expertise in this space as a Senior Civil Servant in the Government Legal Department, most recently at the Cabinet Office, along with her experience of handling both the diverse stakeholders and the delicate political aspects of such work, gives us genuine depth in this space and will enable us to enhance our continued support for government, including the Government Legal Department, and across the public sector."
Commentating on her appointment, Andrea said: "I am thrilled to be joining Gowling WLG and will look forward to bringing my experience and skills to support and complement the excellent public sector team and government practice at Gowling WLG. I am excited about the new opportunities that the partnership will offer."