History

Our Firm > History

mdp McDonald Partners Lawyers & Commercial Advisors, has operated under its current name since 2005, and was previously named McDonald & Associates.
  
Michael McDonald began his career at Dawson Kennedy & Co, a large suburban legal practice in Melbourne in 1982 after completing his articles the previous year in a St Kilda firm. In 1984 he became a partner and the firm became Dawson Kennedy & McDonald.
  
Upon the tragic and unexpected death of one of his fellow partners, and the other's decision to go part-time, Michael was thrust into the position of Managing Partner overseeing 29 staff and suddenly became responsible for a much broader range of practice areas. Michael undertook masters subjects in the areas of Intellectual Property and Commercial Law to bolster his skills for his new responsibilities and emerged from this period not only with increased academic and professional expertise in intellectual property and corporate commercial law, but with a practical understanding of the need for succession planning gained through experience.
  
In 1992 Michael's specialised intellectual property and commercial law expertise required a city presence and he started his own practice, McDonald & Associates, in Melbourne 's CBD. In 2005 the firm adopted its current name of mdp McDonald Partners Lawyers & Commercial Advisors.
  
In more recent times, and despite the global financial crisis and an industry trend towards downsizing, mdp welcomed several new staff to the team. In March 2010 mdp moved into larger premises at Level 4, 91 William Street, Melbourne.

In January 2012 the Board of mdp promoted Sarah Verstak to the Partnership.