William Magennis is an Australian lawyer, admitted to the bar in Victoria in 1974, who became a partner of the Melbourne firm Phillips Fox. He later spent much of his career in Vietnam, first as the Vietnam partner of Phillips Fox in Hanoi and then with Allens, the Australian firm that absorbed the Phillips Fox Vietnam practice.
Education
William Magennis studied law at the University of Melbourne, where he completed the Bachelor of Laws with Honours. The university was founded in 1853 as the first university in the colony of Victoria, and its law course formed the academic foundation for students entering the Victorian legal profession.
He was admitted to the bar in Victoria in 1974, after which his legal career developed in Melbourne law firms. Admission to practise marked the transition from his university studies to professional legal work.
Career
Magennis became a partner of Phillips Fox, a Melbourne law firm that traced its origins to 1864, when it was founded as P.D. Phillips. In 2006 the firm joined the global DLA Piper network under the name DLA Phillips Fox, and the Phillips Fox practices in Vietnam then chose a different path. The Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City practices declined the DLA Piper link and separated from the Phillips Fox partnership.
In Vietnam, Magennis was the Vietnam partner based in Hanoi. He later said he had practised law in Vietnam for fourteen years by the time he joined Allens. At that time Vietnam was on the verge of joining the World Trade Organization, which made the country's legal market a growing area for foreign firms.
From 1 January 2007, subject to regulatory approval, the Phillips Fox Vietnam practices were to join Allens Arthur Robinson, an Australian firm that then had 14 offices in seven countries. Magennis became a resident partner running the Hanoi office, and the Vietnam practice covered projects, energy, corporate M&A, and banking and finance. He was also described as the head of the Vietnam practice, and Lawyers Weekly reported that he encouraged Hop Dang, who began as a clerk in the Hanoi office, to pursue a legal career. Dang later became a partner. In April 2022 Magennis was still associated with Allens' Hanoi office.
