The Australian practice of law firm Norton Rose has appointed Joanne Crew and Jake Howard as banking and finance partners in Melbourne and Perth respectively.

Crew joins Norton Rose Australia from Herbert Smith Freehills, where she worked on project finance and energy, renewables, infrastructure and public-private partnership.

Howard has relocated from the firm’s London office, before which he worked in the Paris office, leading banking deals for clients in francophone Africa.

He specialises in mining and commodities, advising clients in relation to the financing of brown and green field mining projects in emerging markets, particularly Africa and South America. He also has expertise in alternative financing arrangements such as offtakes, royalties, streaming, bonds and multi-sourced financings with export credit agencies and development finance institutions.

Norton Rose Australia managing partner Wayne Spanner says: “The appointments of Joanne and Jake again demonstrate the high calibre of people we are bringing to our clients in banking and finance. In addition the appointments strengthen our expertise in key industry sectors of infrastructure, mining and commodities.”

These two appointments follow that of partner Nuncio D’Angelo who joined Norton Rose in August from King & Wood Mallesons to head the Australia banking and finance team.