Talbot Sayer
Michael Dearden currently serves as Principal at Talbot Sayer, a position held since March 2024. Prior to this role, Michael was Counsel at Ashurst from January 2015 to March 2024, and previously worked as a Senior Associate at Baker & McKenzie from July 2011 to January 2015. Michael began a legal career as a Solicitor at DLA Piper from June 2006 to July 2011. Michael is admitted to practice in England & Wales and holds a degree from the University of Liverpool.
Talbot Sayer
Talbot Sayer is a specialist corporate, property, commercial, employment and disputes law firm located in Brisbane, Australia. Our principals have worked exclusively for leading national and international law firms throughout their legal careers. We ranked first in the 2021, 2022 and 2023 Refinitiv Australia and New Zealand league tables for both small cap (deals up to $50 million) and mid cap (deals up to $500 million) mergers and acquisitions. We are also listed among Queensland’s leading corporate practices in the most recent Doyle’s guide to the Australian legal profession. Our principals have been individually recommended in Doyle’s guide and ranked in Chambers and Partners and the Best Lawyers in Australia. The global consolidation of law firms means the vast majority of lawyers qualified to act on complex matters are burdened by huge infrastructure costs. This flows on to high charge out rates and fees to clients who in most cases receive no benefit from the increased geographic footprint of the firms. Talbot Sayer provides clients with a solution to this problem. We have the technical capability to deliver top tier service and quality on the most complex corporate and property transactions and commercial disputes but we do so in a cost conscious manner and with charge out rates that reflect our lean infrastructure.