The Pacific Legal Network celebrates 25 years in a unique position

With a broad reach and diverse membership, the PLN holds a unique position in the international legal landscape. The group has the capacity to provide cross border legal advice, supplemented by local advice, across various aspects of law. Ridgway’s background is in banking and finance, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), foreign direct investment activities, government, insurance, and commercial litigation.

Ridgway had initially wanted to look at work in Asia, but on the advice of a friend in recruitment, he took a role in Vanuatu, despite having to ask her where it was.

He tells LSJ Online, “I lived in Vanuatu for most of the 1990s. I had joined a local firm, and I ended up working there for over two years before I was recruited by one of Australia’s largest law firms, Clayton Utz, and asked to come back to Sydney. [The plan was to] return to Vanuatu and open an office for them. I ran that for a bit over three years, then I bought them out of it and brought in local partners because I wanted to do more in the region, and it was easier if I had control of what I was doing.”

In 2000, Ridgway returned to Sydney and began piecing together a network of Pacific Island firms, based on his extensive personal and professional relationships across the region. The idea was to create a one-stop-shop for clients to find a reliable local firm or independent lawyer to work with.

He says, “In many ways, PLN is the only example of regionalism in terms of legal services in the Pacific.”

Rather than the fly-in-fly-out approach of Australian lawyers consulting and leaving, the PLN is dedicated to, as Ridgway says, “Educating, training and upskilling local professionals.”

He adds, “The whole point of creating the network was to set something up where the relationship as a truly bilateral relationship between my office in Sydney and the best possible partners in Pacific Island countries, to ensure clients will be served well in – sometimes – the middle of nowhere. Trust and reliability are at the centre of that relationship. There are no fees, no commissions, no percentages. We choose the best firm in the region, some of which I’ve known for 30 years, and we ask them to make a commitment to the network to serve clients when they come in, and referring to other members, and to participate in our quarterly and annual events, because the personal contact that you have with people is still the most effective way to make a relationship, particularly in a business context.”

Colonisation resulted in British, French, and American legal systems

The area is fascinating in terms of diversity of its legal systems.

“In terms of legal heritage, there are three main areas: the English part, the French part, and the American part of the Pacific. The genesis of all that is colonisation, with the exception of Tonga,” says Ridgway. “We have member firms across all of those different legal systems and what we do best is to cover wherever you want or need to be in the Pacific for any legal system. Two of our original members were a French firm in New Caledonia, and a law firm in American Samoa. They represent the east and west of the Pacific Islands, and they could not be more different to each other.”

The mainstay of PLN clients are multi-nationals, including those that operate from another part of the world and want to enter the Pacific, or intra-Pacific businesses.

“They’re usually in telecommunications or international services, transport and tourism, some of the most highly regulated industries in that part of the world,” Ridgway explains.

“We also help with the delivery of foreign policy initiatives from the Australian government into the Pacific, including with funding on fibre optic cables, and assisting the Commonwealth Bank with its recent activities in the Pacific, which came as the result of a policy initiative from Canberra. We’ve also helped the US and UK governments with new initiatives. It’s a very interesting time to be there, geopolitically.”

Women represent the majority of firm owners and managers

Ridgway says he can’t believe it’s been 25 years.

“What have I been doing?” he laughs.

When pressed on the landmark events or accomplishments, Ridgway says, “We had a launch in November 2000, and it was launched by [former Pacific Islands Forum secretary general] Greg Irwin, who was probably one of only two of the Australian Government’s diplomats who knew anything useful about the Pacific. Now, there are many more people, personally and professionally in the diplomatic world, who are invested in the in the region for the right reasons.”

He tells LSJ Online, “Our landmarks are usually represented by parties. We like to celebrate. We had a 21^st, which was a great event. We hold an event every year in Sydney normally, and we did that last October. We’ve done that for the last five or six years. This year, we had 15 countries represented, which was pretty amazing.”

The real gamechanger, Ridgway says, is to defy a traditionally male-dominated landscape in the Pacific Island region in tangible numbers.

“One of our greatest accomplishments during the course of the last 10 years is managing to have 60 per cent of our member firms either owned or managed by females. They are, almost without exception, Indigenous ladies who we have helped establish, manage and grow their practices. That is something that I’m probably most proud of. We’re doing that in a part of the world where the gender balance in professional legal services is really balanced in favour of men. So, for us to flip that over and to have so many of our law firms led by amazing female lawyers is a wonderful thing.”

Indeed, Jennifer La’au is one of the prized members of the PLN and spoke to LSJ Online in 2023 about Vanuatu. La’au is both a Principal lawyer at PLN and the founder of La’au Lawyers in Port Vila, Vanuatu.

“Jennifer is a very good example,” agrees Ridgway. “She worked with me when she was a student, during the period when I was first in Vanuatu in the 1990s. She was always capable of running her own business and was always brave enough to want to do that, but she was never given the opportunity.”

PLN supports members like La’au through hands-on administrative support and mentoring.

“We will manage the website, the social media platform, marketing and BD [business development] program, recruitment, advice on law firm management, from time recording to accounting platforms… we do all of those things from Sydney, servicing eight jurisdictions in the Pacific Island region. We have that direct input and positive impact into their day-to-day practice.”

Ridgway says that in terms of Australian legal services, there is a view of the Pacific region as an opportunity for charity-style work or pro bono work, rather than seeing more comprehensive opportunities.

“Individual lawyers, irrespective of who or what firm they work for or with, may be personally interested and invested, either culturally or morally, in the region, and look to help in some way,” he says.

“Those types of people are typically younger lawyers wanting to do what is the legal services equivalent of going to a village and building a school. On the other hand, you might see a big law firm doing stuff in the region through their pro bono departments, and there is much more of that occurring now than what there used to be, which is good. I think sometimes there is an assumption that they think what they’re doing might be more good than what the reality is. However, there is commitment for that to happen and that is most definitely a positive step.”

Ridgway says, “We work alongside most of Australia’s largest small firms. Those firms are not ever going to want to have an office in all of the places that we operate in [because] they don’t have the risk appetite for it, nor do they want to make the financial commitment.”

That’s where the PLN is so vital as an intermediary.

“PLN is agnostic, it’s brand independent, and in that way, we can work with any of the big law firms that we do on projects which their clients have in the region. We step in for the Pacific Island component, to address and manage the problem. That can be in the NGO pro bono area as much as in cutting edge commercial transactional work.”

Not being afraid to say ‘no’

Ridgway explains, “We’re one of the very few law firms accredited with [the United Nations’ established] Green Climate Fund. We got that through our commitment to the region and to renewable energy projects across the region. We have particular expertise and skill to deliver those sorts of projects. We also help with educational seminars on topics like greenwashing and other tangential legal topics to do with climate change.”

Companies intending to engage in seabed mining or mining of the phosphate-rich region are increasingly seeing the Pacific Island region as a treasure trove. While they might be affluent clients, the intentions of such companies dictate whether they are taken on as clients by PLN.

Ridgway says, “We do say no. I’m not afraid to say no to a client. We have worked hard to obtain and maintain an honest, reputable name in the region. We don’t want to have that trashed overnight by taking on a client who may have insensitive mining programs.”

Five days prior to exiting the White House, Biden’s administration published a press release touting the former President’s achievements in the Asia Pacific. It pointed to the opening of US embassies in Vanuatu, Tonga, Maldives, and Solomon Islands, and intended new consulates in India in 2025. It established diplomatic relations with the Cook Islands and Niue. It opened Department of Commerce Commercial Service offices in Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea, and Fiji, and re-established a USAID mission in Fiji. Further, the US hosted two Pacific Islands Forum Summits at the White House, designated the first-ever U.S. Envoy to the Pacific Islands Forum, and launched the first-ever U.S.-Pacific Partnership Strategy. The US extended the National Guard State Partnership Program to Pacific Island countries and signed defence agreements with Papua New Guinea and Fiji, along with the return of the Peace Corps to Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, and Vanuatu.

Whether such focus on the APAC and US alliance remains a priority for the Trump administration is perhaps still too early to tell.

Ridgway says, “I fully anticipate that the renewed interest in what Australia typically considers its region of the Pacific will be enhanced. I’m aware of US government initiatives which are sizable in term of monetary and personal commitment, with a longevity that suggests it’s not going to change overnight. US investment has been welcomed almost universally. It’s been a healthy engagement from the US into the Pacific region, and the projects they’re looking to support are appropriate. There is a positive role for any government to play in the pacific if the motives are right.”

The UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)provides an annual Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Trends (APTIT) report. A greenfield investment refers to foreign direct investment (FDI) where a company builds new facilities in a foreign country. The term “greenfield” refers to the construction of new facilities on “green” land.

In December 2024, their report “Foreign direct investment trends and outlook in Asia and the Pacific 2024/2025” indicated strong growth in particular industries. Behind renewable energy ($AUD93.5 billion in 2024), the communications industry was a major growth area that gained a 69 percent annual increase in 2024 to $US40 billion.

Australia has invested billions (a four-year commitment until 2027) focused on “peace and security”, the labour mobility scheme, and “regional unity”. Australian lawyers and legal firms might want to look to the region as a place to foster greater relationships, business operations, and ongoing roles in education and partnerships with Pacific region lawyers and law firms.