Melissa Lau and Philip Ascher join Jirsch Sutherland in Brisbane

National restructuring and insolvency firm Jirsch Sutherland has strengthened its Brisbane office with two new senior hires.

Melissa Lau has joined Jirsch Sutherland as a partner, having previously worked as a director at Rodgers Reidy, a firm similarly dedicated to turnaround and recovery management. Before that, Lau was a senior manager in at Baker Tilly and a senior consultant at Ferrier Hodgson (now part of KPMG). 

Lau is a registered liquidator and specialises in corporate & personal insolvency: bankruptcy, liquidation, voluntary administration, forensic investigating and auditing, and has worked on projects in in Australia, Hong Kong and Malaysia. 

“I help business owners or individuals who are under financial stress to achieve a far better outcome than could have been the case. Because of my background, one of the areas I will be focusing on is the Asian market,” she said.

Chris Baskerville, a partner at Jirsch Sutherland in Brisbane, is delighted with the addition, describing Lau as a “tremendous asset” to the firm at a local and national level. “Her experience gives our team an added layer of knowledge and expertise across the local and Asian markets.”

Meanwhile, Philip Ascher has been appointed a director in Brisbane, one of Jirsch Sutherland’s eleven offices across the country (including subsidiary WA Insolvency Solutions). Ascher was most recently an insolvency manager with mid-tier firm accounting and advisory Vincents, working across a wide range of industries with both corporate and individual clients.

Ascher has extensive experience in corporate and personal insolvency under his belt. Baskerville described him as an “excellent addition to the firm”, stating “he has great sales skills and technical skills in insolvency with proven strength in financial analysis and modelling.” 

Jirsch Sutherland works closely with small and mid-size accounting, finance and legal firms – and their clients – to provide a wide range of expert corporate and personal insolvency services including liquidations, voluntary administrations, receiverships and bankruptcy.