MinterEllison Consulting buys education specialist Wells Advisory

Law firm MinterEllison has boosted its Consulting business with the acquisition of Wells Advisory.

The bolt-on adds a twenty-person team to MinterEllison Consulting, lifting its headcount to over 120 consultants and staff. A number of team members will join MinterEllison Consulting’s business in the United Kingdom.

Established in 2016, Wells Advisory is a management consulting firm dedicated to the higher education sector. The firm specialises in strategy, regulation, research commercialisation, and governance services.

In Australia, Wells Advisory works with clients including the Group of Eight (Australia's leading research-intensive universities), the Regional Universities Network, regulators, TAFEs, government and many private providers of higher education and vocational education services.

In the United Kingdom, the team works mainly with universities and higher education providers.

Virginia Briggs, the CEO of MinterEllison, said the acquisitions comes at a critical time for the education sector, as providers need to adapt to a wave of changes coming their way, while at the same time facing the need to become more efficient, student-centric, and digital-powered.

Briggs added that the new team will enable the firm to provide an integrated offering in the sector. “There is demand from clients for seamless, end-to-end solutions that combine legal and management consulting capabilities. Combining the Wells Advisory team into our Consulting business will complement the expertise of our education specialist lawyers, allowing our education clients to access coordinated advice and support to better achieve their organisational objectives.”

As part of the deal, Wells Advisory managing directors Michael Wells (founder) and Paula Kelly will become partners of MinterEllison Consulting.

“This is an exciting opportunity for our team. We are looking forward to extending our scale and building our reputation further in the education sector, both in Australia and in select overseas markets,” said Wells.

“Our team is known in the market for their high-quality work, deep sector expertise, and consultative working style. That will not change. But we will be able to collaborate more closely with the sector’s leading legal experts to best meet our clients’ needs.”