SummitET Receives 2023 Hire Vets Medallion Award from the U.S. Department of Labor
U.S. Acting Secretary of Labor Julie A. Su recognized Summit Exercises and Training LLC (SummitET®) as one of the 859 recipients of the 2023 HIRE Vets Medallion Award during a virtual award ceremony presented by U.S. Department of Labor. SummitET earned the Gold award for the third time since 2020, after applying earlier this year. The Honoring Investments in Recruiting and Employing American Military Veterans Act (HIRE Vets Act) Medallion Program is the only federal award program that recognizes employers who successfully recruit, hire, and retain veterans.
“Earning the HIRE Vets Medallion Award is significant to our organization because it fully represents our people, culture, and values,” said John Duda, CEO of SummitET. “This award demonstrates our commitment both internally – to our staff – as well as to our customers in the public and private sectors, including in the Department of Defense.”
TAG Alliances Hosts Fall 2023 International Conference in Rome
In October 2023, TAG Alliances hosted delegates from law, accounting, and strategic partner firms around the world to its 49th International Conference in the Eternal City of Rome, Italy. With a theme of "All Roads Lead to Rome" the conference provided ample opportunities to strengthen key international relationships between members of TAG Alliances as well as a number of insightful plenary and breakout sessions on a variety of topics such as succession planning and artificial intelligence.
Keynote sessions and presenters at the event included:
Humans and Machines, HI and AI: The Next 10 Years in Professional Services
- Gerd Leonhard: Futurist, Humanist, Author of “Technology vs. Humanity”, CEO of The Futures Agency
Putting the Success in Succession Planning — Ensuring a Lasting Legacy for Your Firm
- Rahul Thakrar; Boodle Hatfield LLP (London, England - TAGLaw)
- Lyn Canning Hagan; GMcG Chartered Accountants (Northern Ireland - TIAG)
- Benjamin Kadden; Lugenbuhl, Wheaton, Peck, Rankin & Hubbard (Louisiana, USA - TAGLaw)
- Kristin Nealey Meier; Ryan, Swanson & Cleveland, PLLC (Washington, USA - TAGLaw)
- Maria Kotsopoulos; Blaney McMurtry LLP (Ontario, Canada - TAGLaw)
AI-First Firms
- Ash Fontana
Forum: Expanding Your Empire - The Pillars of Becoming a Dominant Firm Today and Creating a Lasting Legacy for Tomorrow
- Todd Brody; Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass LLP (San Francisco, California, USA - TAGLaw)
- Neil Dinnes; AAB (Scotland - TIAG)
- Gordon Grieve; Piper Alderman (Australia - TAGLaw)
- Aram Orbelyan; Concern-Dialog Law Firm (Armenia - TAGLaw)
- Putri Norlisa Najib; Adnan Sundra & Low (Malaysia - TAGLaw)
CEO of The Futures Agency Gerd Leonhard delivers a Keynote Presentation on "Humans and Machines, HI and AI: The Next 10 Years in Professional Services"
TAG Alliances Members from around the world attend the Welcome Dinner for the Fall 2023 International Conference in Rome
Panelists discuss "Putting the Success in Succession Planning — Ensuring a Lasting Legacy for Your Firm"
TAG Alliances Members discuss how to leverage industry synergies during a speed networking session.
Keynote presenter, Ash Fontana discusses "AI-First Firms" on day two of the TAG Alliances Fall 2023 International Conference.
TAGLaw Welcomes Cox Yeats in South Africa
Cox Yeats is a leading mid-sized firm with offices in key markets in South Africa. The firm's attorneys provide a wide range of commercial and personal legal services in areas such as insurance, construction, litigation, and maritime law.
Piper Alderman Assists Driscoll’s Inc. in the $2.5 Billion EV Consortium Acquisition of ASX Listed Costa Group
Piper Alderman is advising Driscoll’s Inc., along with international firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP, in relation to the recently announced consortium acquisition of Costa Group Holdings Limited (“Costa”) by way of scheme of arrangement.
The acquisition consortium is led by Paine Schwartz Partners, LLC (“PSP”) and comprises entities controlled by PSP, Driscoll’s Inc and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation. The transaction requires Court, Costa shareholder and certain regulatory approvals. Subject to the approvals, the implementation of the Scheme is expected to occur in the first quarter of 2024. The all-cash consideration values Costa’s equity at $1.496 billion, and with an enterprise value of $2.459 billion.
The Piper Alderman team is led by cross-border securities law specialist Mark Williamson, supported by a team of experts across the Australian offices of the firm including Sina Kassra, Sam Blight, Samiha Asim and Francesca Lombardo.
Driscoll’s is the world’s largest berry company based in California and a major global supplier of fresh strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries. The Driscoll’s name was brought to Australia in 2010 when a partnership was formed between Costa and Driscoll’s Strawberry Associates, Inc (US).
Commenting on the deal, Partner, Mark Williamson said:
“Driscoll’s is known by Australian households because of the Driscoll’s branded berries on our market shelves. We are delighted to have assisted such an iconic brand and valued client with this important transaction.”
Costa is Australia’s leading grower, packer and marketer of fresh fruit and vegetables and operates principally in five core categories: berries, mushrooms, glasshouse tomatoes, citrus and avocados. Costa also has strategic foreign interests, with majority owned joint ventures covering six blueberry farms in Morocco and four berry farms in China.