An esteemed tax practitioner, Cameron Blackwood, has recently left PwC to join fellow Australian law firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth. Blackwood’s departure followed closely after PwC’s global legal boss, Tony O’Malley, stepped down ahead of his slated retirement. Blackwood, however, joined PwC only a year ago, in June 2022, following the accounting firm’s acquisition of his previous company, Greenwoods & Herbert Smith Freehills, where he had a prolific stint of 18 years.
Presently, PwC is grappling with an acute situation concerning the misuse of delicate information regarding changes in tax laws acquired while consulting for the Australian government. Certain partners in the tax department exploited this knowledge to give global tech firms an advantage ahead of said changes and further used it for business promotion to tech clients. It must be emphasised however that in spite of the turmoil enveloping PwC, there exist no implications of either Blackwood or O’Malley having a hand in this misuse, which has already led to several accountants losing their jobs.
Blackwood’s role at Corrs will see him operate out of their Sydney office. His dedication and approach toward his work are highly respected in the industry. During his tenure, Blackwood has excelled in guiding clients through the intricate layers of tax associated with mergers, acquisitions, restructures, cross-border issues and comprehensive aspects of employee share schemes for both public and private groups.
Gavin MacLaren, CEO of Corrs, welcomed Blackwood’s move, praising his analytical, methodical and commercial approach to tax advisory. The addition of someone of Blackwood’s calibre is expected to significantly enhance their transactional teams and their tax offering. Meanwhile, PwC, still grappling with its internal crisis, refrained from commenting on Blackwood’s departure and has given no information on whether a replacement for O’Malley has been identified.