William Wylie Clarke
William is a graduate in law of the Australian national University. He also has an honours degree in Government from the University of Sydney. He was admitted to the High Court of the Australian Capital Territory in 1995 and subsequently to the Fiji bar in 1996. He has lived in various countries including Western Samoa, Vanuatu, Australia, and Fiji. He was a Prosecutor with the Director of Public Prosecutions Office from 1996 until 1998.
William joined Howards in December 2001 and became the Principal of the firm in 2009. He is also the firm’s representative to the Fiji-Australia Business Council.
William is the current president of Fiji Law Society and a former president of the Fiji-Australia Business Council and is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors’ Fiji advisory board.
William is a former President of the Fiji Red Cross National Society and is a former member of the Governing Board of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, based in Geneva. He is also a founding and former member of the Compliance and Mediation Committee, a part of the International Federation established to assist it with governance matters and in taking any steps necessary to resolve potential breaches of integrity by National Societies and to resolve disputes; he served on that committee for 8 years.
William’s portfolio includes mining, natural resources and related activities and projects, aircraft leasing and finance (before and after Fiji’s accession to the Cape Town Convention and its Protocol), foreign investment, banking, and finance (has been Westpac Bank’s main legal advisor in Fiji for at least 25 years), corporate governance and structuring, corporate and business acquisitions, and sale as well as the structuring of these acquisitions both within Fiji and the South Pacific.
He also has a great deal of experience in complex finance and security documentation, contracts, and due diligence. His broad experience in energy, finance, tax, resource development, mergers and acquisitions and insurance are reflected in the diverse and substantial client base he has developed over many years.
An important and enduring focus of William’s work has been in the area of governance and compliance.
