On May 5, 2008, leading Australian law firms Home Wilkinson Lowry and Ebsworth & Ebsworth joined forces to create a pre-eminent national commercial firm, HWL Ebsworth Lawyers.

The national commercial law firm of Home Wilkinson Lowry emanated from several legal practices distributed across three capital cities of Australia. Based in Melbourne, William Home began his legal practice in 1897. He was later joined by Arthur Wilkinson in 1905 and by John Lowry in 1934. In Sydney the firm of Heaney & Son commenced practice in the early 1930's, later joined by Jack Richardson to create Heaney Richardson & Nemes.