People
The judgement is the firm.
Corvian’s mandates are conducted by its principals. The relationship, and the judgement, are never delegated.
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William O’Halloran is Principal of Corvian Partners. He founded the firm, leads its most senior mandates – contested control, regulatory conflict, and crisis – and is the final point of escalation on every matter the firm conducts.
He came to advisory work from the principal’s side of the table: a career as a founder-operator of regulated platforms and private capital ventures, where governance, regulatory engagement, and the defence of capital were his own accountabilities rather than advice given at a distance. That experience anchors the firm’s perspective – it advises decision-makers as a peer that has carried the same exposures.
His work sits at the intersection of governance, capital, and power: advising chairs, boards, and principals at the moments when legal, political, financial, and reputational dynamics can no longer be managed separately. He writes periodically on regulatory enforcement and board accountability at the firm’s Insights page.
His work on online safety, image-based abuse, and platform governance includes engagement with StopNCII.org and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, and a submission to the Joint Select Committee on Social Media and Australian Society.
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Alexander Gunning is an Associate of Corvian Partners and the primary operational counterpart to clients of the firm. He directs the conduct of active mandates – diagnostics, situation framing, adviser coordination, and the discipline of execution.
Before Corvian, he held trust and safety, content policy, and jurisdictional relations roles within a regulated consumer platform – work conducted inside high-profile and high-stakes matters, including regulator and law-enforcement engagement and contested policy decisions made under time pressure.
His practice concentrates on special situations and strategic negotiation: the structured work of mapping interests, leverage, and sequence in matters where the outcome is consequential. He holds a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from Griffith University.
How the firm works
Corvian coordinates – and does not replace – legal counsel, forensic specialists, financial advisers, and communications firms. The firm does not draft legal documents, provide financial product advice, or act as a registered lobbyist. Its role is the strategic layer above and between the specialists.
Discretion is structural, not stylistic: the firm does not disclose clients, mandates, or outcomes, and treats the fact of an engagement as confidential.