Australasian Lawyer issue 3.05

australasianlawyer.com.au

MYANMAR IN MOTION Jo Daniels on spearheading the Baker & McKenzie Yangon operation

Issue 3.5

JAKARTA CALLING Why Indonesia’s growing middle class is a hub for legal opportunity BACK TO LAW SCHOOL Two schools talk varying approaches to postgraduate study

WALKING THE WALK New KPMG Australia GC Louise Capon on her plans for the accounting giant

FAST FIRMS

AUSTRALIA’S FASTEST-GROWING LAW FIRMS REVEALED

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CONTENTS FAST FIRMS

UPFRONT 04 Legal insight Law firm revenue under siege

06 News analysis Doing business in Jakarta, a land of opportunity

08 Deals round-up 14 Appointments

PEOPLE 54 Fighting the good fight

18 COVER STORY

WALKING THE WALK

22 FEATURES

FAST FIRMS

Australia’s fastest-growing firms revealed

Sarah Morton-Ramwell is making waves in pro bono

56 Gotta dance Charlene Wong on her life outside the law

FEATURES 44 Back to law school Leaders talk postgrad study

KPMG’s Louise Capon talks all things innovation at KPMG

OPINION PROFILE

16 The art of copyright law

MYANMAR IN MOTION

Why the increased copyright durations under the TPPA are a threat to artists

BUSINESS STRATEGY

Jo Daniels on legal life in Yangon

40

50 Balancing data and gut instinct Should gut instinct be left out of recruitment?

34 FEATURES

LEADING THE CHARGE The latest on the Sydney legal market

52 Is a high-trust culture possible?

Turning the situation on corporate culture around

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1

UPFRONT

EDITORIAL

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From the outside

P

essimism carefully disguised as slight optimism is typically ‘lawyerly’ to an outsider looking in. On the one hand, lawyers have reported Samantha Woodhill strong expectations for the future, but on the other, perceptions of current market conditions have declined.

To an outsider, it seems as though lawyers bounce from doom to gloom and back again. And this year has thrown up plenty for lawyers to be pessimistic about, in the form of a shock Brexit and the pending US election.

But is there cause for concern or are lawyers just too cautious?

The latest CommBank Legal Market Pulse report says the industry’s net confidence reading has dropped from -18% to -24%. That is because law

Is there cause for concern or are lawyers just too cautious? firms keep anticipating business improvement, but it’s yet to eventuate to the entent expected.

“As a result, confidence in impending turnaround has tended downwards, as optimists gradually defect to the neutral or negative camps,” the report says.

Interestingly, it’s the top-tier firms that have lost the most confidence, presumably as more and more players infiltrate the market. However, despite all of this, law firms across the board expect a slow but steady increase in profits across most practice areas.

“The realisation the legal market is changing may be the catalyst towards taking control by re-engineering the way business is conducted – a transition many firms have already begun,” the report says.

Between the threats of artificial intelligence and alternative legal services, traditional firms are stuck firmly in the middle, with more and more internationals somehow thinking there might still be a slice left of the legal market pie.

So perhaps rather than questioning the cause for concern, we should do away with the crystal ball entirely. It’s clear the industry can’t predict which threat to fight off first.

Samantha Woodhill, editor, Australasian Lawyer

OCTOBER 2O16 EDITORIAL Editor Samantha Woodhill Production Editor Roslyn Meredith

CONTRIBUTORS Kari Schmidt Libby MacDonald

ART & PRODUCTION Design Manager Daniel Williams Designer Kat Vargas Traffic Coordinator Freya Demegilio

SALES & MARKETING Sales Manager Paul Ferris Marketing and Communications Manager Lisa Narroway

CORPORATE Chief Executive Officer Mike Shipley Chief Operating Officer George Walmsley Managing Director Justin Kennedy Chief Information Officer Colin Chan Human Resources Manager Julia Bookallil

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Australasian Lawyer is part of an international family of B2B publications and websites for the legal industry AUSTRALASIAN LAWYER samantha.woodhill@keymedia.com.au T +61 2 8437 4704

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Copyright is reserved throughout. No part of this publication can be reproduced in whole or part without the express permission of the editor. Contributions are invited, but copies of work should be kept, as Australasian Lawyer magazine can accept no responsibility for loss.

2

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UPFRONT

LEGAL INSIGHT

Ageing partners eye downward revenue Revenue levels are under siege as clients seek maximum bang for their buck while seniors eye retirement PITCHER PARTNERS Melbourne’s most recent Legal Industry Research Survey is out, and the picture painted in the report includes a vision of an ageing industry – the average age of equity partners in almost half the practices surveyed was 51, but there were few plans in place to address what would happen on their retirement.

The other main point related to personnel was that staffing was as large a budget-line item as ever, and outsourcing was growing

71%

of employees work full-time

42%

of practices have billable hour expectations for professional staff

62%

of practices offer flexible working conditions

A CHALLENGING LANDSCAPE The survey revealed that reducing wastage rather than cost reduction is driving growth for law firms, with many taking the approach of fully discerning the reasons why customers are buying in order to achieve this.

0.41%

was the average drop in net profit of firms surveyed in 2015

KEY CHALLENGES?

OUTSOURCED OR NOT?

While generating new clients took the top spot, other key challenges identified by the survey included change management, managing partner generation changes, maintaining momentum, work-life balance, and the impact of changes in the law. % 35 30 25 20 35% 15 23% 10 5 12% 0 Managing Generating Partner new clients administration age

Almost one in four of the firms surveyed practise outsourcing of at least one kind of service.

Of the remainder, few expect to begin outsourcing in the year to come.

costs

4

in popularity. However, the survey also reported a slowing of revenue among the firms surveyed, which in turn had led to wage costs remaining flat in the short term.

With business confidence affecting the demand for legal services, there were less than noteworthy financial results for the practices surveyed. The average net profit for these firms had dropped in the year since the previous survey, shedding 0.41% to settle at 22.89%.

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Firms currently outsourcing

24%

Legal/professional services

45%

Administration

64%

Other services

19%

Firms currently not outsourcing and which do not expect to adopt outsourcing

90% % 0

20

40

60

80

100

REVENUE AND PROFITABILITY Average professional fees per equity partner

Average gross profit per equity partner

Average net profit per equity partner

$827,066

$644,605

$189,304

TOTAL REMUNERATION AS % OF PROFESSIONAL FEES 35 30

2015

22.89% 0

5

10

15

20

OUTLOOK ON FEES

20

1,000

32%

30.33%

15

23%

Decline

>$5m professional fees

$2.5m–$5m professional fees

1,131

Average partner’s hours

Average professional hours

60

42%

50 40

39%

Costing/quoting challenges Decline in margin/other

Potential hours

<$2.5m professional fees

FEE QUOTE PROCEDURES

Increased administration time

55%

1,084

0

No effect

Grow Neutral

5 0 25

1,620

500

UNIFORM PRICING EFFECTS ON BUSINESS

3%

42%

1,500

10

23.30%

2,000

25

Net profit as a % of professional fees 2014

BILLABLE HOURS PER ANNUM

30

24%

10

10

25%

22%

Managing partner sign-off

Pricing committee/ other

0

12% 0

53%

20

20

30

40

Partner by partner basis

50

AGEING PARTNERS

WHAT SUCCESSION PLAN?

With almost half of all practices reporting the average age of their equity partners as over 50, the data indicates a dearth of younger partners and a lack of younger staff being developed for partnership roles.

Despite a surge of retirements forecast for the next 10 years – eight out of 10 business owners anticipate leaving the practice of law during that timeframe – almost three quarters of owners lack a succession plan.

3% 20%

28%

80 41–50 years 51–60 years Over 60 years 30–40 years

60

49%

40

80% 90%

75%

20 0 Business owners Owners who do not intending to retire in have a documented the next decade succession plan Legal Practices Survey, Pitcher Partners, 2016

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5

UPFRONT

NEWS ANALYSIS

Jakarta calling Indonesia’s growing middle class is opening up more and more opportunities for law firms in the form of foreign investment

SEVENTY MILLION Indonesians make up the country’s emerging middle class. So, in a country of 250 million people, it’s no surprise that lawyers are focusing on consumertype work in the wake of the commodities downturn.

For the last two decades, the Indonesian economy has relied on its natural resources.

But as new spending patterns emerge, foreign investment opportunity is soaring and the distribution of products and services has quickly been established as the second pillar of the country’s economy.

a number of big power projects that we’re involved with and looking at.

“So I think that that will produce … opportunities over the next few years or so.”

And as Australia prioritises an Indonesia free trade agreement, and investment interest from the rest of the world continues, opportunities for law firms in the market are unlikely to slow.

It’s the financing of infrastructure projects in the country that’s likely to keep firms busy over the next 12 months, according to Hiswara Bunjamin & Tandjung partner

“In a way, in order for the country to develop, because of the underfunding, the government would need to open up to foreign investors. And that’s the key if the country is about to grow” Tjahjadi Bunjamin, HISWARA BUNJAMIN & TANDJUNG “Everything from retail to insurance products … banking,” says Jakarta-based Herbert Smith Freehills partner David Dawborn.

“We do a lot of project work, particularly energy-related, power generation work on

6

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Tjahjadi Bunjamin.

“Financing is expensive so quite often [there’s a] need to look overseas to get some funding, whether it’s through equity or through loans or in the technical market,” Bunjamin says.

“In a way, in order for the country to develop, because of the underfunding, the government would need to open up to foreign investors. And that’s the key if the country is about to grow.”

The legal landscape Herbert Smith Freehills, like other foreign law firms, uses an association with a local firm to practise in Indonesia, and Dawborn, an Australia-qualified lawyer, is seconded full-time to Hiswara Bunjamin & Tandjung’s Jakarta office.

“The licence you have for a foreign lawyer in Indonesia is to practice the law of your own jurisdiction,” Dawborn says.

“The practising rules for foreign lawyers limit each firm to have only five foreign lawyers as a maximum.

“So our practice in Jakarta has 80 lawyers

INDONESIA-AUSTRALIA FREE TRADE AGREEMENT In August, Australia and Indonesia both recommitted to finalising a free trade agreement within 18 months, declaring that a new Indonesian trade minister following the cabinet reshuffle would not take agreements off schedule.

“I think if there’s goodwill on both sides it could happen within a year or two,” Dawborn says of Australia’s pending free trade agreement with Indonesia.

“And I think it would be very positive for Indonesia because Indonesia hasn’t ever done a free trade agreement on a bilateral basis.

“They are part of the ASEAN free trade agreement, which is a multilateral agreement between the ASEAN states, and I think if Australia could get the same sort of opportunities that have been agreed for ASEAN, that would be a very good outcome.”

in total, but even though it’s quite big in that numerical sense, we can only have five foreign work permits.”

Dawborn says that despite the restrictions Herbert Smith Freehills maintains a close

much we have joint teams in any matter.

“The benefit of that is that you get a product that has the advantages of both perspectives. You get the local law content but also with the international style and

“The arrangement we have is that the firms are independent of each other, effectively like a joint venture” David Dawborn, HERBERT SMITH FREEHILLS working relationship with Hiswara Bunjamin & Tandjung, having specifically set up a ‘barrier-free’ arrangement back in 2000 when the association was established.

“The arrangement we have is that the firms are independent of each other, effectively like a joint venture,” Dawborn says. “It’s very

delivery. That’s very important for our clients so far.”

Political outlook With a lack of support from parliament in the early days of his presidency, Joko Widodo has since managed to consolidate

power by reshuffling ministers.

“So the expectation in the matter is the government should be able to push its [agenda] forward strongly, and hopefully this free trade is one of them,” Bunjamin says.

Last year, the government didn’t have enough support to pass the tax amnesty law, but since the consolidation of power the law has been passed.

“The effect of the tax amnesty law is that there is a lot of money from Indonesia that is parked offshore, outside the Indonesian system, and the government is saying basically to Indonesians to bring it back onshore and they will forgive … past tax transgressions,” Dawborn says.

“You’re talking billions and billions of dollars, so that’s a quite important development in terms of the economic development over the next few years.”

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7

UPFRONT

TRANSACTIONS

DEALS ROUND-UP Sale of 13 Denison Funds Management properties to Propertylink Newly-minted specialist commercial property law firm Massons acted on behalf of Denison Funds Management Limited in the sale of 13 commercial, industrial and shopping centre properties to Propertylink-controlled companies. Denison is a portfolio company of Forum Asian Realty Income III LP, a fund whose general partner is an affiliate of Forum Partners Investment Management LLC, a global real estate investment management firm. Propertylink is an Australian Property Fund Manager and is currently in a growth phase, having recently completed an IPO. The portfolio comprised five Queensland properties, five NSW properties, two WA assets and one Victorian property. The portfolio had over 125 leases.

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Transaction

Value (A$)

Adviser

Client

Lead lawyer(s)

Other firms involved

Viva Energy REIT financing

$1bn

Ashurst

Finance parties

Steve Smith, Vivian Chang, Lisa Simmons

Gilbert + Tobin

Mt Emerald wind farm stake acquisition

$350m

Mills Oakley

RATCH

Luke Westmore

Pact Group Holdings’ acquisition of Australian Pharmaceutical Manufacturers

$90m

Mills Oakley

Australian Pharmaceutical Manufacturers

Warren Scott, Ross Levin

Sale of 13 Denison Funds Management properties to Propertylink

$174m

Massons

Denison Funds Management Limited

Jodie Masson

Acquisition of Asciano’s businesses

Approx. $12bn

Herbert Smith Freehills

Brookfield and co-investors Philippa Stone

Carlyle Infrastructure Partners on $350m the block trade of its remaining stake in Qube Holdings Limited with Citigroup

DLA Piper

Carlyle Infrastructure Partners

David Ryan

Sale of The Ribbon hotel site at Darling Harbour

Approx. $700m

Ashurst

Tianlong Ribbon Pty Ltd as trustee for Tianlong Ribbon Property Unit Trust

John Stawyskyj, Gareth Sage

Placement and accelerated entitlement offer

$100m

DLA Piper

Catapult Sports

David Ryan

US and Irish acquisitions by Catapult Sports

$85m

DLA Piper

Catapult Sports

Joel Cox

Dixon Hospitality’s acquisition of the Beer DeLuxe venues

Undisclosed Allens

Dixon Hospitality

Michael Graves, Emin Altiparmak

Merger of Cox Automotive Australia and CarsGuide

Undisclosed Mills Oakley

Cox Automotive

Warrant Scott

Growthpoint acquisition of Victorian office building

$166m

Growthpoint Properties

David Sinn

Pepper Group Limited’s alliance with Banco Popular

Undisclosed Herbert Smith Freehills

Pepper Group

Philippa Stone

Herbert Smith Freehills

Baker & McKenzie

King & Wood Mallesons, Gilbert + Tobin, Allens Linklaters

King & Wood Mallesons, Clayton Utz

King & Wood Mallesons, Robinson Legal

MAKE SURE YOUR FIRM’S WORK IS RECOGNISED To ensure your firm and its lawyers get the recognition they deserve for their fantastic work, send all your deal details to samantha.woodhill@keymedia.com.au

Transaction

Value (A$)

Adviser

Client

Lead lawyer(s)

Other firms involved

Major bond offer by TFS Corporation

US$250m

Baker & McKenzie

TFS Corporation

Andrew Reilly

Metcash institutional placement underwritten by Macquarie Capital

$80m

Baker & McKenzie

Macquarie Capital

Lauren Magraith

Refinancing for Terracom Limited

US$141m

Clifford Chance OCP Asia

Mark Gillgren

Independence Group: Institutional placement and share purchase plan

$250m

Ashurst

Macquarie Capital

Antonella Pacitti

Acquisition of 20% of Plenary Group Holdings by Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec

Undisclosed Baker & McKenzie

Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec

Martin Irwin

Purchase of the Southgate Complex by ARA Trust

$578m

Lander & Rogers

Stockland, ARA Trust

John Wells

Purchase of the HSBC Tower by ARA Asset Management

$188m

Lander & Rogers

Stockland, ARA Trust

John Wells

AGL establishing first renewable future fund

$1bn

Allens

AGL Energy Limited

Anna Collyer

Closure of Quadrant’s eight fund

$980m

MinterEllison

Quadrant

Nathan Cahill

Investment into the Powering Renewables Fund by a QIC-led consortium

$800m

King & Wood Mallesons

Consortium comprised of QIC Global Infrastructure fund and other QIC-managed clients

Partners Craig Rogers, Roderick Smythe, Diana Nicholson

Acquisition of equity interest in Australian National University student accommodation

Approx. $165m

Chapman Tripp Infratil

Josh Blackmore, Tom Jemson

Minter Ellison, King & Wood Mallesons

Sale of Maui pipeline to First State Investments

NZ$335m

Chapman Tripp Maui Development Limited

Matt Yarnell, Greg Wise

Bell Gully, MinterEllison

Westpac NZD Subordinated Notes retail offer

Offer size NZ$400m

Chapman Tripp Westpac Banking Corporation

Mark Reese

QANTM IPO and ASX listing

Approx. $147m

MinterEllison

Nick Broome

Davies Collison Cave and FPA Patent Attorneys

Herbert Smith Freehills

Refinancing for Terracom Limited Clifford Chance advised OCP Asia on the arrangement of and subscription for a US$141m Euroclear-listed secured note issuance by Terracom Limited. The issuance of the five-year interest-only bond with a face value of US$129m and an additional secured note for US$12m is a significant milestone in the ongoing restructuring of the miner’s balance sheet. The notes, highly bespoke instruments issued across a number of series, were expected to have a significant positive impact on the miner’s free cash flow over the next five years, giving it much greater operational headroom. The bond issued by the Australia-listed coal miner with projects in Mongolia and Australia did not cause shareholder dilution as it integrated the firm’s current outstanding US$5m convertible note facility.

Russell Kennedy

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9

UPFRONT

TRANSACTIONS Sale of The Good Guys to JB Hi-Fi Allens advised the Muir family on the sale of The Good Guys to JB Hi-Fi for $870m. The Good Guys, which grew under the stewardship of the Muir family from a single store in suburban Melbourne in 1952, is a specialty retailer of household appliances and consumer electronics products with annual sales of approximately $2bn. The chain, which has 101 stores across metropolitan and regional Australia, has leading market positions in multiple categories, including white goods, cooking, small kitchen appliances and home entertainment. The Good Guys pursued both a possible IPO on the ASX and a trade sale.

Transaction

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Lead lawyer(s)

Other firms involved

Adviser

Client

Aurizon’s sale of its 33% equity $98.9m stake in the proposed Moorebank Intermodal Terminal

Corrs Chambers Westgarth

Aurizon

Stephanie Daveson

Greenland Group’s joint venture with Golden Horse for the proposed residential development in Erskineville's Ashmore precinct

$1.6bn

Clyde & Co

Greenland Group

Kon Nakousis, David McElveney, Dean Carrigan, Avryl Lattin

Acquisition of Nuplex Industries Limited by Advent International and Allnex

Undisclosed Allen & Overy

Advent International, Allnex Helge Schäfer, Aaron Kenavan

Acquisition of Asciano

$9.05bn

Allens

Finance parties

Sale of The Good Guys to JB Hi-Fi

$870m

Allens

Propertylink IPO

$503.5m

Herbert Smith Freehills

Propertylink

Philip Podzebenko

Victoria International Container Terminal Limited export credit agency-covered syndicated loan facility

$398m

Allens

Victoria International Container Terminal Limited

James Darcy

Allnex acquisition of Nuplex Industries by way of scheme of arrangement

$1bn

Bell Gully

Nuplex Industries

Gavin Macdonald, Gilbert + Tobin, James Cooney, King & Wood Simon Ladd Mallesons, Allens

Acquisition of Ardent Leisure’s $260m health club business by Quadrant

King & Wood Mallesons

Quadrant Private Equity

Mark McNamara

Evolution Mining’s 30% stake in Glencore’s EHM operation

$800m

King & Wood Mallesons

Glencore

Nicholas Pappas

Range International Limited (RAN) IPO and ASX listing

$150m

Ashurst

RAN

Anton Harris, Bruce Macdonald

$375m

Ashurst

$200m

King & Wood Mallesons

Joint lead arrangers and joint lead managers

David Friedlander

Acquisition of Consolidated Snacks $600m

by Universal Robina Corporation

King & Wood Mallesons

Consolidated Snacks Pty Ltd

Ros Anderson

Sale of one third interest in the Bourke St Myer building

Lander & Rogers

The Myer Family Company

Lisa Gaddie

Qube hybrid offering

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Value (A$)

$151.3m

Tom Story, Guy Alexander, Wendy Rae Jon Webster, Robert Pick

Roger Davies

PwC Legal

Linklaters, Allen & Overy

Allens

Conyers, Dill & Pearman, Lambert & Partners, Herbert Smith Freehills

UPFRONT

TRANSACTIONS Transaction

Project financing of solar and battery storage project Norton Rose Fulbright advised Conergy on the development and project financing of the Lakeland solar PV project, Australia’s first solar and battery storage project.

Located at the fringe of Ergon’s grid in Northern Queensland, the $42.5m project will have an installed capacity of 10.8MW combined with a 5.3MWh battery storage system. It will receive both a funding grant from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and debt financing from Nord/LB. The Norton Rose Fulbright team was led by Simon Currie, the firm’s global head of energy. Clifford Chance acted for Nord/LB and Mills Oakley acted for ARENA.

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Value (A$)

Adviser

Client

Lead lawyer(s)

Other firms involved

Sale of GE’s Commercial Distribution Finance Australia business

Undisclosed King & Wood Mallesons

GE

Peter Stirling

Senior secured notes issue by Consolidated Minerals

US$400m

King & Wood Mallesons

Consolidated Minerals

Nathan Collins

Fully underwritten placement and non-underwritten share purchase plan by AHG

$110m

Ashurst

Automotive Holdings Group Limited

Roger Davies

MediaWorks joint venture for the Bravo Channel with NBCUniversal

Undisclosed MinterEllison RuddWatts

MediaWorks TV Limited

Mark Forman, Richard Wells

Sale of Pizza Hut

Undisclosed Allens

Yum! Brands Inc and Yum! Restaurants Australia

Vijay Cugati, Herbert Smith Andrew Wiseman Freehills

Acquisition of Nextgen Networks

by Vocus

$807m

Vocus

Mark Malinas

Capital raising by kikki.K, issuing 20% equity stake

Undisclosed Clarendon Laywers

kikki.K

Nick Manuell, Nick Golding

Shanghai Pharma and Primavera’s acquisition of Vitaco

$313m

King & Wood Mallesons

Shanghai Pharmaceuticals Xu Ping, Holding Co. and Primavera Jonathan Grant, Capital Fund II LP Shannon Finch

MinterEllison

Sale of Westralia Plaza by Insurance Commission of Western Australia

$87m

HWL Ebsworth

Insurance Commission of Western Australia

Allens

Demerger of NZX-listed Trustpower into two entities

Approx.

NZ$2.5bn

Simpson Grierson

UBS New Zealand Limited

James Hawes

Russell McVeagh

Acquisition of Ausenco by Resource Capital Fund VI LP

Undisclosed Herbert Smith Freehills

Ausenco

Tony Damian

Luminis Partners

Proposed acquisition of BigAir Group Limited by Superloop Limited

$224m

Gilbert + Tobin

Superloop

Costas Condoleon

Acquisition of 10% stake in Petronas LNG 9 Sdn Bhd by JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corporation

$400m

Norton Rose Fulbright

JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corporation

Michael Joyce

Project financing of solar and battery storage project

Undisclosed Norton Rose Fulbright

Conergy

Simon Currie

Myki re-tendering

Undisclosed Allens

Public Transport Victoria

Paul Kenny

Quadrant

Mark McNamara

Allens

Acquisition of Great Southern Rail Undisclosed King & Wood

by Quadrant Mallesons Investore’s IPO and NZX Main Board listing

NZ$185m

Chapman Tripp Goldman Sachs

Roger Wallis, Joshua Pringle

Russell McVeagh

Gilbert + Tobin

Skrine (Malaysia)

Bell Gully

Firm Profile

THE LAWS OF NEW YORK? BUT I’M IN ADELAIDE! How many times have you signed up for services, especially online services and software, and discovered that any issues under the contract/ licence/app terms are governed by the laws of some state of the USA, or some other jurisdiction thousands of miles from where you live? This doesn’t just happen to consumers. Unless you are a major customer, many business contracts with overseas suppliers will require that the laws of some other country ‘govern’ the contract. What does this mean?

Let’s say you sign up for Facebook. Facebook’s terms state that all disputes under the terms of use (a contract) are governed by the laws of California, and, the parties have to bring any court action in California, and nowhere else. In practice this means if Facebook breaches the contract you have to sue them in California under a set of unfamiliar laws.

These law and ‘venue’ requirements may make your complaint uneconomic to pursue in terms of both time and expense.

But that isn’t the end of the story. Facebook is trading in Australia and New Zealand and, whether they like it or not, some local laws will apply to their activities, such as the Fair Trading Act or the Consumer Law and its implied guarantees about the quality of consumer services. Also, if Facebook misuses one of your pictures, it might be infringing the Australian or New Zealand Copyright Act, giving you potential rights to sue for damages under that Act. Facebook is quite cunning; their terms of use require that any court action between them and you can only be heard in California. This suggests that a claim under the local legislation might only be able to be heard in California, where it is certain the court will be unfamiliar with such claims.

Facebook is an overseas company; we can safely assume that most of their assets are in the USA (or maybe Ireland) and nothing significant lies within Australia and New Zealand. So, even if you can sue Facebook in Australia or New Zealand there may be no assets for your local judgement to attach to. However, you may be able to take your local judgment and court orders to California and attempt to convince the California courts to enforce your judgment there against Facebook’s US assets. This will probably cost even more than the local proceedings but gives you some chance of recovering your losses.

Contracting with an overseas supplier, whether as a local business or consumer, in most cases leaves you in a pretty poor position if things go wrong if the governing law and venue are anything other than Australia or New Zealand.

So what can you do? Try to get the governing law to be your local law. Try to contract with someone with assets on the ground in Australia or New Zealand. Finally, consider contracting with a big guy – if Microsoft messes up Excel or Word you won’t be the only end user with a complaint, you will be amongst a legion of other affected and complaining users.

This article was written by Andrew Matangi, a consultant based in the Wellington office of Buddle Findlay. Andrew specialises in intellectual property, information and communications technology and commercial contracts.

Andrew Matangi DDI: +64 4 498 7315 andrew.matangi@buddlefindlay.com www.buddlefindlay.com

UPFRONT

MARKET MOVEMENTS

APPOINTMENTS

Presented by

LATERAL PARTNER APPOINTMENTS NAME

PRACTICE AREA

LEAVING

GOING TO

Peter Feros

Tax

Gilbert + Tobin

Clayton Utz

Arlene Colquhoun

Banking and finance

Herbert Smith Freehills

Maddocks

Katherine Morris

Employment and labour

Gadens

Norton Rose Fulbright

Stuart Eustice

Insurance

Gadens

Mills Oakley

David Slatyer

Insurance

Gadens

Mills Oakley

Blair Beven

Insurance

AJ Park

Mills Oakley

Rob White

Infrastructure

Ashurst

Henry Davis York

Michael Plafrey

Litigation

Sparke Helmore

HWL Ebsworth

Sam Dundas

Litigation

Herbert Smith Freehills

HWL Ebsworth

Stephen Byrne

Projects and construction

Allion Partners

Johnson Winter & Slattery

Philip Diviny

Tax

K&L Gates

Keypoint Law

Ian Streeter

Property, commercial

Primary Health Care

Keypoint Law

Nicholas Creed

Banking and finance

King & Wood Mallesons

Allens

Anne MacNamara

Banking and financial services

Holding Redlich

Hall & Wilcox

Kathryn Sanger

Disputes

Clifford Chance

Herbert Smith Freehills

SPECIAL COUNSEL APPOINTMENTS

Shane Entriken

Workplace relations, employment, health and safety

HopgoodGanim

Allion Partners

FIRM

LAWYERS PROMOTED OR LATERALLY APPOINTED

Justin Mannolini

Corporate advisory

Macquarie Capital

Gilbert + Tobin

Cooper Grace Ward

Teresa Kearney

Todd Neal

Planning and environment

Maddocks

Colin Biggers & Paisley

David Giacomantonio

Insurance

Lander & Rogers

Colin Biggers & Paisley

Maddocks

Olivia Hillier, Fiona Mullins, Anna Scannell

Peter Bournas

Property and development

Sydney Airport Corporation

Colin Biggers & Paisley

McCullough Robertson

Kate Swain, Fiona Mudie, Vicky Biondo, Trudi Procter

Collette McFawn

Family law

Watts McCray

Lander & Rogers

Ewan Robertson

Infrastructure

Piper Alderman

Pinsent Masons

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NEW BRISBANE MANAGING PARTNER FOR HSF Peter Butler, formerly the leader of Herbert Smith Freehills’ project teams in Queensland, has been appointed managing partner of the firm’s Brisbane office. Butler succeeds Michael Back, who is stepping down from the role he has held for more than two decades. Butler says he expects to capitalise on the Brisbane office’s crucial role in the firm’s domestic and international network to benefit from ongoing significant changes in local and global markets that are creating opportunities for the law firm and its clients. The appointment coincides with the recent transfer of the HSF Brisbane office to the newly constructed premium office tower at 480 Queen Street.

Corrs Chambers Mel Schwing Westgarth

PARTNER PROMOTIONS

OTHER APPOINTMENTS

FIRM

LAWYERS PROMOTED

NAME

FIRM/ TITLE ORGANISATION

Dibbs Barker

Kirsten Pike

Cath Cipro

HBA Legal

Chief operating officer

Allens

Chris Blane, Benjamin Downie, Linda Govenlock, Chung Le, Scott McCoy, Franki Ganter

Alex Bean

Clarendon Lawyers

Director

KHQ Lawyers

Jack Stuck

Principal

Hive Legal

Andrew Brookes

Jae Kang

Nexus Law Group

Consulting principal

Maddocks

Stuart Napthali, Nick Sparks

Valentina Jovanoska Nexus Law Group

Consulting principal

Thomson Geer

Joel Shaw, Jason McCubbin

Brett Eagle

Nexus Law Group

Consulting principal

Lane Neave

Fiona McMillan, Rebecca Hopkins, Rachael Mason

Lindsay Joyce

Sparke Helmore

Consultant

Lavan Legal

Claire Petersen

Diane Smith-Gander Henry Davis York

Non-executive board director

Kemp Strang

Matthew Wilson, Elliot Raleigh

Jeremy Snow

Hive Legal

Principal

Sparke Helmore

Ashley Cahif, Holly McAdam, Maxine Feletti, Wes Rose, Darren Rankine, Martin Taylor

Andrew Brookes

Hive Legal

Principal

Andrea Stefanesco

Russell Kennedy

Principal

Darren Seidl

Russell Kennedy

Principal

Donna Rayner

Russell Kennedy

Principal

Matthew Stockdale

Russell Kennedy

Principal

SENIOR ASSOCIATE APPOINTMENTS FIRM

LAWYERS PROMOTED OR LATERALLY APPOINTED

Maddocks

Simon Harders, Adam Jaques, Elise Paynter, Laura Gordon, Charlie Williamson, Sophie Jacobs

Felicity Douglas, Alex Caldwell, Joseph Jones, McCullough Robertson James Arklay, Richard Hundt, William McCullough, James Lynagh, Siobhan Moloney, Dan Mackenzie Corrs Chambers Westgarth

James Morely, Simon Reid

SPARKE HELMORE PULLS INSURANCE HEAVYWEIGHT Former DLA Piper senior partner and 40-year veteran Lindsay Joyce has joined Sparke Helmore as a consultant. Drawing on his long experience in the industry, Joyce will bolster the firmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s insurance practice. He has previously advised major international and Australian insurers on litigation defence, external dispute schemes, claims management, risk management, complex liability, and coverage disputes and damages. Before DLA Piper, Joyce practised as a property valuer, project manager and property manager.

Roundtable Report Getting a piece of the action Experiences of in-house litigators

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15

UPFRONT

OPINION

The art of copyright law Increased copyright durations under the TPPA in an Australasian context have not been accompanied by greater flexibility around fair dealing exceptions. This change threatens the use of appropriation strategies, which are fundamental to artists. Kari Schmidt reports THE 20TH century saw far-reaching shifts occurring in the fine arts, leading to the explicit appropriation of images and other artistic works. Such appropriation aimed to overthrow artistic convention and challenge the established capitalist, patriarchal and colonial narratives of modernism, as well as its emphasis on ‘high’ and ‘low’ art and the concept of ‘originality’. In contrast, copyright law asserts that an artist’s work is their property – an ostensible anathema to the

not an area entirely distinct from economics – in some cases artists can make millions from pieces based on overt appropriation, their studios more akin to factories than the traditional artist’s atelier. A line ought to be drawn as to where appropriation will and won’t be legitimate. This line can be found in the legal exceptions to copyright: fair use (in the US) and fair dealing (in the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand).

The exceptions permit the use of

Art is not an area entirely distinct from economics – in some cases artists can make millions from pieces based on overt appropriation, their studios more akin to factories than the traditional artist’s atelier philosophy of appropriation art.

However, copyright law is fundamentally motivated by a desire to facilitate innovation and creativity – the idea being that enabling artists to profit from their work will encourage them to produce. Similarly, art is

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copyrighted work for purposes such as criticism and review, research and private study, news reporting, and parody and/or satire. Fair use is particularly flexible and adaptive with regard to the creative process: the ‘transformative use’ criterion it

employs requires the secondary work to add something new to the original in terms of purpose, message or character.

US case law reflects an increasingly liberal approach, recognising that, almost always, appropriating artists will comment on the original or recontextualise/transform it to some extent, and that transformative works will hardly ever compete with the market of the original. For example, in one case, appropriation artist Richard Prince used photographs taken by Patrick Cariou of Rastafarian culture. The judges compared the aesthetics of the two artists. Cariou’s series consisted of black and white, classical portrait and landscape photographs, while Prince’s

GOT AN OPINION THAT COUNTS?

E: samantha.woodhill@keymedia.com.au

images were huge and colourful, chaotic, cutand-paste assemblages. Although elements of the images from Cariou’s Yes Rasta have been used in Prince’s work, Cariou’s work is virtually unidentifiable in most of them. Prince’s works were also different in meaning from Cariou’s.

Through his appropriation, Prince challenged the inherent colonialism of Yes Rasta while Cariou, a white artist, photographed in classical black and white format the culture of Rastafarianism. These images, as photographs, are authoritative and relate a narrative about the figures as ‘natives’, close to the earth, uncorrupted. Prince disrupts this narrative by including technological objects in the photographs (thereby challenging the

culture/nature dichotomy that Cariou has implicitly set up in his works). The artists were also catering to two completely different markets. Cariou’s work wasn’t represented or sold in the high-end art market that Prince’s was targeted at.

While Australia, Canada, the UK and the US allow for parody, New Zealand does not.

Australia, the US and Canada also include satire in this, recognising that the line between parody and satire can be very fine: where parody critiques the original work, satire engages in a broader critique of society by using the original work.

The limited nature of our fair dealing provisions has resulted in much uncertainty

within the arts, exacerbated by our lack of case law on the subject. For example, in a New Zealand context, there’s Mark Rayner’s 2014 portrait, Black Widow. This work – a large latch-hook rug – was based on a photograph of Helen Milner taken in court during her trial for the murder of Phil Nisbet.

The artwork was entered in the Wallace Art Awards and came 49th out of 524 works but was subsequently challenged by the owner as a copyright infringement, with the potential that it could have been destroyed as a result.

Where some parties considered copyright had clearly been infringed, others thought the work was a legitimate reinterpretation.

The artist himself noted the transformative nature of the work, asserting that it had been changed significantly enough to make it a new work in its own right.

Similarly divergent impressions occurred in 2005 when artist Peter Vink reproduced in paint a photograph by Richard Sprangler.

While Sprangler and others believed copyright infringement had occurred, others considered that painting from photographs was acceptable practice and that a painting from a photograph was a new interpretation.

While New Zealand has increased its copyright durations in keeping with the other countries discussed here as a result of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), it has failed to expand its fair dealing provisions to account for the aesthetic and philosophical characteristics of 20th and 21st century artistic movements to provide for the flexibility and certainty in appropriation that artists and other creatives require. A review of the New Zealand Copyright Act has been set to take place upon the conclusion of the TPPA – one that will hopefully address this discrepancy.

Excerpts of this work are included in the Intellectual Property Law Journal of New Zealand, published by LexisNexis – Appropriation Art: Fair Use, Fair Dealing and Copyright Law [2015] 7 NZIPJ 249.

Kari Schmidt is a law clerk working at Simpson Grierson with an interest in intellectual property and the intersection between law and the arts.

www.australasianlawyer.com.au

17

COVER STORY

LOUISE CAPON

WALKING THE WALK Newly appointed KPMG GC Louise Capon tells Samantha Woodhill about her plans for the accounting giant

THE KPMG offices are surprisingly sparse.

It’s not because it’s 4 o’clock on a Friday afternoon but because the firm is at the tail end of an office move to Barangaroo, a paperless one.

It’s all in the name of innovation, and there’s no doubt KPMG is walking the walk, the new offices complete with innovation labs, insight centres and “state-of-the-art alternative thinking spaces”.

Appointed in May of this year, Louise Capon says she’s a good fit to lead the firm’s office of general counsel. She’s spent her career working with companies in the innovation space, and now she’s well and truly in it.

“There are a lot of buzzwords around disruption now, but through my entire career I’ve been working in industries that are sort of disruptive industries,” she says.

“I think I’ve arrived at a very exciting time for KPMG. It’s a time when there’s a lot of focus on growth and embracing technology and embracing disruption, so

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“If we’ve got a business that’s really focusing on being ahead of the game in this area, as a legal team we’ve really got to focus on being ahead of the game”

PAPER-FREE

“We have to be there with the business; we have to be the same as the business,” Capon says.

While she is no stranger to the world of tech and its evolution, going paperless is still a pretty serious adjustment, she says.

“There’s far less storage of paper, so that’s challenging.

We’re all learning to adapt.

“Once we get there it will be terrific, but there is that transition moving away from paper to technology.”

I’m really looking forward to supporting the business as it moves into those areas.”

Just one month in, Capon says it’s hard to know what a typical day will look like.

“I think I know enough to know that I don’t think any day is going to be dull,” she says.

“I don’t think any two days are going to be the same.”

The firm’s brand-new office spaces aren’t your typical open plan. Capon says that with the office move has come a different sort of interaction with people, simply as a result of the new office vibe.

“You’ve got little lounge areas where you can sit down and have a chat with somebody,” Capon says.

“You choose your space depending on the type of conversation you’re going to have, and I think it facilitates quite good conversations.”

www.australasianlawyer.com.au

19

COVER STORY

LOUISE CAPON

THE EARLY YEARS

“The first part of my career I was at Herbert Smith Freehills, and I started as a summer clerk,” Capon says.

During a stint in London, she worked at Holme Roberts & Owen, a US law firm with a large cable TV client, which was Europe bound.

“They came across with their client,” she says.

“While I was there I did lots of capital raising and M&A acquisitions of telecommunications and technology and pay TV companies in Europe, so that was really good fun.

“At the time, [the firm] was quite innovative.”

Shortly after returning home to Australia, Capon was made a corporate partner at Freehills, where she stayed for 11 years.

Life at KPMG Almost half the KPMG legal team is working flexibly as part of the firm’s commitment to giving employees at all levels an improved opportunity to achieve work-life balance.

“I wish I had the answer,” Capon says of her own work-life balance.

“My children will come into work and they love to see it. They love to see what I’m doing. My children are little and I think that helps.”

But for more flexible workers in the team, Capon says it’s all about communication.

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Some members of the team are working shorter days or are in the office just a few days a week.

“It works incredibly well,” she says.

“I have two people in the team that start very early and finish very early; that’s just their working style. I have another person who is a night owl, who likes to work late at night, so that’s how she works.

“I think if people are committed to doing their job, they make it work.”

Going in-house “About four years ago I had the fortune to meet the Origin general counsel, Andrew Clarke,” Capon says.

While she always had a slight inclination towards taking her career in-house, Capon says it was Clarke who inspired her to take the plunge.

“I actually think Andrew is one of the best general counsel in this country,” she

“There are a lot of buzzwords around disruption now, but through my entire career I’ve been working in industries that are sort of disruptive industries” says, adding that he was the reason she left Herbert Smith Freehills and joined Origin Energy.

“He has a great understanding of the client and the client’s needs; he’s very forward-thinking. He’s somebody you’d want in the trenches with you when things were going wrong.”

For Capon, experiencing what the business does is fundamental to giving good legal advice in-house, and as the firm turns towards a flexible and digital workplace it’s important that the legal team does the same. And that’s where her projections

clearly line up with those of KPMG. “The benefit of being in-house I think is that you get that insight. As a law firm, you’re outside looking in, and you are constantly trying to figure out what’s going on in the business,” she says.

“When you’re in-house, you’re in the business and you’re really part of that drive to move the business in the direction.

“If we’ve got a business that’s really focusing on being ahead of the game in this area, as a legal team we’ve really got to focus on being ahead of the game, so I think it really helps.”

THE BARANGAROO MOVE KPMG announced the move to Barangaroo as a sea change that would facilitate a tried-and-tested approach to agile working.

“Gone are all private offices and fixed desks,” the announcement said.

Work zones of more than five varieties are designed to facilitate different types of work. There are social spaces and quiet nooks for unwinding.

The new offices were officially opened by NSW treasurer Gladys Berejiklian on 1 September.

New Sydney office in figures

Number of employees

Number of Tower 3 floors

over 2,500

12

Number of coffee beans used by the Toby’s Estate cafe on the 26th floor

40kg per week

www.australasianlawyer.com.au

21

FEATURES

FAST FIRMS

FAST FIRMS

While some firms downsize and look to refocus, others are staking their claim to a piece of the legal market pie. Australasian Lawyer profiles the country’s fastest-growing law firms THE DOOM and gloom of Brexit has vanished just months after industry experts expected an entire market slowdown for the legal industry in 2016. But with the pending presidential election tipped to have an important effect on trade, it seems the industry remains in a state of flux.

As a result, some firms have experienced a downturn, while others have continued to gain momentum this year.

From the pressures of NewLaw to internationals and artificial intelligence, it seems it’s the firms embracing change that are the ones who have made the ‘fastest growing’ lists this year.

Considering whether growth was achieved organically or by acquisition, taking into account the measured metrics and using the expertise of our team of journalists, Australasian Lawyer has ranked the 10 fastest-growing firms in the country.

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www.australasianlawyer.com.au

23

FEATURES

FAST FIRMS FASTEST-GROWING FIRMS BY REVENUE FIRM

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

YEAR-ON-YEAR % CHANGE

Pragma Legal Lexvoco Pinsent Masons Grondal Bruining Patron Legal Playfair Visa and Migration Services LegalVision LRG Lawyers Bespoke Chamberlains Law Firm Clyde & Co Madison Marcus

850% 750% 669% 612% 350% 320% 191% 182% 136% 135% 132% 131%

13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Lawyers on Demand Squire Patton Boggs Mills Oakley Hall & Wilcox Stevens & Associates Gilchrist Connell Danaher Legal Klaus Kenny Intelex Leach Legal Holman Webb Lawyers Russell Kennedy Colin Biggers & Paisley Clayton Utz

130% 129% 129% 126% 126% 119% 118% 118% 116% 112% 106% 103% 102%

FASTEST-GROWING FIRMS BY HEAD COUNT FIRM

PARTNERS 2015

PARTNERS 2016

% CHANGE

Pinsent Masons Lexvoco Grondal Bruining Patron Legal Pragma Legal Clyde & Co Chamberlains Law Firm LegalVision Gilchrist Connell Hall & Wilcox Squire Patton Boggs Madison Marcus Mills Oakley Holman Webb Lawyers Colin Biggers & Paisley Russell Kennedy Bespoke Clayton Utz Lawyers On Demand Playfair Visa and Migration Services

1 1 0 1 1 13 4 6 14 53 17 7 75 18 61 32 2 179 n.a. n.a.

7 5 3 2 2 23 7 9 19 64 20 8 84 20 67 35 2 173 n.a. n.a.

700% 500% 300% 200% 200% 177% 175% 150% 136% 121% 118% 114% 112% 111% 110% 109% 100% 97% n.a. n.a.

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FEE EARNERS FEE EARNERS (EXCL. PARTNERS) (EXCL. PARTNERS) 2015 2016 0 14 5 35 3 6 1 3 2 3 51 95 6 8 5 16 53 62 131 154 56 57 17 25 200 280 47 39 110 116 65 69 4 8 522 543 136 181 21 33

% CHANGE

700% 200% 300% 150% 186% 133% 320% 117% 118% 102% 147% 140% 83% 105% 106% 200% 104% 133% 157%

Here’s a closer look at Australasian Lawyer’s fastest-growing firms for 2016

=10 Number of partners

20

Number of offices

4

Launched

1960

Year-on-year revenue growth

112%

Year-on-year partner growth

111%

Number of partners

1 Number of offices

1 Launched

2012 Year-on-year revenue growth

182% Year-on-year partner growth

n.a.

HOLMAN WEBB COMMITMENT TO career development has been crucial to growth at Holman Webb, where nine staff members advanced within the firm in July.

“If we feel there is a gap in skills, we devise a career development plan with our employee and their supervisor in conjunction with our HR department, to work towards closing that gap,” says chairman John Wakefield.

“We have found this policy to assist in our staff retention. It lets the staff member know that we are committed to them and their career progression.

“We have a formal policy which clearly outlines what is required to develop their career at Holman Webb.”

Flexible working, providing lawyers with a better work-life balance, has seen over 15% of the firm’s employees working part-time, having a shortened working day, or implementing arrangements to work from home. The firm also has formal wellness programs, which include exercise classes for staff.

Wakefield says revenue growth for Holman Webb over the past 12 months has largely come from existing clients, particularly in the insurance, employment and

JOHN WAKEFIELD, chairman health sectors. “This has been by expanding areas of advice,” he says.

“We believe that this is the result of the exceptional professional profiles of our partners in these areas and our commitment to raising awareness of our expertise, industry knowledge and experience through active business development programs.”

LRG LAWYERS DIRECTOR, PRINCIPAL lawyer and migration agent Louisa Ryan has achieved massive year-on-year revenue growth of 182%. Specialising in migration, Ryan services clients all over the world on all classes of visa applications and on legal matters. She puts her year-on-year revenue bump down to coffee, and having quality people around her. “[It’s] quality over quantity when it comes to staff: the right people in the right positions,” she says. “[We’re] developing systems that build more flexibility into our business. As a result we are more productive.”

She says keeping abreast of domestic and international political and economic drivers has been key to the firm’s immense growth in revenue over the last 12 months.

“Regional Australia as well as Asia have been thriving market sectors in immigration law, in particular China

LOUISA RYAN, principal lawyer and director in terms of business and investor opportunities into the Australian economy,” she says.

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25

FEATURES

FAST FIRMS

9 Number of partners

7

Number of offices

1

Launched

1996

Year-on-year revenue growth

135%

Year-on-year partner growth

175%

CHAMBERLAINS LAW FIRM CHAMBERLAINS HAS increased its head count by 50% since 1 July 2015, growing its number of partners from four to seven. As a result, the firm has seen strong growth in all practice areas, including establishing the ACT region’s only equine law specialist, which opened the door to new clients and new areas for growth.

Mark North, in the corporate and commercial practice area, has been appointed to the firm’s partnership, as well as Rory Markham in dispute resolution and corporate risk. In July, the firm also appointed Louise Morris to the partnership in the property practice.

While Chamberlains is careful to select the right culture fit for new recruits, Vik Sundar, director and practice leader, advisory – private wealth, says changing the buy-in requirements has made it easier for the firm to grow. “The rapid growth of Chamberlains at the director and senior level of the firm has largely been due to the implementation of a decapitalised equity model that places little value on the goodwill of the firm,” he says.

“Our biggest asset is our staff and their unique expertise, so when we find highly skilled staff, we are able to bring them into ownership of the firm without the need

VIK SUNDAR, director and practice leader, advisory – private wealth for that person to pay a significant entry fee or mortgage their home to fund that entry fee.”

Over the past 12 months, the ACT-based firm has focused on taking on private and commercial work and stopped picking up government work.

“As a result of our strategic decision ... we have seen a significant growth in revenue over the last 12 months,” Sundar says.

MID-TIERS ARE MUCH MORE CONFIDENT THAN THE TOP-TIERS ABOUT THE STATE OF THE MARKET For law firm leaders, confidence in the economic outlook has risen over the past six months, and fewer law firm leaders have reported that they think the Australian economy will perform badly.

Mid-tier firms reported much more confidence in the economy than top-tier firms. Around one in five mid-tier firms predicted the economy would perform well over the next six-month period.

Top-tier firms were significantly less confident: only 9% of firms expressed a positive view of the economy, down from 33% six months ago.

100

13% of firm leaders have a negative outlook, compared to 18% six months ago

80

60

40

20

18%

13%

0 6 months ago

present Source: Legal Market Pulse Report, CommBank

26

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8

GILCHRIST CONNELL CONTINUING ITS steady growth of the last few years, Gilchrist Connell has increased its number of lawyers from 53 to 62 in the last year, and the partnership from 14 to 19. The firm’s founding principals launched Gilchrist Connell after breaking away from the insurance practice of Thomson Geer in 2008, when it had around 30 lawyers in Sydney and Adelaide. In 2015, Gilchrist Connell opened a Brisbane office, becoming the only Australian law firm specialising purely in insurance law with an office in every mainland state – a lofty goal the firm managed to achieve in just seven years.

“When we set up the firm we embarked on a strategy to position ourselves to be able to provide our specialist insurance law services to clients nationally,” says managing principal Richard Wood.

“A large part of our revenue increase was the fact that our Perth, Melbourne and Brisbane offices all hit the ground running and gained real client support.

“Our Sydney office also grew in terms of revenue. In terms of turnover we’ve increased significantly year-onyear since we started in 2008.”

Employment practices liability has been a major growth

Number of partners

19

Number of offices

5

Launched RICHARD WOOD, managing principal area for the firm, which has established a dedicated national EPL team led by an accredited employment law specialist.

Financial lines and construction-related professional indemnity have also been significant growth areas.

“From our time in the industry we can safely say that our work is countercyclical and that, as an extreme generalisation, litigation picks up when the economy get a bit harder,” Wood says.

The firm has a strong track record for being a flexible workplace with a large proportion of part-time fee earners, keeping it a magnet for talent.

Year-on-year revenue growth

119%

Year-on-year partner growth

136%

7

SQUIRE PATTON BOGGS (AUSTRALIA)

Number of partners

SQUIRE PATTON BOGGS made three internal promotions this year, taking the partnership to 20. And after three years and over 100 interviews for potential lateral hires, the firm has finally found two who are the right cultural, strategic and financial fit.

“Part of the success can be attributed to selling our vision and our differentiators, one of them being that as a global firm we work in a truly collaborative and borderless way,” says managing partner John Poulsen.

“Work is shared across the Nullarbor and not defined by region, and that is reflected in our reporting structures. Globally our firm does not have a head office – rather centres of management and support.

“As a global board member, I along with my colleagues I am responsible to ensure that collaboration is real. Lateral hires are attracted by prominently our values, global footprint and our quality of work.”

Litigation, construction disputes, real estate and infrastructure, mid-tier M&A work and financial services have all been big drivers of work for the

2008

20

Number of offices

3

Launched

2011

Year-on-year revenue growth

129% JOHN POULSEN, managing partner

Year-on-year partner growth

118%

firm over the last 12 months.

“We are hitting and exceeding our budgets and I am very thankful to our whole team of amazing people,” Poulsen says.

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27

FEATURES

FAST FIRMS

6 Number of partners

64

Number of offices

5

Launched

1917

Year-on-year revenue growth

126%

Year-on-year partner growth

121%

5 Number of partners

9

Number of offices

5

Launched

2013

Year-on-year revenue growth

191%

Year-on-year partner growth

150%

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HALL & WILCOX OVER THE last 12 months, Hall & Wilcox has broadened its presence, opening up offices in Perth and Canberra as part of a long-term expansion strategy.

“We’ve made no secret of our desire for a national footprint,” says managing partner Tony Macvean. “Our strategy has included select acquisitions of partners and teams we believe fit with the Hall & Wilcox purpose, strategy and culture, while also continuing to grow great talent internally.”

The firm only opened its second Australian office in Sydney in 2014 and has continued its rapid growth since then. “A lot of the growth has been based on client demand, with clients wanting an increasingly integrated team nationally,” Macvean says.

“Clients are responding positively to our growth and are seeing how it benefits them.”

Financial services and insurance are key focuses for the firm and key contributers to its growth.

“We have depth and strength across all areas required by the financial services and insurance sector, from claims processing to advising on major IPOs and M&As within the sector, and everything in between,”

TONY MACVEAN, managing partner Macvean says. “The financial services and insurance sector continues to be a focus for the firm, and we are seeing great development in the work we are doing.”

Macvean says the firm is looking to continue to develop expertise in its chosen industries. New recruits have to be a good commercial and cultural fit, a key retention strategy, he says.

“We invest time and money in ensuring our people can get together and collaborate, nationally.

“We truly believe we are better together and do everything we can to support this aspect of our culture.”

LEGALVISION THIS HAS been a busy year over at LegalVision, as the business has opened up offices in Melbourne and Newcastle, as well as in Brisbane and on Sydney’s North Shore. But CEO Lachlan McKnight puts the firm’s impressive revenue growth down to an online lead acquisition and outbound strategy, rather than a geographic expansion. Backing from Gilbert + Tobin has also helped the business grow, developing innovative solutions for clients.

Commercial leasing, franchising, trademarks, start-up law and IT have been the busiest sectors in 2016. “This strong growth is driven by clients looking for more cost-effective and fixed-fee options compared to traditional firms,” McKnight says.

“This is coupled with our tech model allowing us to deliver legal work done efficiently.”

The LegalVision team has achieved high growth numbers, driven by the flexible nature of the work.

McKnight says the firm’s culture has significantly aided staff retention.

“The ability to work from home or part-time has attracted many senior lawyers leaving traditional

LACHLAN MCKNIGHT, CEO firms looking for flexible arrangements,” he says.

“We have retained our team members due to the firm’s start-up and dynamic workplace culture, where there is no hierarchy and a true vision to improve access to legal services in Australia through tech and innovation.”

The innovative model allows practice leaders to focus on delivering legal work rather than bringing in clients, which is the job of the specialised inbound client care and outbound sales teams.

In June 2015, LegalVision acquired Capacity HQ, a curated marketplace of consultant lawyers.

PINSENT MASONS (AUSTRALIA) PINSENT MASONS entered the Australian market in 2015 with a focus on the infrastructure sector, spruiking deep sector expertise, local knowledge and international experience.

“We have achieved rapid growth since opening our doors and are now one of the largest and most experienced infrastructure practices in the AsiaPacific, with the capability to handle major projects or litigation of any size,” says Australia head David Rennick.

“Investment in infrastructure across the region is expected to continue to rise over the next 10 years, which leads to growing demand for expert legal advice and services.”

Rennick says the strength of the Australian practice was a significant factor in achieving a 5.5% jump in global revenue last financial year.

“We attribute this to our clear focus on a proposition built around market-leading expertise in the infrastructure sector, recruitment of people who can deliver on this promise, and the support and confidence of our international and local clients,” he says.

Number of partners

7

Number of offices

2

Launched

2015

Year-on-year revenue growth DAVID RENNICK, partner – head of Australia Providing agile services to clients and support and flexibility to staff has aided staff retention.

“Our people are attracted to a leading global brand with a strong and growing presence in the AsiaPacific region, which provides significant diversity of professional opportunity,” Rennick says.

669%

Year-on-year partner growth

700%

3

LEXVOCO IN THE last 12 months, Lexvoco has opened up offices in Canberra and Adelaide, as well as two offices in New Zealand. The firm is now doing more Australian work for clients based abroad.

“We don’t focus on specific sectors. We just want to help organisations who need and want more from their lawyers,” says Australia lead Anthony Wright.

He says that for Lexvoco achieving growth is all about finding top talent.

“We always start with doing the best we can to attract great, smart, innovative team members, and treat them very well, and we’re grateful,” Wright says.

“Business growth and a strong, unwavering culture that encourages ownership, rewards, flexibility and responsibility have enabled us to grow our senior management and partnership.”

Offering lawyers the opportunity to work flexibly is a key value of the business.

“Provided that we never let clients or one another down, our team can work when and where they want, and they can wear what they want,” says Wright.

4

Number of partners

5

Number of offices

6

Launched

2015

Year-on-year revenue growth

750%

Year-on-year partner growth

500%

ANTHONY WRIGHT, principal and Australia lead

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FEATURES

FAST FIRMS

2

CLYDE & CO (AUSTRALIA)

Number of partners

23

Number of offices

4

Launched

2012

JOHN EDMOND, Australia managing partner IT’S BEEN lateral hires this year that have seen the

Year-on-year revenue growth

132%

Year-on-year partner growth

177%

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Clyde & Co Australia partnership jump from 13 to 23.

The firm merged with insurance boutique Lee & Lyons in early 2016, growing the partnership by five.

Thirty Lee & Lyons staff also made the move. Two partners and several lawyers also joined the firm from Norton Rose Fulbright this year.

“Clyde & Co has been on a strong growth trajectory since launching in Australia in late 2012,” says Australia managing partner John Edmond.

“We have in the past 12 months made eight strategic lateral partner hires to further bolster our capabilities in Australia, while also promoting two partners from within our ranks.”

Edmond says the firm has had 100% retention of the partners appointed in Australia since launching.

He says the firm has brought on people who are a good cultural fit, as well as being at the forefront of their respective industries.

“The firm has a clear strategy to be a leader in its core sectors of global trade and commerce, construction and infrastructure, insurance, energy and transport,” Edmond says.

“By having a clear mandate and support globally we are able to offer our partners and people the

“We have seen growth in all of our key practice areas in the past 12 months” opportunity to do top legal work, for top clients, in a positive environment.”

The firm’s expanding presence in the Australian market is increasing its ability to provide cohesive legal advice to clients, Edmond says.

“We have seen growth in all of our key practice areas in the past 12 months, and we expect to see even more as our new partners and teams further settle into Clyde & Co and build profile within the market,” he says.

“Of particular note is the successful growth of our construction practice, our marine and transport practice and our OHSS practice.

“We have had an excellent 12 months in our corporate and regulatory insurance group, a capability which really sets us apart from other firms who have insurance as a core practice.”

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FEATURES

FAST FIRMS

MILLS OAKLEY BOASTING ONE of the longest track records of

Number of partners

84

Number of offices

5

Launched

1864

Year-on-year revenue growth

129%

Year-on-year partner growth

112%

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consistent growth in the Australian market, Mills Oakley has grown without entering into any mergers or opening new offices. FY16 is the 12th consecutive year of double-digit revenue growth for the firm, with growth up by 37% and 32% in FY15 and FY14 respectively. Mills Oakley crossed the $100m revenue threshold in 2015 and has still managed to achieve the high growth of a start-up firm, but a mature one.

CEO John Nerurker says the firm’s growth from 75 partners in 2015 to 84 in 2016 has been in response to client demand. Over half the partnership growth this year was in the construction, planning and environment, and projects and infrastructure practice areas.

“In the case of construction, more work from existing clients and the addition of new clients has warranted further capacity,” Nerurker says.

“The latter two areas are new practices where we have identified an opportunity to offer additional services to existing clients of the firm.”

The Melbourne corporate team has had one of its busiest years, 25% ahead of last year. Inbound M&A has been particularly active.

“There has been a prepon­ der­ a nce of buyers from the US and Europe in particular, and the agribusiness and retail sectors are particularly hot,” Nerurker says.

A reflection of the continuing popularity of property investment compared to shares, Nerurker says the property team has had a busy year. Low interest rates and low unemployment have been contributing factors, along with media coverage of capital growth.

“We are assisting a number of overseas developers, particularly Chinese, Malaysian and Singaporean entrants, to undertake their first projects in Australia,” he says. “We believe we have also improved our market share in the property space owing to Australian

ASX-listed property trusts and developers embracing the ‘flight to value’ away from international and large national firms, who are not always as agile and have a tendency to overservice clients.”

In 2017 the firm will look to expand in the corporate, disputes and insurance practice areas.

But it’s not all about the strongest practice areas; Nerurker says the firm has a two-pronged strategy for revenue growth.

“The first involves demonstrating consistent value to clients as a platform for long-term relationships; essentially, our work with our clients grows over the years as their businesses grow,” he says.

“Secondly, we actively acquire leading partner talent who bring to the firm new clients and capabilities.

“This strategy has delivered consistent, double-digit revenue growth for Mills Oakley over the last 12 years, and we are on track to hold this record going forward.”

The firm has prioritised strategies to deliver a more flexible and diverse workplace, recognising the link between organisational performance and high retention rates.

“We recognise that staff retention is core to a consistent service experience for clients, and so we have pursued initiatives that will give us one of the lowest turnover rates in the Australian legal sector,” Nerurker says.

A flexible working policy, formalising a commitment to work-life balance, the upgrading of the parental leave policy and an equitable briefing policy have all been achieved in the last 12 months.

The firm has established a gender diversity committee reporting to the CEO and board. In the interests of transparency, the committee also reports to its key clients and the firm has undertaken to continue external reporting on a quarterly basis.

“We believe we have also improved our market share in the property space owing to Australian ASX-listed property trusts and developers embracing the ‘flight to value’ away from international and large national firms, who are not always as agile and have a tendency to overservice clients”

JOHN NERURKER, CEO

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SYDNEY REPORT

LEADING THE CHARGE From M&A to property and real estate, Sydney is leading the nation’s legal market charge

AT THE beginning of 2016, Sydney’s legal market looked tentative. But with low interest rates and a waning resources sector, it seems infrastructure and real estate deals are keeping the Sydney market busy.

“Successful fundraising and exits by local financial sponsors have buoyed activity and strong growth conditions, and a flow of privatisation transactions have kept people very busy,” says Gilbert + Tobin corporate advisory partner Tim Gordon.

“The REIT space is humming along and seeing a lot of M&A.” Active financial sponsors over the last 12-month period are putting Sydney firmly in

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“The Melbourne market is a little slower than Sydney, but there is still a good level of activity, with corporates in particular still looking at opportunities” Tim Gordon, GILBERT + TOBIN the lead in the M&A market nationally.

“We’re also seeing a lot of ECM work to fund M&A activity as well, and the strength of the market generally means these entitlement offers are getting away well,” Gordon says.

“The Melbourne market is a little slower

than Sydney, but there is still a good level of activity, with corporates in particular still looking at opportunities.”

Holman Webb chairman John Malakou says the firm is seeing investment-related activity in the Sydney market: “finance,

SALARIES ON THE RISE In the Sydney market, juniors to senior associates are seeing larger salary increases, topping the Aussie scale but modest in comparison to international markets. According to all reports, hiring activity is up in private practice as well as in-house. Some Sydney-based firms are estimating nearly 30% growth this year.

5–10%

$1,250,000 major firm

79%

79% of employers reported they would be giving higher wage increases in 2016

$465,000 small firm

The average bonus is between 5% and 10%

The average partner salary in Sydney ranges from $465,000 in a small firm to $1,250,000 in a major firm

75%

75% of corporate lawyers will receive a bonus this year

Source: More4Life 2016 Sydney Legal Market Update

insurance and real estate markets driven by investors and population growth on the back of low interest rates, abundant finance and rising property values”, he says.

Compared with legal markets nationwide, consensus seems to be that Sydney is well and truly leading the charge.

Squire Patton Boggs is also seeing significantly more activity in the Sydney market than in Melbourne.

“Sydney is significantly more buoyant,” says Sydney managing partner Campbell Davidson.

“We now have a new ‘two-speed economy’ in Australia, with New South Wales and

Victoria buoyant and Queensland and WA much less so due to falls in commodity prices.”

NSW Premier Mike Baird’s new ‘wave of privatisation’ looks to be another work source for firms.

“The sale of government assets in NSW is contributing to more deals, while overall market growth has encouraged ‘entrepreneurial decision-making’, Gordon says.

He also says Gilbert + Tobin is seeing a significant uptick in IPO work this year, “with some very large assets looking to get away, and yield assets are very much in demand”.

“Health care continues to be one of the busy sectors,” says Gordon.

“Other sectors in which we’re seeing strong activity are financial services and consumer, with continued interest from foreign players.”

Here, Australasian Lawyer looks at the leading lights of the Sydney market and what they’re doing differently.

Getting sector-specific “[The] Sydney market has a strong real estate market and residential construction and tourism market with an improving outlook for business investment and infrastructure investment – other cities less so,” Malakou says.

“[We’re seeing] continued but more subdued growth in real estate-related services and a pick-up in services related to road, rail and related commercial infrastructure projects.”

It’s a sentiment echoed across the board, and Squire Patton Boggs also sees an influx of activity in the sector.

“We are seeing investment in infrastructure and the constant demand for real estate across office, hospitality and residential,” says Davidson.

While a definite lull has hit the energy and resources sector, the market seems to be stabilising, according to Gordon.

“Energy and resources and associated services are still quiet, but some clients are starting to consider the opportunities, particularly as commodity prices have tracked up. It’s expected that some large east coast assets may trade now that conditions have stabilised,” he says.

“We are also seeing an emergence of a steady stream of capital markets transactions in the property sector.

“Private equity sponsors are working hard to acquire assets, while infrastructure sponsors are also aggressively looking for

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FEATURES

SYDNEY REPORT assets that suit their underlying investors and fit their focus.”

Combating the threats The Sydney market has seen a number of new international entrants over the last 12 to 24 months, most recently White & Case. But the perceived threat of the internationals taking a bigger piece of the market pie seems to vary from firm to firm.

Squire Patton Boggs and Holman Webb don’t expect the international players to have a significant impact. Gilbert + Tobin, on the

“We are investing in IT innovation to improve quality, speed of delivery and price” Greg Malakou, HOLMAN WEBB other hand, believes the entry of new players to the market should be considered a threat.

“Every new entrant signifies increased competition for the same pool of transactional activity,” Gordon says.

“We’ve been very successful at G + T over the last 10 years in the face of continued international entries into the market.

“Based on this trend, increased importance is placed on differentiating yourself on customer service and quality of systems and experience on the most challenging matters.”

When it comes to the pressure to adapt to changing technologies, however, firms of all sizes are being affected. While the threat of actual robot lawyers might still be a fair way off, the pressure to keep costs down requires firms to significantly invest in technology.

Holman Webb is investing in IT innovation to “improve quality, speed of delivery and price”, says Malakou.

Squire Patton Boggs has taken the approach of using predictive coding in major litigation in respect to document discovery.

“This is supported by our best-of-class

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IN-HOUSE IN A NUTSHELL SYDNEY LAWYERS SHARE THEIR THOUGHTS

Many law firms have been downsizing partly due to the fact that in-house teams have become more sophisticated and in some cases larger, resulting in more work being done in-house Campbell Davidson, SQUIRE PATTON BOGGS

Sydney law firms are becoming more conscious about value-adding, for example by offering high-level secondments and investing more in technology to become more efficient and price competitive Greg Malakou, HOLMAN WEBB

The Sydney market is the most competitive in Australia, and that’s only increasing with the changing nature and demands of in-house teams.

To respond effectively you have to understand that in-house are looking to get more value from their external advisers.

In-house counsel don’t want to be reactive, just putting out fires; they want to play a role to help their organisations to strategically navigate and correctly price risk, and advisers can help this process by understanding the commercial drivers of the business and by mapping deal terms to actual outcomes.

We’re working with some of our general counsel clients to build data-driven predictive models for legal outcomes to help them assess and price risk and opportunity in a more informed way.

Tim Gordon, GILBERT + TOBIN

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FEATURES

SYDNEY REPORT “We now have a new ‘two-speed economy’ in Australia, with New South Wales and Victoria buoyant and Queensland and WA much less so due to falls in commodity prices” Campbell Davidson, SQUIRE PATTON BOGGS proprietary systems developed together with our US IT and litigation support teams,” Davidson says.

Gilbert + Tobin, which partnered with legal tech business LegalVision late last year, is embracing technology in a number of ways, not only to keep costs down but to actually improve outcomes.

“Human experts working with predictive analytics or AI produce results that outperform either humans or AI on their own,” Gordon says.

“At G + T we use several streams of artificial intelligence – expert systems which capture and fragment expertise into decision trees for common but complex issues, machine learning and predictive coding and modelling.”

While some streams of legal AI are well established and mature, like expert systems, others are new and rapidly evolving.

Teaching lawyers to code was a move the firm took earlier this year.

“G + T advises, designs and partners with leading AI providers to get access to emerging AI tools for our clients,” Gordon says.

“Legal tech not only helps clients on the cost side but, when deployed effectively, can deliver better outcomes.”

Recruitment market Hiring rates for legal professionals are at their highest and fastest in Sydney. It’s good news for lawyers as an increasing head count comes with retention pressures, which means they are in a better position to negotiate salary, benefits and flexibility.

“The market is very tight for experienced transactional lawyers at the moment, but we expect this to ease somewhat in coming months,” Malakou says.

“It is more and more difficult to recruit

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THE YEAR AHEAD “Sydney should continue to be busy, with a number of state and private assets rumoured to be coming to market,” Gilbert + Tobin’s corporate advisory partner, Tim Gordon, says of 2017.

“New listings over the last 12 months have solidly outperformed the general market, so the signs for IPO activity in Sydney look promising as well.”

Compared to other markets, Gordon says, the Sydney IPO market is faring well. “In London and the NYSE there have been relatively fewer IPOs over the last period,” he says.

Squire Patton Boggs is cautiously optimistic about the year ahead for the Sydney legal market.

“We feel it will remain fairly buoyant but note that there may not be the next wave of investment from China,” says managing partner Campbell Davidson.

“A good barometer will be the default rates in respect to purchases of off-the-plan apartments sold to foreign buyers, in particular buyers from China.”

lateral-hire partners with practices due to the current highly competitive and low-growth legal services market.”

But while Gordon says the demand for lawyers abroad is tightening in the Sydney recruitment market, he says the situation isn’t improving for clerks and graduates.

“There are relatively fewer places available at top firms for clerks and graduates compared to, say, 10 years ago, but for those lawyers in that three- to six-year range, they are in hot demand, so it is a great time for them,” he says.

“The market is very tight, with three- to six-year lawyers particularly in demand

both here and also in Hong Kong, London and New York.”

For Holman Webb, it is top talent in the corporate and property spaces that is particularly hard to find.

“We have been seeing a trend with a number of applicants who have a mixture of both domestic and overseas experience,” Davidson says. “It will be interesting to see how Brexit impacts and if this will dampen the tradition of young lawyers doing a stint in the UK or Europe.

“Overall, we are still able to bring on board some great people who share the same vision and culture for the firm.”

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39

PROFILE

JO DANIELS

MYANMAR IN MOTION Having only recently opened up to the Western world, Myanmar is on the brink of major economic change. Samantha Woodhill talks to Jo Daniels, managing partner of Baker & McKenzie Yangon, about the country’s emerging legal market

FOR THE first time in more than 50 years, a civilian government is dominating Myanmar’s parliament, and in just over 100 days in office Aung San Suu Kyi’s government is already proving it can deliver strong economic reform.

Baker & McKenzie partner Jo Daniels

With new restaurants and shops opening up weekly, it’s clear why Baker & McKenzie chose an infrastructure heavyweight to head up the Yangon office.

“The very first thing that they really need is infrastructure,” Daniels says.

“We really have seen, since the election of Aung San Suu Kyi, a very significant increase in the number of companies entering into Myanmar or investigating entering into Myanmar” says that in two months as an official expat in Yangon she’s already witnessed a noticeable transformation.

“There is a lot of enthusiasm,” she says, likening the city’s buzz to Zara’s Sydney debut. “But tenfold.”

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“We really have seen, since the election of Aung San Suu Kyi, a very significant increase in the number of companies entering into Myanmar or investigating entering into Myanmar. I actually think this government will deliver.”

With the increase in foreign investment already evident in Myanmar, momentum is likely to grow as the government looks to make significant economic reforms.

“We’ll start to see some of those major infrastructure deals come through,” Daniels says. “And I think we will see the announcement of a number of major projects that are likely to be in the power area, perhaps in renewable power.”

Having opened up shop in 2012, Baker & McKenzie is the biggest international law firm in Myanmar, and the only international firm practising both international and local law. Typically, international firms in Yangon have one partner and a handful of lawyers, Daniels says.

“We actually have five partners, 10 local lawyers and some expatriate lawyers, so all up there’s about 40 or 50 of us.”

Baker & McKenzie has two banking and finance partners and a tax partner in Yangon, allowing the firm to offer the full range of legal work, “on everything from major M&A right through to incorporating subsidiaries”, Daniels says.

“I think that helps: we’ve got experience, we’ve got excellent local lawyers, and I think we are really beginning to capitalise on what I think will be a very rapid opening of the market.”

Daniels says she gets requests from all over Asia, in fact all over the world, from companies interested in what is happening in Myanmar. And having worked on major projects worldwide, notably on infrastructure deals in Africa, Daniels says Myanmar wasn’t a huge leap in terms of her legal practice.

“I’ve been delightfully surprised by the enormous amount of interaction with all the offices in Asia,” she says.

“It’s a natural step for me moving into the region, and Bakers is perfect for taking any sort of practice international.”

Life in Yangon “I love Myanmar,” Daniels says, adding

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PROFILE

JO DANIELS

FOREIGN INVESTMENT IN MYANMAR Total foreign investment by sector (US$m) – FY2011/16

Total foreign investment (US$m) – FY2006/16

$6,065.675

FY06 Agriculture $m 1,500

Mining

Manufacturing

$719.702

FY07

$205.720

FY08

$984.764

FY09

$1,396.077

$329.580

FY10 1,200

$1,064.998

$19,998.965

FY11

$4,644.460

FY12

900

$1,419.467

FY13

300

$4,107.055

FY14

600

$8,010.533

FY15

$138.750

$66.321

0

$7.180 $28.923

$9,481.275

FY16 0

2010/11

2015/16

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

Approved foreign investment amount ($m)

Foreign investment by sector (US$m) – FY2016 Agriculture Other*

$7.180

$918.463 *Other includes livestock & fisheries, power, hotel & tourism, industrial estate

Mining

$28.923 Real estate

$728.680

Manufacturing

$1,064.998 Transport and communication

$1,930.996

Oil and gas

$4,817.790

Source: Directorate of Investment and Company Administration, Republic of the Union of Myanmar

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that she had previously travelled there on holidays.

The move from being a partner in the Sydney office to managing partner in a foreign country sounds daunting, but Daniels is unphased, taking it comfortably in her stride. Being in a country as it goes through substantial reform is exciting for Daniels, not daunting.

“I prefer to inspire people to be the best that they can be, so for me it’s been a really easy transition, mostly because we have an amazing team here and it’s easy, I think, when you have great lawyers to be the leader,” she says.

“I think this is the perfect time to be in Myanmar” Daniels moved from Allens to Baker & McKenzie back in 2014 in the hope of taking her practice in an international direction.

But Myanmar is her first proper taste of expatriate life.

“I think the most enjoyable part is walking to the office through such an exciting period

in the Myanmar history,” she says. “It’s an enormous opportunity.

“The combination of expats and locals is working really well in the office, and I’m really pleased about that.”

Expats from England, America, Australia and Norway work together with local lawyers who know the country’s laws and are able to communicate with the Myanmar government officials.

“I know it’s a bit trite to say, but one plus one equals three,” she says.

“I think this is the perfect time to be in Myanmar.”

BAKERS ACTS ON $1.3BN MYANMAR DEAL Baker & McKenzie is acting on the sale of an estimated $1.3bn worth of gas block stakes by major US oil and gas company Chevron Corp, marking Myanmar’s biggest M&A deal involving the country’s assets. Chevron has been operating in Myanmar for over two decades.

Commentators say the sale is part of an attempt by the company to retreat from non-core assets as the price of oil takes a tumble.

“It’s the biggest M&A deal that’s currently on,” says managing partner Jo Daniels.

Reuters estimates that Chevron’s net daily natural gas production in Myanmar last year averaged 117 million cubic feet, 2.2% of the company’s annual gas output in 2015. The company is also rumoured to be looking for buyers for its Asian geothermal energy blocks, valued at about $3bn.

But it’s also likely to set the tone for what’s to come in the deals space, with sources saying potential buyers could include major players – Australia’s Woodside Petroleum, Thailand’s PTT Exploration and Production, Japanese trading houses and Chinese companies – expected to be in the mix.

“We’re acting for a bidder in that transaction,” Daniels says.

“We do M&A; we do an enormous amount of foreign investment … companies coming into the market, setting up, establishing subsidiaries, entering into joint ventures… and commercial leasing agreements.”

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FEATURES

POSTGRADUATE EDUCATION

BACK TO LAW SCHOOL Two very different law schools talk all things new in postgraduate courses

SO YOU know how to be a lawyer. But how good are your non-legal lawyering skills?

Lawyers across the profession are facing increasing pressure to know how to do good business.

The profession spoke, law schools have listened, and now the College of Law is offering an award practice management course. John McGill, director of practitioner education, says business acumen is an undergraduate shortcoming but one the college is rectifying in its postgraduate program.

“One of the truths about lawyers in law schools is that they taught you how to be a lawyer, not to be a business person,” he says.

The school has a non-award legal practice management course already but is introducing legal practice management and government and public sector majors for 2017.

“We’ve taken that course and now we’re expanding that within our master’s to offer even more subjects for lawyers and practice owners and practitioners in that space to expand what they do,” McGill says of the new course. “It invites [students] to think

about how they should be more organised in managing their approach to delivering legal services.”

The University of New South Wales law school has developed postgraduate studies in a different direction, expanding its shortterm overseas elective offering.

“It’s essentially two-week intensive courses that are done abroad and on a topic that that country has a certain amount of specialisation in,” says director of postgraduate studies Lucas Lixinski.

One new course on law and technology is in Zurich; another is in Santiago and focuses on transnational justice.

“The advantage of having those courses is not only a cultural immersion but it’s also the ability of bringing experts central to the field,” says Lixinski. “[For] the course in Zurich, we have people from the International Telecommunications Union talking about how technology relates to the worldwide regulation of telecoms.

“It’s an opportunity to get people who are really high-level on a world scale to talk

TOP-RANKING AUSSIE LAW SCHOOLS 1. University of Melbourne 2. University of Sydney 3. University of New South Wales 4. Australian National University 5. Monash University 6. University of Technology, Sydney 7. University of Queensland 8. Griffith University 9. Macquarie University 10. Queensland University of Technology 11. University of Adelaide 12. University of Western Australia Source: QS World University Rankings by Subject, 2016

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POSTGRADUATE EDUCATION

to our students and also have more of a cultural immersion.”

The University of NSW “Legal master’s are really great pathways to deepening knowledge and accelerating career progression or even changing your career if that’s something you’re into, you’re interested in,” Lixinski says.

“But it should only be done if you know what you’re trying to get out of it and you’re confident you can get a high-level experience both in terms of teachers and the courses you take.”

For Lixinski, overseas offerings are at the forefront of a modern postgraduate education.

“There’s no way you can think about

different countries do it, the more creative you are in implementing solutions.”

It’s all in the name of engagement.

The UNSW approach is based on smaller, seminar-style classes rather than large lectures, in order to encourage class discussion. The challenge is to transfer that educational style into a more flexible platform.

“We’re very tentative in the online space because we’re trying to find that sweet spot that allows us to provide the flexibility of online, but at the same time meeting that pedagogical method that we’re so proud of which is a more conversational and engaging kind of method,” Lixinski says.

“We’re not fully into the online yet, but we’re exploring that. But our biggest

“The College of Law has been at the forefront of innovation with how we deliver our subjects. Over 90% of our subjects are delivered online, which allows us to have a far greater reach” John McGill, COLLEGE OF LAW the law only in one jurisdiction any more,” he says.

“It gives a much clearer sense of how the law operates on a broad scale.”

Even Australia-based lawyers with Australian clients are likely to see an influence of international law, Lixinski says.

“The other aspect is that simply by looking at how other people go about resolving their own legal issues you get to think more deeply – and more creatively – about how to resolve legal issues in your own country as well,” he says.

“Because it works from different assumptions, and you know, every legal system has a different solution to the same problem. But because the solutions are different, the more you learn about how

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innovation in delivery is the overseas elective.”

While Lixinski says the law school still has some development to go in terms of taking classes fully online, he says all teaching requires innovation and the UNSW law school will be working hard to keep the innovation ball rolling.

“A good master’s will give you the most updated information on the field, but it must be more than that because of the detail, the specific detail of a course; it changes over time inevitably because the law just changes,” Lixinski says.

“The most important thing is that the degree expands the way you think about the law and the way that the law applies to reality, and here at UNSW we’re committed

to these values at UNSW Law and to make sure that the master’s has a strong and very enduring impact on the careers of our alums.”

The College of Law approach The College of Law takes a practical approach to postgraduate studies, helping students to become more business-savvy.

“Lawyers all the time have to interact in a business sense, and now with increased competition in a variety of ways,” McGill says.

From engagement to marketing and promotion, lawyers need to know how to strategically develop a business, even if only for their own careers.

“That means acquiring some traditional business skills and some of that thinking that’s been out there, and importing that into the practice and into how you manage your career,” McGill says.

“It helps lawyers to become essentially more business-savvy, and it really helps them to challenge their thinking about their role as an owner of a legal practice and what the responsibilities are.”

Implementing good systems and working with employees is another focus of the school’s courses, along with looking at the the responsibilities involved in managing risk and practising ethically.

“We’ve taken that course and now we’re expanding that within our master’s to offer even more subjects for lawyers and practice owners and practitioners in that space to expand what they do,” McGill says.

What’s trending in postgraduate education Principal negotiation and principles of international law are the most popular postgraduate courses at UNSW, further cementing the law school as a master in global law, rather than practical.

“They reflect a growing interest in the student body, not only in the way that the law operates beyond Australia, but also an interest in the skills that can be applied in practice and across any substantive field

POSTGRADUATE PROFILE Median salary

$85,000

Female

57.7%

Employment

85.1%

Male

42.3%

Median age of women at completion

30

Median age of men at completion

35

of graduates available to work full-time were employed

Source: Law Society of New South Wales, Graduate Careers

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POSTGRADUATE EDUCATION

really, which is what principal negotiation does,” Lixinski says.

But the school also offers a wide range of courses in its LLM program, making it by far the most popular postgraduate degree.

“It allows people to personalise their own experience, and choose the courses that they want from a very wide range of offerings,” he says.

The master of business law is popular among students who are after a course tailored to economic reality, Lixinski says.

“Another interdisciplinary program that has been really popular has been the master of international law and international relations,” he says. “[It’s about] broadening the perspective in the way we think about the world and the way the law operates in the world.”

On the other hand, McGill says the most popular courses at the College of Law are those aimed at sole practitioners.

“Our most successful courses are our family law and our wills and estates ones,” he says.

“We’ve also noticed a growth in our commercial areas, in our property courses, in our transactions, in our commercial litigation.”

The relatively new mediation course the college runs has been popular for its hands-on approach.

“We’ve expanded it into advocacy and negotiation for our dispute resolution practice,” McGill says.

Dispute resolution and estate planning are two new majors now offered by the college. McGill says the courses, which are regularly updated according to regulation changes, have expanded to encompass a broad range of elements as part of a practical approach.

“In the wills and estates space, [we’ve expanded] this kind of marrying between succession planning and wills to looking at the totality of what lawyers have to deal with and looking at that estate planning,” he says.

“Within that, we’re also looking at

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superannuation, and one of the good things about our courses is that we’re so receptive to legislative changes that have happened and anything that’s going on that we’re able to reflect that into our courses and update them.

“So our superannuation course that’s in our estate planning major will be running later this semester, and we’re incorporating some of the new changes that were announced by the government less than a week ago. So that’s quite exciting.”

“We’re introducing subjects within our current majors and I’ll be developing a major around legal technology to help practitioners get more out of that,” McGill says.

He says looking at how technology can change and expand practices is an important focus. At the College of Law, 90% of subjects are delivered online, allowing the college to offer courses to a broad reach of students.

“We’ve been able to replicate the face-

“We have the largest team of China-focused academics anywhere in the world outside of China. That’s expertise we’re really tapping into in developing more of our master’s programs” Lucas Lixinski, UNSW Looking ahead and abroad A focus on media law and technology is helping UNSW law school keep ahead of the curve, and further courses in the field are on the horizon, Lixinski says.

“We’re also thinking more about the international trade and business market. So right now, we just finished a very expansive round of hiring of Chinese international business and economic law academics,” he says.

“We have the largest team of Chinafocused academics anywhere in the world outside of China.

“That’s expertise we’re really tapping into in developing more of our master’s programs as well so we can benefit from that expertise in the master’s space.”

Legal technology and innovation majors are areas the College of Law will be looking to add to its offering over the next 12-month period, as well as insurance and risk management.

to-face classroom through that online experience,” McGill says.

“We have a very sophisticated learning management system that allows us to communicate with students.

“We run web conferences on a weekly basis where the lecturers run it as they would a regular seminar in a traditional face-to-face university.

“There are discussion boards for engagement. So we use a variety of different virtual tools to help students to connect with one another, network, share information and feel like they’re contributing.”

The practical approach isn’t diminished by offering online study, McGill says.

“It takes a practical focus more so than the theoretical focus, and so we’re able to achieve that practicality even though we’re in an online environment,” he says.

“We’re still able to use exercises and activities in a way that students feel immersed and engaged with the material.”

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49

BUSINESS STRATEGY

RECRUITMENT

Balancing data and gut instinct in hiring decisions When it comes to making decisions on a new hire, many experts will say that gut instinct should be left out of recruitment. But Christine Khor explains that balancing that innate instinct with cold, hard facts has many benefits

GUT INSTINCT, or intuition, is thought

The role of the gut

of as dangerous ground as it can – and often has – led to a discriminatory selection process. Using intuition by itself may lead to situations in which we only hire people who we know or like, people who we don’t feel threatened by, who remind us of ourselves, who are exactly the same as the other people on our team, etc. In other words, your gut instinct, if not combined with more scientific data, is likely to result in hiring the person you can see yourself having a drink with or inviting to a barbecue – not necessarily the person who is the best for the job.

Though these experts are correct, it is important to note that the role of gut instinct and intuition should not be completely ignored. Instinct plays a vital role in how we make decisions and prevents us from falling into the dangerous territory of ‘groupthink’ and overanalysis.

Instinct is a biological function that helps us determine danger. It is a natural subconscious response. Think of a time when you’ve met someone you just didn’t feel comfortable around, and then you later found out that person had a shady past. Your intuition was confirmed by evidence. Think of a time when you felt a little off in someone’s house, only to find out later that your host had just had a heated argument with their partner before you arrived.

This is your brain taking the temperature of a room, feeling the underlying tension and responding to it by eliciting your fight-or-flight instinct. When it comes to business decisions, it is usually our expertise, experience and knowledge that allow us to read a situation and respond to it instinctually.

So, why are we ignoring our instincts in business today?

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Analysis paralysis When it comes to business decisions, the fear-of-failure mindset has permeated organisations at all levels and in all industries as a not-so-surprising side effect of having gone through a global financial crisis. It makes sense that after a period of economic instability businesses will be cautious in their strategy, and business leaders will be apprehensive when making decisions.

However, we all know that this kind of fear-based thinking is the major obstacle to innovation and can have a big impact on the hiring decisions of a business. Because of this fear, businesses are relying heavily on groupthink and committees. Management will call meetings, send group emails, request more research and stall for more time, rather than taking the perceived risk of making a decision.

Many executives don’t want to be the ones to make the final call in case things go pearshaped. We like to call this ‘analysis paralysis,’ and it has become rampant in hiring decisions.

Increasingly, recruitment within businesses is being stalled by elongated processes that include numerous rounds of interviews, background checks, psychometric assess-

high intellect but won’t get bored easily, will work for a salary lower than the market rate, and will be satisfied doing a job they have already done before – basically, a unicorn.

Of course, unicorns don’t exist. But people with the potential to grow and learn do. Your best candidate may not tick all the boxes – and in fact they shouldn’t. If they did, they would have nothing to learn or gain from working at your company and would therefore be a flight risk.

In other words, decision is risk, but at some stage of the recruitment process a decision has to be made.

The balancing act

When it comes to business decisions, the fear-of-failure mindset has permeated organisations at all levels and in all industries as a not-so-surprising side effect of having gone through a global financial crisis ments, case studies, an increasing number of reference checks and then a long waiting game in which all the data is analysed but a final decision is still not made. While this is happening, the talented prospects who went through this arduous process have gone on to find other opportunities.

While it is absolutely necessary to gather evidence-based data on the skills, experience and cultural fit of a prospective employee, this process has to be as streamlined as possible and not become excessive. Three references are the standard to get a general consensus on how well a person did their prior jobs; however, we’ve been asked at times to do six.

While it is often necessary to do a secondround interview or have the person meet

additional people within the team, a process of four interviews is excessive. If a manager cannot make a decision based on two rounds of interviews, three reference checks and perhaps one psychometric test, then it is usually their gut instinct telling them that the candidate is not the right person for the job. If instinct were listened to at this point, then a lot of time and money would be saved.

The key to making a good hire is to combine data-based evidence with instinctual responses. What it comes down to is that gut instinct should never trump evidence in the making of a decision, but it shouldn’t be ignored if it is sounding alarm bells. My advice is to pay attention to your instinct when it is telling you not to hire someone, but disregard your instinct if it is telling you to hire someone in spite of the evidence gleaned from interviews and reference checks. It is most likely personal preference at work here.

Second, make sure you qualify your gut instinct with objective reasoning. Are you an expert in the area in question? Have you had a similar experience before, and was your instinct correct at that time? Do other people agree with your instinct? Are you sure that you are not engaging in any form of bias or discrimination?

By removing the fear-of-risk mentality that may have taken residence in your management team, you give them permission to use their expertise, experience and wealth of knowledge to navigate decision-making.

Provided data-based evidence is not ignored, the instincts of your management team can be a valuable asset to your organisation.

Searching for a unicorn The heavy reliance on group consensus and box-ticking not only takes the humanity out of the hiring process but also supports the fallacy that there is a perfect person for the job in question – someone who has all the experience, all the skills, does not require training, has a

Christine Khor is the managing director of Chorus Executive, a talent management company focusing on the recruitment, coaching and personal branding of executives. Her book, Hire Love: How to Hire Passionate People to Make Greater Profit, is now available through Amazon.

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51

BUSINESS STRATEGY

CORPORATE CULTURE

IS A HIGH-TRUST CULTURE POSSIBLE? Instead of having high-trust cultures, too many organisations struggle with fear-based cultures. Stuart Taylor outlines how to turn the situation around TAKE AN all-too-common situation: the executive team is struggling, targets are not being met, absenteeism is at an all-time high, and morale could not be lower. The only reason people are sticking around is the poor job market. The CEO calls a meeting to energise the team and agree on cost-cutting and higher revenue targets. Where are we going to cut heads? Who can drive higher sales? No one around the table says a word.

Secretly, everyone is thinking the same thing: “The original targets were mandated with no logic and were totally unachievable.

Failure is not an option. Yet here we are again about to experience the same carrot and stick.”

Fear-based cultures Fear-based cultures are common and costly.

They occur when staff are afraid to voice their concerns, or staff that do voice opinions are punished. The result is often lost productivity, high staff turnover, absenteeism, distress and burnout. This often starts at the top and then permeates through the organisation. New ideas rarely surface as they are shot down before they are allowed to get off the starting block. Discretionary effort is non-existent.

Staff become very attentive to what the leaders want to hear rather than what is actually the case.

A fear-based culture is one in which leadership is based on implicit or explicit levels of contempt or power among those

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in positions of influence and those that are required to fall in line. The underlying leadership style is typically a commanding

symptoms, distress and disengagement.

In part, these statistics can be driven by an organisational culture that operates in a

Fear-based cultures are common and costly.

They occur when staff are afraid to voice their concerns, or staff that do voice opinions are punished or pace-setting style that is often disguised by complementing this with a ‘visionary’ leadership style.

In data recently analysed from The Resilience Institute in a study of 16,261 people across 250 companies from 2011 to 2014, the results were quite alarming. The data showed that 81% of staff experienced an intense work environment with very concerning levels of worry, chronic stress

fear-based culture rather than one based on trust and empowerment.

The value of trusting relationships Various studies have postulated that only 50% of staff trust their leaders. Yet trusting relationships in organisations are fundamental to creating a sustainable high-performing organisation. An organisation created with a unit greater than one can only successfully

STAFF EXPERIENCES AT WORK

81%

31%

23%

36%

Work intensity

Worry

Chronic stress symptoms

Distress

Source: Extract from Resilience Diagnostic Analysis 2011–2014, The Resilience Institute

function if there is an egoless relationship in which one individual can engage the skills of another and have confidence that the need will be met. One individual cannot possibly have the expertise or capacity to deliver all the needs of the organisation’s mission.

Trusting relationships are the mechanism for leveraging and aligning the strengths of many individuals towards a common goal. This interaction is not restricted to a traditional ‘top down’ but actually needs to be 360 degrees.

If, over time, the ‘bank account’ of trust between leaders, staff and teams is nurtured, the collective entity is able to achieve higher goals as well as deal with tough situations or challenges. When failure occurs (as happens), they are able to learn from the setback rather than try to hide it or assign blame. When ambiguity exists there is a broader willingness to give the benefit of the doubt.

Building trusting relationships Many would say that building trust is simply ‘doing what you say you will do’. That is absolutely true. However, this is only one of many components of trust – and any of them can build leadership trust or destroy it. Trust is nurtured by attending to a number of components in an egoless way that is consistent with organisational vision and values. Attention to these components must be consistent over time to incrementally build the bank account of trust.

It is a truism of trust that it takes many positive leadership actions to eventually build trust and only one negative leadership action to destroy all trust.

The key components of trust are shown in the table above. Of these components, there are several that really stand out as major drivers of trust.

Transparency of information There will always be information that cannot be shared by a leadership team with the organisation for reasons such as privacy, competitive strategy and timing of announcement. However, handled poorly this can lead to distrust and the development

Trust components

Build trust

Destroy trust

Decision-making

Consistent values

Unpredictable

Actions match promises

Yes

No

Tell the truth

Yes

No

Transparency of information

High

Low

Use of power

With respect

Abuse

Culture of speaking truth to power

High

Low

Treatment of contrarians

Reward

Punishment

Goal centre

We

Me

Resolution of conflict

Compassion

Sympathy/ contempt

Admission of mistakes

Responsibility

Deny/ignore/ blame

Track record and reputation

Positive consensus

Negative consensus

Level of two-way conversation

HIgh

Low

Judged competence of trustee

High

Low

Personal connection

HIgh

Low

of conspiracy theories to fill the absence of information. The trust gap created by the inability to share all information can be bridged by strong communication around what can be communicated and reasons why other information will be released at the appropriate time. Of course, this is all worth naught if there are negative credits in the bank account of trust.

Resolution of conflict Conflict in organisations and teams is a normal part of business operations that arises due to different opinions and goals and limited resources. Conflict resolution in organisations is often done poorly. As human beings we have a natural tendency to avoid conflict (“I don’t want to upset the other person”), or to be confronting (power-

based contempt) and bulldoze through the conflict. A trust-building leadership team welcomes conflict and aims to address it through the lens of compassion, where there are clear boundaries that define success and an empathic conversation around whether and why the boundaries have been honoured or crossed. The outcome is a caring and respectful conversation focused on an outcome for the greater good.

Personal connection If we were to identify the top five people in the world that we trust, it is likely they would be those we had the strongest personal connection with. Compassionbased leadership seeks to achieve this in an organisational setting. This is a style of leadership in which the leader truly cares about their people and takes the time to understand the broader aspects of their lives and what motivates them. This is not the same as being a friend, which can drive a sympathetic, trust-destroying outcome; rather it’s more about mutual awareness and appreciation.

High-trust cultures in challenging times The real test of trust happens in challenging times when an organisation is under threat or there is a significant level of growth and transformation. The work that has been done by the leadership team in building a strong bank account of trust in advance will pay dividends, making the difference between a successful journey to sustainable high performance and an organisation that becomes paralysed by its own politics.

Stuart Taylor, the founder and CEO of The Resilience Institute (Australia), works with organisations, leaders and individuals, guiding them from being at the mercy of their environment to reaching a place of calm and optimism where they see opportunity instead of adversity.

Working with over 60,000 people globally in the last 10 years, The Resilience Institute’s clients include PwC, Shell and NAB.

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53

PEOPLE

CAREER PATH

FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT When you have the resources, says pro bono superstar Sarah Morton-Ramwell, brilliant minds can make things happen

Fourteen-year-old Sarah is set on her future path as a result of a social geography class.

“I can pinpoint the moment: we were learning about girls our age in Afghanistan. It was the first time I thought about these girls who had the same hopes and dreams as me but were not even allowed to go to school. In all the positions I’ve ever taken since then, I always think, ‘What if that was me, how would I feel?’”

1998 GEOGRAPHY CLASS OPENS HER EYES

2006

JOURNEYS TO THE UNITED STATES

2007

INTERNS IN NEW YORK Sarah’s US trip culminates in a stint at the Centre for Reproductive Rights in New York, an internship she wins by dint of dogged persistence, and which secretly guides her choice of postgraduate exchange destination.

“I went [to the US] with a plan. Eventually, because I begged the Centre enough and showed them how passionate I was, [they gave me an internship.] It was a dream come true. It was my first job in human rights; it kick-started my whole career”

2011

VISITS TENT CITIES IN HAITI As part of her then-employer Reed Smith’s pro bono work following Haiti’s devastating 2010 earthquake, Sarah visits the camps set up in the rubble of Port-au-Prince, where sexual violence against women and children is rife.

“It was and still is the most intense thing I’ve ever done; it had the most profound effect on me. That’s why I think outreach work is so important – it adds so much fire to the work that you do in the future”

2014

WINS WOMAN OF THE YEAR Nominated for the Qantas Australian Woman of the Year UK award, Sarah is surprised to be shortlisted among an impressive field of competitors, and shocked when presenter Julie Bishop announces her win.

“It absolutely opened doors; I did an event at Australia House with Ros Kelly [after winning the award], where we both spoke about our experiences and our work – that was a fantastic opportunity”

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‘‘It lit that spark that continues in the work that I do” To finish up her arts/law degree from the University of Sydney, Sarah spends the latter half of 2006 on an academic exchange in the US, where she works on the Innocence Project.

“It was eye-opening; that was my first touchpoint with miscarriages of justice and what happens when justice is denied. That led into the work I’ve done at Ashurst with people on death row. It lit that spark that continues in the work that I and the firm do”

2008

TRAINS IN LONDON While working as a trainee lawyer at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Sarah is seconded to civil liberties and human rights body Liberty before an internal secondment to the firm’s pro bono department.

“I was very determined to make it happen. Pro bono is tough to get into. [The secondment] reaffirmed that I definitely wanted to have a career in human rights and social justice. It was the first time I’d considered pro bono a legitimate option”

2015

RETURNS TO OZ Sarah returns to Australia as partner and global head of pro bono and corporate responsibility at Ashurst. The Sydney-based role requires frequent international travel, while also involving work in areas new to Sarah: rural, regional and remote Australia. A year into her new role, Sarah also completes her Master’s in Sustainability Leadership at Cambridge University.

“I couldn’t have created a job for me that I more wanted. My days are so varied. It’s a fantastic mix of super-local and global”

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PEOPLE

OTHER LIFE

GOTTA DANCE Stress relief, self-expression, and ‘a sense of inclusion’ – dance provides them all for Sydney lawyer Charlene Wong

TELL US WHAT YOU GET UP TO!

E: samantha.woodhill@keymedia.com.au

WHEN CHARLENE Wong arrived in Sydney to pursue her tertiary studies, finding a dance studio was one of the first things that the Hong Kong native did.

Despite a demanding workload, the now-settled cyber and forensics associate tries to maintain her dance training every day.

“It’s all about time management,” she says. “It pushes me to be competitive in everything I do, and to stay competitive.”

And competitive Charlene certainly is, having already picked up the title of female all-style champion earlier this year, and having also been part of the winning intervarsity team in

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Age at which Charlene started dancing; her first style of dance was hip-hop

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multiple ‘University Battles’ during 2013 and 2014.

Perhaps more impressive is the fact that in addition to her own dancing, competing, and the dance lessons she takes, Charlene also teaches a weekend class for absolute beginners in the dance style known as ‘popping’. Her students have ranged in age from young teens to the mid-40s.

“It’s about giving back; I want to get as many people as possible into [popping].” she says.

“The dance community helped me grow a lot a person as well as a dancer; I want to help by recruiting more new blood into the community.”

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Hours per week of practice when preparing for a major dance battle

530

Number of dance classes or workshops Charlene has attended

Event partner 2017

Thursday, 18 May 2017 The Star, Sydney Claire Bibby Brookfield Australian In-house Lawyer of the Year 2016

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