From rubbing shoulders with world leaders to hob-nobbing with stars at film premieres, the CEO of Corrs Chambers Westgarth certainly keeps things interesting. Andrew Jennings reports. 

He may divide opinion among the legal fraternity, but there’s no denying John Denton exudes a certain star quality. 

He has rubbed shoulders with global leaders; Barack Obama, Vladimir Putin and outgoing Chinese president Hu Jintao have all had dealings with Denton. 

His actress wife is practically an Australian icon and he speaks fluent Russian.

As a former diplomat, he was in Baghdad when the bombing started in the first Gulf War and he sat in on hunger strikes in Moscow to prevent KGB brutality during the dying days of the crumbling Soviet Union. 

And, for the past decade, Denton has led one of Australia’s most successful law firms. 

In March, Corrs Chambers Westgarth partnership voted unanimously to reappoint Denton as CEO — a decision described by firm partner and chairman Teresa Handicott as a “resounding endorsement” of his leadership and strategy for the firm’s future.

Denton said it was “truly humbling” to be called on by partnership to continue to lead the firm, viewing the endorsement as a renewed mandate for change within Corrs, to support its aspirations of being a world-class law firm by 2015, one determined to drive Australia’s competitiveness and its economic engagement with Asia.

 “We have been working for some time now on the strategic assumption that global authority has moved from west to the east, so the focus is now firmly on how we engage with Asia,” he says.

“We need to have a bolder ambition than just the day-to-day work; we have to be focused on the big issues in the region. These big issues are actually critical to our clients, which in turn is extremely important to the firm. So we build our strategy around that approach,” he adds. 

Earlier this year, Denton said law firms needed to focus less on themselves and more on clients. He claimed the competition had become more internally focused since the recent spate of global mergers and that debates about firm structure were dominating the dialogue within the legal marketplace.

“There are a lot of law firms talking about other law firms at the moment,” he said. 

Clients are picking up on firm preoccupation with the merger activity and internal restructuring, according to Denton. “Clients aren’t interested ... and they’re asking: does anyone care about us?”

He believes two camps have emerged: “Firms focused on clients; and those focused on what other firms are doing”.

Corrs’ “external focus” places it in the former camp, Denton argues, saying partners are also attracted to the firm for its client focus, adding that a number of partners he has recruited from merged firms cited a desire to maintain client relationships as the reason they made the move.

Russian around

After completing his law degree at Melbourne Univeristy, Denton began his career in the mid-1980s when he accepted a posting in Moscow as a human rights lawyer for the Australian foreign service. His responsibilities centred around human rights and cultural issues in what was then the Soviet Union. 

In 1988, Denton moved to New York, where he spent two years working for the United Nations, playing a part in the negotiations surrounding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. 

By the time 1991 rolled around Denton had — as he puts it — “a rendezvous with history” when he was stationed as a diplomat in the Australian Embassy in Baghdad. It was the start of the Gulf crises and Denton was involved with closing the embassy. 

“Really, I spent the first 10 years of my career — most of my 20s — in the foreign service,” he says.

“It was a very good career and I worked alongside some really fantastic people, dealing with some of the most challenging and exciting issues of that decade.”

He joined Corrs on a full-time basis as an articled clerk the following year and has been with the firm ever since. 

He was made partner within two years of joining the firm and by 1997 he was managing partner of the firm’s Melbourne office. Four years later he was appointed CEO. 

“During my early years at the firm I actually worked a lot in industrial relations,” says Denton. “In a way, it was a good blend of law, economics, politics and negotiation.”

Competition welcomed

Denton says he has no issues with the recent influx of international players into the Australian legal market. 

“We’ve welcomed the overseas players into the market, we think competition is good,” he says. 

“It forces improvement in quality, because if you can’t compete then frankly there’s always someone else to fill the vacuum. We think the unfreezing of the market has actually created a very good position for Corrs.” 

In addition to his leadership role at Corrs, Denton is one of three Prime Ministerial representatives on the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC); chair of ABAC’s Finance and Economics Working Group; a board member of the Business Council of Australia (BCA); chair of the BCA Global Engagement Taskforce, and chairman of the UN High Commission for Refugees in Australia.

In September, Denton chaired outgoing Chinese president Hu Jintao and Russian ruler Vladimir Putin at an APEC summit in Russia.

He says he will continue to use his station on the world economic stage to push the firm’s global ambitions, adding that his chairing of APEC meetings offers him an opportunity to put Corrs’ name in the international spotlight.

 “Being involved with APEC means the firm is viewed as a thought leader, actually driving policy in Asia, which means we’re recognised by key players in each of its major economies.”

Denton believes it gives Corrs “authority and respect” in key areas, which can be leveraged into relationships and positioning with key firms in the region.

He also reveals that he visited Indonesia late last month for an important meeting about the Southeast Asia country’s economic policy.

“We were invited for consultation talks with the Indonesian government to discuss its economic priorities for next year,” says Denton, who adds that no other law firm was invited to the talks.

 “Although almost all of our competitors have chosen to engage in a globalising world through a merger or alliance, we want to do it differently,” he says.

“And we are doing it differently, through connectedness, and the way that occurs is through deep personal and professional relationships. We’ve actually been working very closely with the big players who are involved in the big issues in the Asia-Pacific region.”

Ups and downs

During his tenure as the head of Corrs, Denton has had to steer the firm through some choppy waters. 

Corrs was struggling to match the financial muscle of the top tier shortly after he became CEO, and there were a number of high-profile defections to rival firms. 

In 2006, Matthew Latham and Chris Ahern left Corrs to establish an Australian law practice for Jones Day in Sydney, while in early 2007 Corrs closed its Canberra office. The firm was also viewed by many as being “Melbourne-centric”.

Denton says he is committed to growing the firm’s scale and capability by at least a third by 2015, with a key focus on energy & resources and projects & infrastructure.

“In the past 10 years, I think we’ve transformed the firm’s reputation,” he says.

“One of the challenges was that the firm was trading on its heritage for a long time, particularly in the 1990s, but perhaps people realised that this heritage wasn’t as deep as they thought. 

“It’s then a question of how do we find the excellence that was there and make certain that it’s well known in the market? That takes a while. 

“I think transforming the firm’s reputation back into a clear position of excellence has been one of the abiding journeys.” 

Denton has introduced a number of key initiatives during his reign, such as: reshaping the firm around target sectors; an incentive-based remuneration system to reward high performers; a significant increase of investment in learning and development; a dedicated legal excellence program; international scholarships; a formal pro bono and giving program, and the launch of an ASX-compliant diversity policy.

Diverse winners 

Currently, 33 per cent of its board, 22 per cent of its partnership and 64 per cent of Corrs’ business service management team are female. The firm has increased the number of female partners at the firm from 18 per cent in 2010 to 22 per cent this year, while 57 per cent of its new partner promotions over the last two years were women.

Corrs has been the recipient of the EOWA Employer of Choice citation for six years running.

Despite a dedicated diversity strategy and taking home the diversity award at last month’s Lawyers Weekly Women in Law awards, Denton says there is still plenty of hard work ahead. 

“Although it’s great to see the things we are doing [are] getting noticed, we can’t be self-satisfied by awards; we know we haven’t achieved what we want,” he says. 

“It’s an area of disappointment that I haven’t seen the sea change that is absolutely critical; it hasn’t been delivered under my term. We’re on our way but not there yet.” 

On the issue of depression, Denton says that the firm “has tried to help its people understand that depression is not a question of strength or weakness; it’s a mental illness and it can be treated and managed, and the firm will be there to help people through the process”.

Outside of work, Denton, who has three children, including model daughter Anna, has been kept busy recently offering support to his actress wife Jane Turner (of Kath & Kim fame) as she embarked on a promotional tour for her new movie, Kath and Kimderella. 

And when it is eventually time for him to step down as Corrs’ CEO, what legacy would Denton like to leave? 

“They say a good leader leaves a hole when he finishes, while a great leader leaves behind a seamless transition,” he says. “That’s what I want to do: [leave behind] a seamless transition for the next generation of leadership of the firm.”