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Talent war and tech not deterring 2019 growth
Despite a war for talent and technology impacts, 2018 was a busy year with “outstanding growth in key areas” for one of Australia’s largest law firms, with no signs of slowing down in 2019.
Grace Ormsby
Herbert Smith Freehills has recognised a significant increase in workflow for the legal sector over the past 12 months, and has predicted that this will continue through 2019.
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The firm’s Sydney managing partner, Juliana Warner, has pointed out several areas where the firm expected to see a lot of attention in the coming year, with corporate law and mergers and acquisitions at the top of the list.
“When it comes to deal making,” she said, “confidence breeds confidence.”
“The completion of so many large and high-profile transactions in 2018 will spur more companies to undertake their own strategic transactions in 2019,” Ms Warner explained, after a “bumper” 12 months for mergers and acquisitions.
Disputes also ranked highly, with the banking royal commission keeping the team busy, which Ms Warner predicted will “undoubtedly lead to additional work for our corporate and disputes partners in our global banking sector” once the final report is released.
In anticipation of the government’s royal commission into the aged care sector, Ms Warner also expects related work to straddle the firm’s corporate and dispute teams in the coming year.
As to trends affecting the business of law itself, Ms Warner said the firm has considered the ongoing war for talent as a key trend affecting its Sydney practice.
This is despite being recognised as 2018’s most attractive law firm for Australian lawyers.
The effect of this “ongoing war” has been Herbert Smith Freehills’ consideration for the attracting and retaining of talent as “a key business issue”.
To combat such pressures, Ms Warner noted the firm has been recruiting “across a range of practice areas for some time”.
She said Herbert Smith Freehills has recently expanded its search “to include talented candidates from New Zealand and the United Kingdom”.
This recruitment drive will continue through the beginning of 2019 “to ensure that we have the right people in the right places to meet client need and have the necessary capabilities in place to deliver exceptional service”.
The recurring theme of ‘people’ and ‘clients’ was also present in Ms Warner’s consideration of technology as another challenge facing HSF.
Conceding that technology “is already impacting some aspects of our service”, Ms Warner reflected on a challenge and opportunity in 2019 being “to continue to innovate and adopt technology for the benefit of our people and clients”.
The firm’s “outstanding growth” is something Ms Warner endeavours to see continue “through the adoption of new legal technologies and innovative ways of delivering results for our clients”.
