“First and foremost, if we’re writing to another lawyer in the profession, there are ‘colleagues’, because we are part of a profession. We use pronouns which are appropriate to the audience,” he said.

“Occasionally, people write to me, ‘Dear sir’ but on the whole, we try to use more modern, appropriate communication recognising the audience, so salutations are one part of how we how we seek to differentiate ourselves and be more inclusive in our approach.”

Mr Withane, who first operated in the UK market, explained that when he came to Australia, he noticed many firms adopting an archaic approach when it came to communicating via email.

“When I arrived in Australia, I noticed to a degree [that] some of the smaller firms, in particular, write with quite an archaic style, which I thought was like reading the Charles Dickens novel, ‘Bleak House’, or something,” he said.

“We’ve got to be communicating to people in a language that they understand … We always say we want to adopt the ‘KISS’ concept: Keep it simple, silly. We want to avoid the use of French or Latin terms.

“The example I give people is, ‘If you ask 10 people on the streets of London, what classic English quote do you remember the most?’ they’ll typically say, ‘To be or not to be’ – six words, it goes into the memory.

“We’re not trying to dress things up and use flowery language that confuse people or to sound better; we don’t need to do that. We’ve got a point, and it’s about conveying the point in simple language.”

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During his conversation with Lawyers Weekly, Mr Withane also spoke about the firm’s approach to specialisation.

To check out the article, click here.