Mr Newman said there had been a number of key takeaways from his first year as CEO – namely, that “no matter how well you think you are prepared to take on a role like CEO, you are in truth never quite ready”.

“I had been a partner at Maddocks for almost 20 years, been in various leadership and management roles and thought I knew everything that I needed to know about the firm, our people and our clients. I found out very quickly that I needed to get to know every facet of the firm, and our clients, at a much deeper level so that I could make decisions that helped our people and our clients. For me, this has been one of the most rewarding aspects of the past 12 months.

“Of course, my steep learning curve was exacerbated by taking on the role when Maddocks was operating pretty much as a virtual law firm. Not having immediate access to our people meant that it took me longer to get across the intricacies of the role,” he said.

“Another takeaway is that a strong culture travels. We have had to manage more than 600 individual offices over the past two years as our people worked away from our primary offices and yet the sense of purpose, the high quality of work and the care and empathy our people have for each other and their clients shone through. I have been enormously proud to see us deliver such outstanding work to clients who really needed the highest quality of legal advice during the pandemic and to do so required all of our people to remain committed without the physical support of their colleagues.”

After a turbulent two years, Maddocks is looking to emerge from the pandemic more innovative and outwardly focused than ever before.

“It’s an exciting time to be leading the firm as the past two years have proven that we can adapt and change, work differently and continue to make a significant contribution to our clients and the communities in which we work. As we emerge from the pandemic, there will be an ongoing expectation that we continue to challenge ourselves and find ways to work with our clients in new and innovative ways,” Mr Newman added.

“We did a lot of incredible work with our clients in unconventional ways during the past two years and that flexibility and adaptability is something we will adopt permanently. We are looking at how we best take the benefits of remote working and combine those benefits with the value of being physically co-located in our offices. We are experimenting with various technology solutions and also looking at our office spaces to see how they can be adapted for a post-pandemic workforce.

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“One of the main changes for us in 2022 will be to become increasingly outwardly focused. The past two years has necessarily required a significant focus on looking after the safety and wellbeing of our people while maintaining our level of service for our clients. Next year will see an increased proactive focus on the opportunities and challenges that our clients face as we all emerge from the pandemic stress test.”

Moving into next year, the firm will focus on adapting to suit their clients’ needs – such as continuing to use technology in the form of tech platforms Maddocks eContracts and ePortfolio, which the development team recently created.

“One characteristic that has set us apart from many other firms is that we are a great place to work. We do great work within an inclusive workplace. We make sure all of our people are able to bring their real selves to work and we make sure all of our people have the same opportunities for career progression. One of the things we have done to foster this culture over the past decade is set targets for female representation in leadership. Our board recently endorsed new targets to 2025, adopting the 40/40/20 model for leadership roles across the firm,” Mr Newman said.

“We are also looking to build on our impact on the communities we work and live in through the launch of our first Reconciliation Action Plan in 2022. We will also be celebrating significant milestones with the 20th anniversary of the opening of our Sydney office and the 10th anniversary of the opening of our Canberra office.”

And as Maddocks continues to grow post-pandemic, Mr Newman said that the Great Resignation should be seen instead as the “Great Opportunity” for destination firms with better culture and career opportunities than their competitors.

“We believe a great number of lawyers will be looking to work for firms that provide opportunities for them to make an impact,” Mr Newman explained.

“They will gravitate towards firms with a strong culture, a track record of flexible work opportunities, and great client work and career opportunities. We feel Maddocks is perfectly placed to become a destination firm in 2022 and a net beneficiary of this Great Opportunity.”