Bird & Bird’s co-heads on ‘being small within big’

The pair were named co-heads of country in Australia in May, taking over from incumbent Shane Barber.

Down Under, Bird & Bird has 15 partners and 65 lawyers, making it “relatively small” in the context of the combined global headcount of 1,600 lawyers.

However, Hawkins said, “we like that because we see the potential of the office”.

“We like being agile and nimble, and we have this great thing of being small within big,” he said.

“We get the support of this network that the global firm is, but we actually like the idea that we can make changes that will make a difference quite quickly in a smaller office that’s still relatively young.”

It also means, Clarke added, that the “collegiality between people not only within Australia but across borders is fantastic and phenomenal, and one that I didn’t think you could replicate in such a big firm”.

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The conversation followed an interview with Barber, in his-then capacity as national managing partner, on The Lawyers Weekly Show, in which he discussed the firm’s first decade Down Under and what comes next, why the firm is eyeing Adelaide as part of its growth strategy, and his lessons from having served as a firm head for more than 20 years.

Further to Barber’s comments from late 2024, Clarke said the firm has “got some exciting new areas that we’re rapidly expanding in Australia, for example, in the defence space, but they’re areas that we’ve got strong thematics in internationally”.

It’s about, he said, “bringing to bear and leveraging the expertise and platform that we have globally, but expanding on that within Australia as well”.

The focus, Clarke continued, is “on profitable growth and not growth for growth’s sake by any means”.

“We go about it by examining the thematics in the market and where trends are moving both globally and locally and drawing on our strengths, and playing to our key strengths and our key sector experiences. That seems to be the logical approach from our perspective,” he said.

Hawkins said: “Ambitious growth is a pillar of the global strategy, which lends itself very well to what we’re trying to do here because we’re young and we’re relatively small compared to the global firm.”

Part of such a strategy, the pair said, involves having the Australian partners lead from the front and ensure cohesiveness.

“As partners, we take an interest in what each other is doing, we take the opportunities to promote each other, we talk about taking the whole phone with you when you go to meet a prospective client,” Hawkins said.

“I think if you believe in that culture and if you’ve benefited from that culture like I have, it makes it much easier as a leader to promote that and get people to buy into that.”

Clarke supported this: “We’ve got now a very young and energetic partnership base and are enthused about the next stage of growth.”

“And it seemed like the right time to embark upon that with Richard and I at the helm to take that forward to the next stage.”

To watch the full episode featuring Chris Clarke and Rich Hawkins, click here.