Speaking recently with Lawyers Weekly, Kennedys’ senior partner and APAC managing partner unpacked why the Australian market is of such significance to the global firm’s growth trajectory.
In a recent episode of Legal Firesides, Kennedys senior partner John Bruce and Asia-Pacific managing partner Matt Andrews discussed their respective journeys to senior leadership roles, their perceptions on management difficulties in the current climate, the need for collaborative approaches, bridging generational divides, and maintaining the right culture in such a big legal practice.
During that conversation – while discussing his vision for the firm (having recently stepped into the role of senior partner) and how APAC fits into that vision – Bruce said Australia is “an incredibly important market for us”, and one of the global firm’s key growth areas.
“We’re putting a lot of energy and effort into working out how we can expand that here in Australia,” he said, alongside its operations in the United States.
Alongside the rest of the firm’s senior leadership, Bruce and Andrews have set the target of reaching US$1 billion in revenue within five years, and the pair noted that Australia’s senior lawyers will be forced to “lift up” to help the firm achieve that target.
The ambition for Kennedys’ four Australian offices (Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney) is that they will each have the same level of significance as any of the firm’s other significant locations globally.
To Andrews’ mind, he explained, this means “offering a full suite of services to our core clients, insurers, but then supplementing that with either particular local expertise or growing into areas which are symbiotic with that”.
For example, he said, while the firm has a huge healthcare practice in Hong Kong and Melbourne, the team is not as big in Sydney. The firm has a big shipping presence in Perth and Singapore, he said, but not as big in Hong Kong.
“Those sorts of cross pollinations I think are key to the way that we should move forward. I think we should mention lateral hires and mergers. If you build the right culture and you are seen to be providing the right service to clients, then that can be attractive to those that are looking to move because of their discontent or that can be nudged to move by clients,” he said.
Bruce said: “We want to be global.
“We are, and have been at heart, an insurance firm, and I think that will remain the case, but we can expand what we do. So we’re very strong in terms of the types of work we do, but we could be doing more for insurers in other aspects of what they do: the corporate commercial from their real estate work, to their employment work. And we’re developing those relationships now.”
Andrews said in support of these goals that he’s “inspired” by the talent he sees across the firm.
“There are a lot of people who are really motivated by the intellectual challenge of the problems that our clients give us, but more importantly, finding a cost-effective solution,” he said.
“I look around and I see partners and people below partnership who are genuinely interested in solving problems for their clients. And I see people in our business, services teams who are generally interested in creating an environment whereby we can do that. And I think that’s a cause for optimism.”
Jerome Doraisamy is the managing editor of Lawyers Weekly and HR Leader. He is also the author of The Wellness Doctrines book series, an admitted solicitor in New South Wales, and a board director of the Minds Count Foundation.
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