Where Barry Nilsson wants to be in 3 years

Barry Nilsson – which has over 500 staff, including 45 principals, across its offices in Adelaide, Brisbane, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney – has been positioning itself for significant growth recently. Late last year, it took six principals from global rival DLA Piper’s insurance and health practice, and in January, it promoted 14 lawyers, including one to principal.

Speaking to Lawyers Weekly, the firm’s chief executive, Graeme Walsh, said the firm continues to see increasing demand for specialist legal services over recent years, which has driven its focus on growing and deepening the expertise of its teams, “so that we can continue to best meet the needs of the evolving legal landscape, and importantly, the needs of our clients”.

In insurance, he said, the firm has observed demand driven by an increasingly complex and rapidly evolving risk environment, including heightened regulatory scrutiny, more sophisticated claims, and the need for specialist advice, and in family law, wills and estates, it is targeting geographic growth, consolidation, and succession planning to ensure depth of expertise across key markets.

In the coming three years, Walsh said, Barry Nilsson is striving to be “the go-to firm” for insurance and health, as well as family law, wills, and estates, both for clients and employees.

“Historically, we have set realistic growth objectives and consistently exceeded them, supported by strong client demand, a clear strategy, and disciplined execution. With the continued support of our clients, we intend to build on that momentum so that by the end of the decade, we have maintained broad recognition across the market as a national leader with deep expertise, strong culture, and consistently excellent outcomes,” he said.

“One key differentiator in where we want to be by the end of the decade is the strength and depth of our leadership pipeline. Developing and investing in the next generation of firm leaders is one of the most important investments we can make to ensure the firm continues to grow and evolve. We are deliberately building a firm where emerging leaders are identified, nurtured, and challenged, ensuring continuity and sustained performance well into the future.”

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With the constant evolution and ongoing consolidation in the Australian legal services marketplace, Walsh went on, the firm will stay alert to opportunities across both of these core practice areas, “and when they present, carefully assess them from a strategic, financial and cultural perspective”.

Evolving services in the age of AI

In driving such change, Walsh is very cognisant of how AI and data insights are upending the ways in which legal services are delivered. Barry Nilsson, he said, had made adoption and effective use of new technologies in its strategic plan.

“Technology, including the appropriate and responsible use of AI, is a core business objective for the firm, and there is a clear expectation that 100 per cent of staff engage with approved AI systems and tools – within the bounds of client service agreements – within the next three years, or earlier,” he said.

“Staff who proactively engage with new technologies, share practical insights, and contribute to continuous improvement are recognised as supporting both individual performance and broader firmwide objectives.”

Year on year, Walsh said, the firm expects to see benefits, including improved consistency and transparency across matters, faster turnaround through automation and AI-assisted research and drafting, improved data quality and reporting, and reduced manual effort.

“This enhanced responsiveness, insight, and scalability from deeper AI integration supports a reliable and high-quality service experience for clients, and frees our people up to focus on strategic tasks and adding value for our clients,” he said.

Law firms like Barry Nilsson will, Walsh continued, have to work hard to achieve a balance between efficiency and accuracy, and to manage client expectations in this regard.

“Certainly, the firm is alert to the risk of bias inherent in AI systems. Accordingly, AI outputs are treated with caution, critically assessed by lawyers, and tested against trusted internal knowledge resources and authoritative legal sources before being used in any client context,” he said.

“Our governance processes ensure there will always be a ‘human in the loop’. Where AI tools are procured, compliance with bias monitoring and audit logging requirements forms part of the firm’s evaluation and approval process.”

More broadly, he noted, it is essential that the firm manage the real risks of new technologies, from cyber security and data integrity to regulatory and client compliance – “the winners will be those who balance these priorities to invest thoughtfully and implement responsibly”.

“We continuously monitor developments in legal and adjacent technology markets and systematically assess emerging products, tools, and AI capabilities and their suitability for the Australian legal industry. Our program operates as an ongoing innovation initiative rather than a single deployment, with a strong focus on governance, data security, ethical use, and practical client outcomes,” he said.

“Many opportunities exist in our support teams for the use of emerging technologies, and our focus is as much here as in the legal teams.”

Navigating a challenging market

When asked about headwinds, including, but not limited to, ongoing economic uncertainty and cost pressures, Walsh responded that challenges such as rapid technological change and AI adoption present both the biggest opportunity and risk for law firms.

“We are working to stay ahead of the curve by adopting AI responsibly, investing in training and governance, and using technology to enhance quality, efficiency, and career development rather than replace roles,” he said.

“Economic uncertainty and cost pressures across the legal market are also increasing client expectations for efficiency and value, which is another significant opportunity and risk for firms. For us, the growing needs of our clients have reinforced our focus on technology-enabled delivery, the scale in core practices, and the need for disciplined, strategic growth.”

Moreover, Walsh is confident in the firm’s talent attraction and retention approaches, as well as its “strong, values-led culture, driven top down by principals and embedded through dedicated programs”.

“We’re continuing to develop a life cycle career development framework that supports the learning and development of our people across all levels of experience and departments. Enhancing this framework in turn helps to support a culture of continuous personal growth and internal progression. We also expect the drive to harness technology and AI will free up time for meaningful legal work and earlier involvement in complex matters to nurture the genuine interests and development of our people,” he said.