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Since assuming the leadership of Clyde & Co over two years ago, Rebecca Kelly has learnt a lot about the vocational trajectories of lawyers – not just for those at the top but also those coming through the ranks.
In a recent instalment of Legal Firesides, Rebecca Kelly spoke with Lawyers Weekly about Clyde & Co’s “rebuild” in Australia in recent years, its growth plans ahead of 2030, and the need for law firm leaders to be open-minded about how best to structure their businesses into the future, and manage the growth of the next generation of talent.
In the same conversation, she discussed what her previous career in the music industry taught her about leadership and service delivery.
Kelly took over as managing partner in Australia of Clyde & Co in late 2023, and since then, has led the firm in period in which it has “gone through an enormous amount of growth”, and looked inwards at its profitability, teams and specialisations, to determine where it should head next, while focusing on what its clients are looking for and how best its partners can meet that demand.
The post-pandemic age has made for a fascinating period in which to undertake such a “rebuild”, as she put it, given that one of the “unintended consequences” of COVID-19 was that law firms and other service providers are no longer looking at five-year goals or strategies, she said. Instead, they need to be nimble and plan for “12-month chunks”.
“Being able to execute on those strategies requires a lot of resilience and a lot of honesty and integrity. I think marrying up your values with the firm’s values, and making sure that you’re actually aligned, makes those conversations easier in some way,” she said. “Because what you’re actually saying is this is what is going to drive our growth and these are the opportunities that we see and these are the teams that we need and these are the teams that we’re going to further develop.”
When asked what recent years have taught her about herself as a leader, Kelly said she frequently holds up a mirror to herself, and noted one of the best pieces of advice she’s ever received is to “take time to reflect”.
It’s something, she said, that she does all the time.
“I have found that, as a leader in a law firm, people aren’t looking for a report card from me; they’re not looking for feedback. What they’re looking for are my observations and whether my personal observations are going to help them and guide them through their career,” she said.
“I take an enormous amount of responsibility for people’s careers. So, that means, in practice, I’m meeting the summer clerks, the grads, everybody at every level when they come in to the firm. And the reason I do that is because, at the heart of a lot of the changes that we’ve actually executed in Australia, has been the culture. And the culture to me has been the driving force of how I’ve managed to do it.”
By taking such responsibility as managing partner, Kelly said, lawyers can then look to the firm and believe that it will take them through their careers, as a workplace that fosters careers.
This said, she added, lawyers still need to take responsibility for their own vocational journeys.
For emerging lawyers – both at Clyde & Co and outside of it – this means “turning up, showing up, being there and being available”, she said.
In practice, Kelly explained, lawyers have to be cognisant of the needs of the practice groups they are working in and ensure their working habits align accordingly.
“If you’re working in a litigation team, then it is probably expected of you to be available in the office. That’s not because you’re being punished, it’s because every day things move so quickly. Your availability to be there and to go to court, and to go and take a meeting with counsel or to respond to the client’s needs with the assistance of the partner who is sitting next to you, allows us to be a little bit nimbler in how we respond,” she said.
There are, of course, other departments in which lawyers can work from home more frequently, Kelly noted, but in an age when flexible working is more mainstream, emerging lawyers should step up and consider how the partners, or top lawyers, in their teams run their practices.
This is a genuine concern for a lot of law firm leaders, she said. ”Not because we’re saying we want you back in the office, it’s because we know how we learnt how to be a good lawyer,” she advised.
Jerome Doraisamy is the managing editor of professional services (including Lawyers Weekly, HR Leader, Accountants Daily, and Accounting Times). 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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