Guthrie is a partner in the firm's disputes and litigation services group, while Matthews is a partner in the national property industry group.

"Recent changes to the board and its structure, together with the influx of new partners to the firm's governance, reflect the dynamic changes that have taken place," said Andrew Saxton, who was appointed as the firm's chairman on 1 July this year.

"Two of the board members resigned voluntarily at the end of last year ... They've chosen to pursue another career option and that happens. What we did see when we did an analysis of their practices, was that more than half of it was in fact from internal referrals so we wish them well but we'll consolidate on that and we've certainly got the commercial capabilities to service the work from that."