It was an unusual move for a top-tier Australian law firm, and one that Templeton doesn’t think would necessarily work for all firms.

“People ask me whether or not this is a trend in the industry — and I don’t think it is. Each firm, when they come to choose a leader, needs to weigh up all the pros and cons and look at the candidate and select who they think is going to be best,” he said.

For Templeton, the decision to leave a jet-setting career as an international management consultant wasn’t an easy one, but in the end it came down to family.

“It was a really exciting job, but … I averaged 1100 kilometres per working day in an aircraft for 12 of those years. So, when I decided to leave Hong Kong and return to Australia, I’d pretty much decided that I wasn’t going to spend the rest of my career in consulting.”

To read more, see The Whole Truth on page 18.