Carroll & O’Dea Lawyers appoints first female managing partner in 121 years
Managing partner of Carroll & O’Dea Lawyers, Howard Harrison, has appointed a new managing partner to succeed him in the role, effective 1 July 2020.
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Hanaan Indari, who is currently the firm’s deputy managing partner, will become managing partner from this date.
This marks the first woman to hold that position in Carroll & O’Dea Lawyers’ 121-year history. Mr Harrison will be continuing as partner upon Ms Indari officially taking on the head role.
“This is an appointment of which I and the entire firm are rightly very proud of and I would like to extend my congratulations to Hanaan on behalf of the firm,” said Mr Harrison.
“Hanaan Indari is an exceptional legal practitioner and is very much a part of the firm’s DNA having begun her career here in 1997.
“She represents the values that have proven to be the sustaining strength of the [firm] over the last 121 years.”
Speaking exclusively to Lawyers Weekly, Ms Indari said it was a great honour to be appointed managing partner of Carroll & O’Dea Lawyers and to be given the opportunity to contribute to the future of a firm that has such a long and rich history.
“The Carroll & O’Dea that I will become managing partner of at the beginning of July is very different to the place I started my career two decades ago – it is incredibly exciting and I’m really looking forward to the challenges, opportunities and contributions that I can make to the [firm],” Ms Indari said.
In her transition to the leadership of the firm in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ms Indari said that this was an opportunity to reflect and perhaps reshape what the firm looks like going forward.
“All of us during the pandemic have experienced rapid change – and whilst the pace of that change may have been unexpected the change itself has been coming for some time,” she said.
“Change and how we respond to it is very much a part of the [firm’s] DNA. We are in quite a unique position in that throughout our history."
Established 121 years ago, Ms Indari said the firm has weathered some of the most significant events in human history, from the Great Depression, the [world wars], the Spanish [influenza] outbreak to name a few.
“I think one of the threads that runs through the [firm] is our strong belief that we will come out of the other side of a crisis even stronger because that’s exactly what we have done in years and decades past,” Ms Indari said.
“This is absolutely the case with the current pandemic – we will get through to the other side stronger and better.”
The journey to the top
Ms Indari’s career at Carroll & O’Dea Lawyers is one of the firsts.
It is the very first firm Ms Indari commenced working at in 1997 and was then admitted as a solicitor in NSW.
She was appointed partner in 2003 and in 2017 she was appointed as deputy managing partner, the first to hold that role.
As an expert litigation partner Hanaan has conducted thousands of cases since joining Carroll & O’Dea Lawyers.
Reflecting on her career, Ms Indari told Lawyers Weekly the values that first attracted her to Carroll & O’Dea Lawyers still remain strong today; integrity, loyalty, commitment to its clients and its family beginnings. Values she says are central to its strength and longevity.
“My first connection to the firm actually came through my late [father] Peter Indari – the [founder and publisher] of the Arabic newspapers El Telegraph and An Nahar”, Ms Indari says.
“He had been referred to Michael O’Dea for legal advice on a matter for a member of his community and it was the integrity of that enduring relationship that my [father] developed with Michael that became a practical reflection to me of the [firm’s] values.
“Loyalty, supportiveness, a sense of inclusion and of course [high-quality] legal services – from those earliest days I could see Carroll & O’Dea was a [firm] that actually lived its values and these have stood the test of time.”
Ms Indari said that this culture is something that has helped her develop as a lawyer and is something which she now wants to champion in her new role as managing partner, particularly for the firm’s younger lawyers.
Furthermore, she acknowledged the significant contribution made by Mr Harrison as managing partner over the last 14 years.
“Howard’s achievements in his time as [managing partner] are many including the expansion of the firm to become not only truly [Sydney-wide] but also beyond with a network now servicing clients in Sydney CBD, Parramatta, Campbelltown, Newcastle, Raymond Terrace, Wollongong, Canberra, and Melbourne,” she said.
Leading the firm towards the future
As the managing partner to lead Carroll & O’Dea Lawyers through a post-COVID world of uncertainty, Ms Indari sees it as vital for lawyers today that the firm is providing them with the very best in career development and support so that they can continue to develop their careers in a truly balanced way.
“One of my goals will be to focus on developing our [team] and their skills and abilities by proactively giving them opportunities to flourish,” she said.
“We are living in very difficult and challenging times and I think the areas I want to focus on as managing partner are our people and our clients.”
Furthermore, the firm could see a change in the traditional setting of workplace including looking at flexible work options, embedding wellness into the firm’s philosophy and developing the firm’s lawyers professionally and personally with whatever they need to do the best possible work in a great environment as well.
Furthermore, Ms Indari aims to improve operation processes such as streamlining and digitising so “the firm can continue to deliver to our [clients] legal services of the highest quality.”
“I want to do all of this and at the same time stay true to our values,” Ms Indari told Lawyers Weekly.
“Values are at the core of our firm. Loyalty, supportiveness, a sense of inclusion and of course [high-quality] legal services – from those earliest days I could see Carroll & O’Dea was a [firm] that actually lived its values and these have stood the test of time.
“This culture is something that has helped me develop as a lawyer, has sustained my career and is something which I now want to champion in my role as [managing partner].”