Location: Canberra
Discipline: Partner & Special Counsel
Job type: Permanent
Salary: $300,000 to $1M++ Negotiable on Experience
Contact name: Trudy Reading

Contact email: trudy@lawstaff.com.au
Job ref: 3230401
Published: over 4 years ago
  • Government Services Partner
  • Leadership Opportunity 
  • Canberra Office
  • Rem Negotiable $300K to $1M++ Based on Profile
This is a rare opportunity to establish and further build the Canberra office of this successful national firm with the support and backing of a cohesive national partnership.

Whether you’re struggling to see your leadership aspirations realised with your current firm, or your earnings have stagnated or gone backwards, this is an opportunity you must explore.

With the average age of its Partners in their 40's, it is a firm with a deep level of technical capability while also being a relatively young and highly collaborative partnership. 

With our instructions coming from the Board level, our client has a strategic plan of expanding further with the development of its Canberra Office. As such, they are seeking a Partner with the strong leadership skills, drive and ambition required to see their Canberra office grow.
    
The firm has a strong National Government Services Practice, including the appointment to the Commonwealth Government Panel, as well as State and Local Government Panels across numerous jurisdictions. The firm is looking to increase their service levels having an acute understanding of the financial, ethical, legislative and policy frameworks in servicing their clients' needs. Given the strength of the national Government practice, their expansion includes Canberra as a key part of their strategic growth plans.
 
THE ROLE
   
The firm is now seeking to appoint a talented senior lawyer as a Partner. You will ideally have 10 to 20 years' experience, as well as demonstrated leadership abilities to spearhead the growth of the Canberra office, while collaborating with, and taking introductions from, numerous Partners from other practice groups who service the Government space on a National level. 

The preferred candidate will have a skillset in any one of the following areas within the Government Services stream:
  • Corporate and Commercial – advising government departments and agencies on tendering, procurement, commercial contracts (particularly the defence sector), consumer and competition, information technology, telecommunications, media and communications; advising shareholding Ministers on their powers and responsibilities as well as on general corporate governance issues under the Government Owned Corporations Act.
  • Property & Infrastructure - compulsory acquisitions; leasing; asset divestment; 
  • Major Projects - transport infrastructure and major projects across all sectors of government involvement;
  • Climate Change and Sustainability– advising government departments on the issue of climate change and the risks of climate-related events; meeting zero emissions targets; corporate disclosure; and environmental law.
WHAT YOU NEED

You will currently be at Partner level, or you will be a Senior Lawyer or Special Counsel looking to step up to into a Partner position.

The expectations are genuinely for 10-20 years post-admission experience, in one or a couple of these service lines. A fair portion of that experience must have been recently obtained within Canberra in a specialist firm, a mid-tier, or a large national practice where your skills have been developed advising government departments or agencies in that stream.
  
Alternatively, you may currently be working within a Government department or agency, having previously worked for a minimum of 5 years in Private Practice and are therefore familiar with the requirements of working within this framework.

Indicative of your skillset in servicing these demographic clients, you may have existing relationships at various levels within Commonwealth departments. 
 
In addition, you will have well-developed team management skills and a high level of commercial acumen and a strong client focus.

WHAT YOU GET

This is a lateral appointment into Partnership. For entry level Partners they offer generous salaries, plus bonuses on modest KPI's. For Equity Partners their earnings are quite high and well in excess of industry benchmarks without the need to compromise on prestige or resources. 

While other firms are cost-shedding to maintain their profit pool, this firm maintains an extensive local and national infrastructure that underpins the very success of each Partner. They have had zero redundancies during Covid-19, and managed a seamless transition to working remotely. As a testament to their performance, the firm has increased its headcount and its profitability by 25-30% each year for the past 4 years, including during Covid.

OUR EXPERIENCE
 
In challenging times, there has been the need for law firms to recalibrate in order to maintain a competitive advantage and a sustainable profit pool for its Partners. Those that have managed this have emerged as magnets to other Partners looking to transition their clients to a more innovative and profitable platform.

With 30 years as specialist consultants to the legal profession, Law Staff has an impressive history of facilitating discreet moves for partners (and whole teams) to specialist, mid or top tier practices, all while providing critical intelligence on:
  • Individual profitability of the relevant firms;
  • Partnership structures and equity distribution;
  • Strategic growth plans;
  • Intra/Cross practice compatibility;
  • Historical transitions;
  • Performance expectations; as well as
  • Partnership culture and idiosyncrasies (trust us when we say that no one firm is perfect).
In addition, our Senior Client Advisors have assisted hundreds of partners in writing detailed business plans that identify only relevant information including key practice components as well as transitioning requirements, and less of the white noise. We advise you when the appropriate time is to table this information to ensure your commercial interests are preserved. Most importantly, we will only ever confer with the relevant Managing Partner after you have done your research and at a time when you have expressed in writing that you are ready to take that cautious next step. Absolutely everything stays in the vault until that time. A list of partner references can be made available at your request.

THE NEXT STEPS

At Law Staff we maintain the highest protocols during Covid and therefore offer a meeting over Zoom or FaceTime, as well as offer a contactless meeting at a discreet location in Canberra for a discussion over coffee/tea, allowing you to comfortably provide us with an understanding of your considerations in this next move. 

For a uncompromisingly confidential discussion, please contact either:
  • Trudy Reading (Senior Client Advisor)
  • trudy@lawstaff.com.au 
  • 0401 504 203 (8:00 am to 8:00 pm 7 days)
or
  • Craig Ashton-Sward (Director & Senior Client Advisor) 
  • craig@lawstaff.com.au
  • 0413 743 838 (8:00 am to 8:00 pm 7 days)
Feel free to maintain your anonymity in the first instance if you choose.

LawStaff | Level 22 HSBC Building | 300 Queen Street | Brisbane