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‘Law firms need to focus on people more than ever’, says Hall & Wilcox head
In order to attract and retain talent, firms need to be evolving and growing – both in terms of their ways of working and culture as well as legal tech and innovation, said the managing partner of national firm Hall & Wilcox.
Lauren Croft
In conversation with Lawyers Weekly, Hall & Wilcox managing partner Tony Macvean said that after a turbulent two years, the firm plans to continue growing “both by acquisition and organically”.
“Reconnecting with clients and each other [has also been important] as we come out of the pandemic. We implemented HW Evolve last year. This is a hybrid way of working that combines the personal benefits of flexible/remote working with the benefits of collaborating in the office. We remain focused on this evolving approach to working, particularly as we reconnect in person.
In addition, Hall & Wilcox will continue to invest in “partnering with and supporting” their clients, as well as developing an increased focus on ESG – drawing on work the firm has done across pro bono, sustainability, social procurement, diversity and inclusion and Indigenous support, among other areas.
“We are excited about our ESG initiative. We are committed to ensure our approach to ESG is embedded in our culture and service offering. We have signed onto the UN Global Compact, and are committed to implementing the 10 UN Global Compact principles.
“We have also launched our First Nations Pathway Program. This paid program runs for four weeks and provides Australian First Nations university law students with a realistic insight into life at Hall & Wilcox. Students will work with capable and experienced people across all levels, and be directly involved in interesting legal work,” Mr Macvean added.
“We are excited about a number of smarter law and innovation initiatives we are implementing across the business – in areas such as leasing and debt collection. We continue to evolve and refine our early career and graduate lawyer programs. We have also launched a legal operations graduate program. It provides opportunities to law graduates enabling them to become smarter lawyers and build deep capability in legal ops.”
In addition, Hall & Wilcox have recently made a number of policy changes, introducing a new flexible public holiday policy, which allows staff to elect to work on up to three public holidays each calendar year and take up to three days in lieu of those public holidays.
"We have also changed our definition of personal leave to include both physical and mental health. This empowers our people to take a ‘mental health day’ to recharge and return to work in a better position to perform at their best, even where there is no diagnosed mental health condition," Mr Macvean said.
"Other policy changes include an up to 26-week leave parental leave policy, an increase of co-parent leave, the introduction of leave for fertility treatment and introduction of leave for pregnancy loss pre-20 weeks."
Post-pandemic, “law firms need to focus on people more than ever,” according to Mr Macvean.
“As a profession, we need to attract, engage and retain the best possible people, and provide opportunities for them to thrive,” he said.
“We also need to be focusing on connecting with each other, both in person and virtually. Hopefully as the year progresses, and we transition from pandemic to endemic, we can go back to something that combines the best of how we used to work with all of the great things we have learnt during COVID. Our strong, collaborative culture has helped us respond to challenges over the past two years.
“Attracting, engaging and retaining talent is a challenge for the legal profession. We need to be great at this. We also need to continue to invest in innovation, including automation and AI. At Hall & Wilcox, our mantra is ‘Smarter Law’. With our clients, we co-create better ways of doing things – combining smart lawyers with process improvement, automation and web-based technologies.”
In terms of the firm’s growth over the pandemic, Hall & Wilcox will continue to grow and evolve post-pandemic, concluded Mr Macvean – who placed importance on emerging tech and firm culture.
“We continue to evolve: how we perceive ourselves, where we sit in the market, the clients and work we do, how we work, our use of tech and automation,” he said.
“We are restless and will continue to evolve. We look forward with enthusiasm.”
Lauren Croft
Lauren is a journalist at Lawyers Weekly and graduated with a Bachelor of Journalism from Macleay College. Prior to joining Lawyers Weekly, she worked as a trade journalist for media and travel industry publications and Travel Weekly. Originally born in England, Lauren enjoys trying new bars and restaurants, attending music festivals and travelling. She is also a keen snowboarder and pre-pandemic, spent a season living in a French ski resort.
