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Why Bird & Bird is eyeing Adelaide as part of its growth strategy
While global businesses may see the biggest capital cities as the natural locations for expansion, BigLaw player Bird & Bird is taking a “different strategic view”, its Australian head says.
Jerome Doraisamy
In a recent episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, Bird & Bird Australian head and managing partner Shane Barber (pictured) reflected on where he sees opportunities for growth Down Under for the BigLaw firm as it celebrates its 10th anniversary in Australia. He also offered lessons from over two decades as a firm head.
Bird & Bird, he said, “takes a different strategic view “ to BigLaw competitors.
“International firms come into the market all the time, and where do they go? You see them in Sydney, see them in Perth, second, Melbourne, maybe third, and then maybe Brisbane,” he said.
For his firm, there exists a “fantastic opportunity” in Adelaide.
“That’s where the defence industry in this country is, and there is so much activity happening in that space with the AUKUS arrangements and [other projects] that I think that is a natural place for us to be.”
This is particularly so, he noted, as aeronautics in defence is an area that the firm has developed “quite significant expertise”.
Not only this, but Barber is also eyeing what is happening across the ditch.
While he is unsure at this point if Bird & Bird would open an office in Auckland, or elsewhere in New Zealand, “certainly that jurisdiction needs some focus because a lot of the opportunities are Australian and New Zealand opportunities together”, he explained.
Not a week goes by, he reflected, where he’s “not working with New Zealand colleagues on two or three new matters that have come in”.
Zooming out, Barber – who has served as the firm’s Australian managing partner for 22 years – detailed what growth for the BigLaw firms means to him in the wake of the 10th anniversary in Australia.
“The headline issue that the media jumps onto is that the firm will be a billion-euros-a-year revenue firm. But the revenue is just one measure,” he said.
“What’s more important is that the firm continues to be the place that people who are doing things that are extraordinary, and that have not been done before, feel comfortable coming to, knowing that there is no better group of people to understand the regulatory environment, and be able to future gaze, and be able to have an influence on the development of policy,” he said.
That, Barber opined, is where the firm’s real growth will be.
“We’re focusing on some very big projects at the moment and dealing with things where no one has been before. And that can be a little bit frightening. But the way that you deal with that, of course, is to bring on board the very best people,” he said.
When Barber joined what was called Truman Hoyle, it had half a dozen lawyers. When it merged with Bird & Bird, the combined entity had 60 lawyers. Now, the global firm’s Australian arm is at 120 lawyers.
He wouldn’t be surprised, he said, if the firm’s headcount in Australia hit 250 in the coming years – but such growth would only be with the “right people”, he added.
“It’s not a volume play – it’s about being at the very forefront of what we’re doing here,” Barber said.
The transcript of this conversation has been slightly edited for publishing purposes. To listen to the full episode with Shane Barber, click below:
Jerome Doraisamy
Jerome Doraisamy is the editor of Lawyers Weekly and HR Leader. He has worked at Momentum Media as a journalist on Lawyers Weekly since February 2018, and has served as editor since March 2022. In June 2024, he also assumed the editorship of HR Leader. Jerome is also the author of The Wellness Doctrines book series, an admitted solicitor in NSW, and a board director of the Minds Count Foundation.
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