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Dentons’ Aussie chair and global CEO on regional opportunities and doing ‘more than law’
In a recent sit-down with Lawyers Weekly, the new Australian chair and global chief executive of BigLaw firm Dentons discussed the “big growth” they anticipate Down Under for the global practice and how and why clients expect more nowadays.
Jerome Doraisamy
One of the biggest regional opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region for global law firm Dentons right now, according to Australian chair Amber Warren, is that “clients these days expect us to be more than law”.
Warren – the first woman to chair Dentons’ Australian arm and who was elected to her role in November of last year – explained that what clients need at this critical juncture is “somebody who is horizon-scanning for them, giving them insights, connecting them with opportunities around the world, and not just approaching them as a service provider”.
The opportunity for a BigLaw practice like Dentons to assume such a role for clients across the board is, perhaps, greater now than even a year ago, in the wake of legal services at big four firms stalling.
Earlier this month, EY confirmed it is considering a restructure of its legal services in the region, which will likely result in job cuts. This followed last year’s news that fellow KPMG was shutting down its 30-person commercial law practice and integrated its remaining legal services into other divisions in July of last year. Additionally, PwC has also reduced its legal practice. Amid such change and disruption, Lawyers Weekly last year explored whether traditional top-tier law firms, like Dentons, will continue to dominate the Australian market, compelling the big four to “reassess their legal strategies”, or face a gradual decline.
Dentons, Warren told Lawyers Weekly in a recent sit-down, would “absolutely love” to assume a bigger share of the local market in the wake of competitor changes, noting the global law firm sees the market shifts and evolving client needs as an opportunity.
The firm’s global chief executive, Kate Barton (who was appointed mid-last year from EY), agreed, adding that having tech-enabled solutions for optimal client service delivery is what will set BigLaw practices apart moving forward.
“When you think about the polycrisis that most of our clients are living in right now – with a zillion things changing at the same time – I can’t think of a time where good business lawyers that really understand the landscape and help companies navigate through that and say, ‘here’s 15 countries that are changing their rules on data privacy, or AI, or some employment issue’, [has ever been more important],” she said.
“Firms that can bring those kinds of insights to their clients and help them navigate this labyrinth of today’s world will be the winners.”
This is what Dentons is looking to do, Barton outlined, not just Down Under but globally. The firm, she said, doesn’t want to be “like every other law firm”.
The global player is “anticipating big growth” in Australia, Barton went on, noting its leaders are “really big believers” in the potential in APAC.
Between the depth of service offerings and taking a more holistic approach in response to client demands and expectations, such growth “should be that hard for us to do”, she suggested.
This could also involve, Warren said in support, assisting Australian businesses think more globally.
Australia is not a huge consumer base, she said, given the size of our population. Thus, “for Australian corporations to be successful and tap into the best talent worldwide, they need to be facing out”.
“I think, in the past, we have been a somewhat inward-facing country, and I think Australian businesses are now starting to branch out and follow the world,” Warren said.
Such a holistic approach to client service delivery, Warren continued, is becoming easier thanks to new technologies and increasing business acumen from the next generation.
“Because we don’t have our summer clerks and grads and young lawyers really involved in manual processing, they have time to be trained in business,” she said.
“A lot of our programs are now particularly geared towards teaching our younger lawyers about how a law firm works, and how people’s businesses work.”
When Warren was a grad, she continued, she and her colleagues had “never heard of gross margin and GDP and economics and things like that”.
Nowadays, she said, there is a “much more sophisticated cohort” of graduate lawyers coming out of Australian universities who have been engaged in learning about business, “not just pure law”.
“I look at the grads of today and I’m in awe of the global mindset that these guys have got,” she said.
Earlier this month, Dentons appointed two new partners from BigLaw firms to bolster its infrastructure, major projects and energy and financial practices, respectively. This news followed the poaching of a tax team from Hamilton Locke in November last year and the addition of an employment and safety team from Holding Redlich in October.
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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