Becoming disillusioned with the big firm model, David Kearney set out to establish a specialist insurance firm that looks after its people. He speaks to Briana Everett

Breaking the mould: David Kearney, Wotton + Kearney

Fresh from a family trip to Thredbo with his three young daughters, the avid sportsman and managing partner of Wotton + Kearney reveals a devotion to his family and a life outside the office, as he reflects on his career as a leading insurance lawyer.

The son of a publican, David Kearney says he essentially stumbled into law after just missing out on the marks needed to study medicine - a career he set his sights on during his final years of high school.

With no immediate aspirations to become a lawyer, it was at a Sydney University careers day that Kearney was told a combined degree would be his best option, given he wasn't certain about what he wanted to do. Consequently, he enrolled in economics and law.

Not yet passionate about a life as a lawyer, Kearney admits he had his fair share of fun during the first few years of university life.

"There's probably some correlation between the hotel industry and the legal industry," he jokes.

But once he got to law school, he soon realised he actually enjoyed it and decided he would make a career as a lawyer.

The early days of Kearney's legal career were spent at Corrs Australian Solicitors, as it was then known, before he grabbed an opportunity to join Phillips Fox (now DLA Phillips Fox) in 1995 - an opportunity, unknown to him at the time, which would lead to much bigger things. It was at Phillips Fox where Kearney met his future business partner and friend, Phillip Wotton.

"At the time, [Phillips Fox] was regarded as the premier insurance firm and there I met Phil Wotton," he says, reflecting on the beginnings of his relationship with Wotton. "At the time, [he] was a partner and I was a solicitor."

"To move forward in any professional services group - probably in any career - there are times when you need to get out of your comfort zone."

But despite enjoying his time at Phillips Fox, working alongside Wotton, after a few years of practice Kearney grew dissatisfied with the big firm model and this, along with good timing, led him to establish a specialist insurance firm with Wotton in 2002.

"Insurance really is a different business model," Kearney explains. "[At the time], Phillips Fox had a lot of different business models and for us, we formed the view that it wasn't the right law firm to properly service our clients' needs and that perhaps there was an opportunity to set up [our] own firm.

"Phil and I had a chat and we decided that we'd give it a go and see how it went." And so the pair set up shop and made their vision for a firm with a solid market strategy become a reality. Kearney says his dream was to run a firm with a single market strategy that also had a friendly, team-oriented and high performance culture.

"I think those three things are sometimes difficult to gel together," he says. "But I thought with the right people it could work. We've been very careful about the type of people we've picked over the years to make sure they fit within the mould and gel in that environment."

An individual focus

For Kearney, running a successful firm is very much about the people within it. "[Wotton + Kearney is a firm with] 55 lawyers who only practice insurance law," he says. "We'd like to think that as a law firm we stand for something. We're not trying to be all things to all people, but we're a firm with a vision, a firm with a focus, and that's to be as good as we can be in that [insurance] space."

And in terms of the firm's future, Kearney says there is no real desire to expand to other cities beyond Sydney and Melbourne.

"As with the growth of the firm, it's about the people," he says. "We've always focused on organic growth first.

"If we become aware of an opportunity with the right individual, with a similar mindset as the mindset that we collectively have and [who is] looking to achieve similar things to what we have achieved - then that might happen."

Finding the right people and achieving the culture that the firm has sought from day one remains a continuous challenge, according to Kearney. "[People and culture] has been pretty important to me personally," he says.

"I want to grow a firm - and hopefully I have grown a firm to date with the assistance of my partners - which is an enjoyable place to work, but at the same time encourages high performance."

Kearney acknowledges that a number of lawyers from top-tier firms such as Mallesons, Clayton Utz, Allens Arthur Robinson and Corrs Chambers Westgarth, have recently joined Wotton + Kearney because of its unique business model and haven't looked back.

"As we continue to grow [my challenge is] to ensure that we don't lose the uniqueness that I think this firm has," he says.

"We started with six lawyers [but] as you grow to 50 lawyers it does become a little more difficult to choose the right people. It becomes more difficult to make sure, as managing partner, [that] you're constantly meeting with the partners, meeting with all the senior lawyers to ensure that they've got business plans and that they're happy with the way their career is progressing."

The career progression of his lawyers is a top priority for Kearney, who says watching his staff progress through the ranks is the most fulfilling aspect of his role as managing partner. "I get tremendous satisfaction from seeing people progress as lawyers," he says.

"To see a number of lawyers move from junior lawyers to become senior lawyers, senior associates or special counsel. To see them develop as lawyers, to see them develop as people - to me that is tremendously rewarding."

Life lessons learned

Kearney's desire to create a firm that has a friendly but hard-working culture stems from his upbringing and his parents, who he singles out as the greatest mentors in his life.

"First and foremost, my parents and the lessons relevant to hard work and camaraderie have all been pretty important lessons for me," he says. "It's about team work...but at the end of the day, you work hard, you have a good time."

Like many typical Australian families, Kearney grew up surrounded by sport which he says encouraged hard work and a level of friendly competition - something which he has sought to carry into his career and his firm.

And he says his success as a lawyer is partly thanks to his younger years spent following his publican father around New South Wales.

"We moved around a bit [which] exposed me to lots of different people from different walks of life which I think is to my advantage. I consider myself lucky to have [that experience] for my legal career because you're dealing with lots of different people."

And when Kearney's not working hard, he's playing over 35s soccer - which he was "talked in to doing" about four years ago - or he's coaching his daughters' soccer team. "I'm passionate about sport....I run a bit and try and find time for the occasional game of golf," he says.

"I'm a person who is generally very committed to working very hard during the week and having the weekend off to spend time with my family. It doesn't always work out that way but on the whole I try and work hard during the week and come Friday, five o'clock, I go watch my daughter play netball."

As a mentor to many younger lawyers, Kearney says he lives by what he describes as "the three Cs": commitment, communication and courage.

"The courage aspect goes towards getting out of your comfort zone. I'm a big believer that to move forward in any professional services group - probably in any career - there are times when you need to get out of your comfort zone."