I was also a long-time volunteer with St John Ambulance, and so was able to use my medical training in my practice to better understand the injuries suffered by my clients and what had occurred to them in cases of medical negligence. In essence, my work and hobby came together and helped me decide to specialise in personal injury litigation.

What inspires you in your role/industry? Why?

Being a personal injury lawyer means that I am often meeting people who are at very low points in their lives. What drives me is the conviction that everyone deserves the best possible quality of life, despite the injuries that they have suffered. When that quality of life has been taken away, through negligence or an injury that was not their fault, I want to ensure they receive proper compensation so that they are able to enjoy the level and quality of care and assistance that they both require and deserve.

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From a more personal point of view, I am inspired that clients are so often willing to place their trust in me. Pursuing a personal injury matter can be a long, complicated process. It can also be quite personally invasive at times. This means that clients have to have patience, confidence and trust in their lawyer, and so when clients are willing to place a matter in my hands, I am motivated to do whatever I can to obtain the best possible outcome on their behalf.

What's your approach to customer service that separates you from the rest?

At DBH Lawyers, we are very client centred. This starts from the time that a new client contacts the firm. The first person to look at their case will be a Partner. The aim of this is to give them confidence that their matter is being accorded respect and care. Following on for this, a Partner will always have overall supervision of a file, even if a Partner is not personally running the matter.

From a business perspective, this commitment to Partners being a first point of contact for new clients also serves to enhance our overall operating efficiency. It has meant that we take on fewer matters that don’t progress, or for which we as a firm do not have the capacity. In turn, we are then better positioned to direct time and resources to claims which we are more likely to be successful.

How do you innovate and stay ahead of industry trends?

We pride ourselves on being a very forward-thinking partnership, and are aware of the need to innovate in order to ensure we are providing the best possible legal services to our clients. To this end, we have introduced new technologies and ideas as they appear and develop. At present, we are grappling with how artificial intelligence (AI) can play a useful role in personal injury practice.

For instance, we have been looking at ways in which AI can be used to read and prepare summaries of records, a process that consumes a lot of the team’s time. Using AI in this way has the potential to help us progress matters more quickly.

At the same time, however, there is a need to progress with caution. A key function of my role as a Partner is to support young lawyers’ training, and reading files and learning to interpret data is a key element of their development. Therefore, there is a need to balance the potential for greater efficiencies that AI could bring with the need to provide effective on-the-job training for junior members of the firm. This is ongoing work for the partnership.

What is the toughest challenge you've faced in your role? How did you overcome it?

In the personal injury space, the most significant challenge that I have faced (and continue to face) is the organisational inertia of multinational insurers, the government and local councils. Insurers have a vested interest in delaying the resolution of claims for as long as possible, and so as an applicant lawyer, my job is to maintain pressure on the insurer to ensure that matters are not unnecessarily delayed.

It is an ongoing challenge for a firm of our size is to ensure that momentum is being maintained and we are able to stay in control of a case. This can be difficult when we don’t have the resources of major insurers.

To overcome this inherent difficulty, as a Partner and leader of a team I regularly review all of our medical negligence and motor vehicle accident litigation files in order to stay up to date with what has already been done in a matter, and to work in conjunction with the file “owner” to ensure that there is a plan to progress the matter forward. Keeping a case moving constantly enables me and my team to keep pressure on the insurers to ensure that matters are always progressing.

What are some of your goals for the next 5 years?

All of the Partners at DBH Lawyers are in alignment in terms of the firm’s goal — this is to be recognised as the leading personal injury law firm in South Australia. Within this corporate goal, my personal professional aim is to be regarded as a leading practitioner in the compulsory third party, medical negligence and birth injury space both inside and outside of SA.

At the same time, what is important for me as a Partner is for the community to have a positive view of what we achieve for everyday people. Key to this are the relationships we establish with clients — it is always my goal for my clients to believe as genuine in my concern about their problems, and my willingness to fight for them.

However, it is just as important for me to be regarded as a straight talker, and to be open about the risks inherent in any personal injury claim. It takes a lot of commitment on a client’s part to pursue a personal injury claim, and so I will only encourage them to do so when there is a reasonable prospect of success, and when the benefit outweighs the risk that they are taking.