“We always pride ourselves on being flexible and catering for the needs of the individual where we can, and this approach has seen us emerge relatively unscathed on the people front after nearly two years of COVID. As we begin to see the light on the other side of this pandemic, we will continue to support our people in their individual circumstances, whilst collectively moving back to some semblance of whatever ‘normal’ now is,” he said.

“We will continue to work to find the right balance with hybrid working so that everyone is able to remain connected to each other and to the firm. This approach is a natural extension of our long-held commitment to flexible working practices. Of our permanent workforce, over 20 per cent work part-time, and over 60 per cent of our part-time staff are in fee-earner positions.”

Gilchrist Connell experienced “huge growth” over the course of the pandemic, with their headcount increasing by over 35 per cent across the country in the last 12 months. This includes the addition of a dedicated pro bono principal, Jilly Field, in February this year, as well as a principal and her team from boutique firm Marsh & Maher Richmond Bennison in December last year.

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“Attracting and securing new talent, onboarding our new people in a way that protects and retains our culture whilst benefiting from the diversity of our new joiners, and continuing to take good care of the team that got us to where we are, is a priority,” Mr Wood added.

“As always with periods of continued growth, we are looking to meet client demand in key service lines, whilst staying true to who we are as an insurance sector law firm – the BAU I mentioned earlier. We now have over 120 insurance sector-focused lawyers operating across all Australian jurisdictions from our five offices, as well as some truly great minds providing employment, WHS, restructuring and insolvency, corporate and commercial expertise, to businesses (including the insurance sector) across all stages of their life cycle.”

Whilst Gilchrist Connell was subject to lockdowns across all five of its offices, Mr Wood said the pandemic resulted in a number of benefits for the firm, too.

“The real benefit we got was the increase in trust across the business. We have very little ‘us and them’. We didn’t have a lot before the pandemic, but how everyone handled the pandemic and treated each other was just brilliant. 

“Our people were well supported by the firm and delivered client service of a truly exceptional nature, while working remotely from the CBD offices. In turn, the firm learned once and for all that to deliver first-class legal services, we don’t have to be sitting in our offices, next to each other for eight hours a day, every day,” he said.

“The success of this is reflected in the firm’s spectacular growth over this period, experiencing a 12 per cent increase in revenue during 2020, and 13 per cent in 2021. We repeatedly hear in independent benchmarking exercises that our clients love working with us, and that our client experience leads the insurance sector market.”

This growth has meant that the firm has been able to offer staff a range of added benefits, including flexible working arrangements, extra leave, mental health and wellbeing support, as well as a discretionary bonus scheme.

“We will continue to listen, and respond, to the needs of our team and the market and strive to continue to attract and retain our exceptional people with our strong employer brand driven by our commitment to culture, personalised approach to mentoring and career development opportunities, as well as the opportunity to work with leading corporate clients,” Mr Wood said.

“I see the growth our firm has experienced in recent years as an indicator that the market will increasingly rely on the capability of leading and highly experienced sector specialists, in our case, the insurance sector. This expertise is a critical resource to help clients understand the implications of new and emerging risks in our post-COVID world, and to navigate new legislation enacted to address these issues.”

Gilchrist Connell also joined the Australian Legal Sector Alliance, an alliance of law firms whose mission is “to work collaboratively to promote sustainable practices across the legal sector” to assist them in identifying, measuring and improving their ESG commitments.

“So much of what AustLSA represents makes good business sense. Given all we have learnt about our people over the last two years, I am also pleased that this focus will allow us to provide our clients and our people with opportunities to better support them, particularly in the diversity and inclusion, gender equality and psychosocial wellbeing spaces,” Mr Wood explained.

“This year, we will become a signatory of the Charter for the Advancement of Women in the Legal Profession in New South Wales and Victoria and the Law Council of Australia’s Equitable Briefing Policy. We remain a longstanding signatory to the Charter for the Advancement of Women in the South Australian Legal Profession and our commitments in this charter are applied nationally. Our partnership reflects this – the gender split at principal level is 42 per cent female to 58 per cent male. I attribute this to our flexible work practices which continue to support equal participation in the workforce, and our genuinely inclusive culture.”

In addition, 55 per cent of the firm’s special counsel and 84 per cent of its senior associates are women, which Mr Wood said provides a strong foundation for future female leaders. Overall, females represent 68 per cent of the firm, 53 per cent of fee-earner positions and 50 per cent of the executive team.

“We have experienced significant growth in recent years, in both our work and our workforce. We have strengthened our capability by adding significant talent to our team through a combination of senior lateral hires and internal promotions.

“Our commitment has been to do that whilst not losing sight of why we exist, and the core market that we set out to service, the insurance sector. This focus makes our firm unique and we are deeply committed to retaining the elements of our success that have seen us thrive to date, whilst always looking for ways to augment our offering to both our clients and our people,” Mr Wood added.  

“That said, we have undergone significant change. COVID hit just as a number of our existing strategic plans were kicking in – the introduction of additional skill sets, particularly our WHS, employment, corporate and R&I teams. The firm has grown significantly since its inception in 2008 but the growth over the two years of COVID has been remarkable. To go through that with an improved culture and sense of team, has been wonderful to be a part of.”