Speaking to Lawyers Weekly, Mr Griffin revealed what makes a good corporate partner post-pandemic and the state of affairs in the financial services space — and said that winning both awards means that much more coming from a smaller firm.

“One of the challenges of being a leader in a boutique firm, is not being able to rely on the power of an instantly recognised ‘brand’. While Hazelbrook is becoming more well known, a key skill that everyone at Hazelbrook (and any other boutique) needs to have is the ability to build rapport, and credentialise yourself, without the comfort of the ‘big brand’ behind you,” he said.  

“Not being able to rely on an established brand does however make you a better lawyer. For this reason, winning [out] against industry recognised and high-profile finalists from a number of large firms, is a great honour.”

In terms of achieving such success as a corporate partner at a smaller firm, Hazelbrook Legal has been able to leverage the hard work they put in pre-pandemic — and use “deep and genuine” client relationships to continue to grow and secure larger matters.

“During the good times, success is easier, but when things tighten up is when relationships really matter. Over this period, I’ve learnt to really appreciate the business cycle and how challenging it can be to know what is around the corner — no-one predicted what we have seen in the past few years in late 2019. From a corporate perspective, M&A has clearly been active, but corporate activity in general has been significant with capital raises and corporate restructures. The pattern is changing again now as markets tighten and interest rates rise,” he said.

“Everything has changed and nothing has changed in the post-pandemic market. For us, the fundamentals are just the same — Hazelbrook’s success has always been focussed around being a great service provider and a relationship builder (both internal and external relationships) — and that means being genuine. For our corporate clients, none of those fundamentals have changed. Our corporate clients expect us to acknowledge and understand the unique pressures that COVID has brought to bear on everyone — and as a partner and co-founder, those pressures are very front of mind for me.”

When asked about the financial services space, Mr Griffin said that the space continues to “be defined by constant change”.

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“Financial services is a ‘hot potato’ from a political perspective given it touches on peoples’ life savings, including super. For this reason, there is a continuing search, from a political perspective, for the ‘ideal’ regulatory outcome — the issue of disclosure to retail clients is a classic example — whether its disclosure of risks or fees, we have seen a continuing effort to try to ensure that investors make informed decisions about how their money is invested,” he explained.

“The regime is designed to provide ‘clear, concise and effective’ disclosure, yet all financial services lawyers have seen 100+ page product disclosure statements that even a financial services specialist would have trouble following. As a financial services specialist, you have to enjoy a challenge as there is always something changing to keep you on your toes.”

And despite challenges in both the financial services and corporate spaces being exacerbated by the pandemic, Mr Griffin remained confident about the continued growth and success of Hazelbrook Legal.

“In my view the challenges are much as they have always been — we are moving through the business cycle as we always do, but things have been exacerbated because of COVID. Lawyers as service providers need to be adaptable — we are now seeing certain sectors coming under increased pressure, particularly at the start-up end of the market, but even large clients are much more focussed on the bottom line. As a result, legal providers more than ever need to focus on delivering value,” he added.

“From a client perspective, I grew up in a small business family and have always been fascinated by business and that fundamental question — what makes a business successful? Corporate lawyers are one ‘input’ into business success, but can be a very key one — that is a huge motivator for me. From a firm perspective, I’m hugely motivated by the challenge of continuing to demonstrate that it’s possible to have a high-performance culture as well as a high functioning team — to me, from a law firm perspective, that is success.”