Latest news Sign up for World Masters seminar Businesses not ready for crises Milestone for women barristers

World Masters puts spotlight on differentiation

Respected American author and marketing professional Tim Williams will help leaders embrace strategies to differentiate their firms from others when he addresses the World Masters of Law Firm Management workshop in Sydney in September.

To be held on September 18 at the offices of Allens at Level 28, Deutsche Bank Place, on the corner of Hunter and Phillip streets in Sydney, the masterclass is the latest in a renowned series of seminars designed to educate firms on law management issues. Previous keynote presenters have included David Maister, Thomas DeLong, Ron Baker, Ed Weissman, Stephen Mayson, Gerry Riskin, Ashish Nanda, Richard Susskind, Karim Lakhani and Heidi Gardner, all of whom are highly regarded international leaders in their fields.

In a legal market that is more crowded and more competitive than ever before, it is critical to have clear differentiation from your competitors. Yet law firms struggle to differentiate themselves and build clear points of difference that will lead clients to choose them over their competitors.

In this energising workshop, Williams, the founding partner of Ignition Consulting Group, will lead senior firm leaders through the stages necessary to build effective differentiation and a clear business strategy. By clarifying your focus for the future, your firm will enjoy a stronger win ratio in new business, because you’ll be playing to your strengths. A clear focus also provides:

• a clear path for investing in the development of services and acquiring new talent;
• a meaningful, unifying theme for how you market the firm to prospective clients;
• more pricing leverage with clients, because you’ll be offering more differentiated services and expertise.

Based on the principles and practices contained in Williams’ book, Positioning for Professionals: How Professional Knowledge Firms Can Differentiate Their Way to Success, this workshop covers the following key concepts:

1. Key Strategic Decisions That Predict Your Future

2. Finding a More Valuable Spot on the Value Chain

3. Moving Through the “Long Tail” of Business Strategy

4. Becoming Inimitable

5. Defining Your Strategic Boundaries

6. Future-Proofing Your Strategy

7. Operationalising Your Strategy.

For more details and to register, visit www.lawcouncil.au/event/world-masters-2018

More crises occurring, but ‘businesses are unprepared’

A new Deloitte study has issued a wakeup call to businesses, suggesting that despite organisations facing more crises today than 10 years ago, almost all leaders overestimate their capability to respond.

The research shows that 90 per cent of crisis management leaders are confident of their capability to respond, but only a small proportion has tested their preparedness. The Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa report more crises in the past two years than organisations in other regions and have experienced more than one type of crisis.

Tony Morris, the Deloitte Australia crisis management leader, says: “Organisations are keenly aware of the increasing threat of crises, according to nearly 60 per cent of respondents to a Deloitte global survey. Some 80 per cent of organisations worldwide have had to mobilise their crisis-management teams at least once in the past two years. Yet only 17 per cent of the 500 senior crisis and risk executives we surveyed actually test their capability. From experience we know that it’s the ability to test, rehearse and simulate crises that ensures organisations are ready to respond with skilled leadership and plans that work.”

The study showed that the top types of crises worldwide are cyber-attacks (46 per cent) followed by safety incidents (45 per cent). The findings in this Deloitte 2018 crisis management survey, Stronger, fitter, better: Crisis management for the resilient enterprise, build on those of Deloitte’s 2015 study A crisis of confidence.

‘Long way to go’ for barrister equality

 The Australian legal profession’s efforts to create a more equitable environment for women barristers has reached an important milestone, with the release of the first tranche of data from the Law Council of Australia’s landmark Equitable Briefing Policy.

The Equitable Briefing Policy was launched in 2016 and encourages entities that select barristers to make all reasonable endeavours to brief women. The goal is for women to be briefed in at least 30 per cent of all briefs, and to receive at least 30 per cent of the value of all brief fees by 2020. The inaugural Equitable Briefing Policy Annual Report, launched recently by Law Council president Morry Bailes found that over the first reporting period – the 2016-17 financial year – that:

• women barristers received 20 per cent of the total briefs;
• women barristers received 15 per cent of the total fees charged by barristers;
• among junior barristers, women barristers received 28 per cent of briefs; and
• among senior barristers, women barristers received 12 per cent of briefs.

“What gets measured gets managed. While this first round of data shows there is obviously a long way to go, we have been greatly buoyed by the enthusiasm for change among the profession,” Bailes says. “The overwhelming majority of large Australian law firms and many of the nation’s biggest corporations have now formally signed on to the Equitable Briefing Policy – more than 350 organisations and individuals in all.

“Shifting a longstanding culture will not happen overnight. Yet we are confident that through the conscious efforts of signatories in volunteering to self-regulate, coupled with steadfast regular reporting, we can make a real difference in the coming years.

“We know that women are graduating from Australian law schools in significantly larger numbers than their male counterparts, yet they make up a lower percentage of barristers (23 per cent in 2015), spend fewer hours in court, and get paid less in fees. As a profession we can and must improve in this area. I note that the trend for junior women barristers is encouraging. Meanwhile, the Law Council of Australia has been working hard with its Constituent Bodies and other stakeholders within the profession on efforts to boost the retention of women. So, we are hopeful we will see those junior barrister trends graduating into the senior barrister ranks over time.

“The Law Council is grateful for the leadership of the profession and signatory organisations for recognising the importance of diversity and equality.”