QA Michelle Dixon My guiding principle to leadership is to think about how people feel about themselves when they are with me

In our latest Q&A, Maddocks chief executive officer Michelle Dixon reflects on the law firm shakeout that is occurring in Australia, the importance of being authentic, and why gender pay equity should be a priority for firms.

Maddocks continues to receive praise as a strong independent firm. In your role as CEO, what are your goals for the further development of the firm?

“My primary focus is to work with our partnership and staff to continue to position us as a preeminent Australian firm in our chosen sectors and areas of practice – Commonwealth, education, healthcare, infrastructure, NSW state government, NSW local government, Victorian state government, Victorian local government, professional services and technology – and making sure that all of our people are absolutely 100 per cent focused on looking after our clients and understanding things such as their key business issues, organisational structure and decision-making criteria.”

As firms try to find their strengths in a highly competitive market, does that make your job more difficult?

“There are a number of challenges, but also a number of opportunities. We are still seeing the shakeout in the market from the number of international entrants. This has presented a great opportunity for us to enhance practice areas and skills by picking up partners from the international firms who want to work in an organisation based on relationships with clients, rather than rolling from one transaction to another without that continuity of relationships. The counter to that is the challenge in attracting and retaining talented junior lawyers with an offering that has a local focus, without the allure of the possibility of working overseas. We’re observing that wide-ranging matters, a genuine social conscience, development opportunities and a truly collaborative working environment are all strong cards to play when attracting the next breed of lawyers. That said, most firms in Australia are reducing their intake of graduates at the same time that law schools are increasing in number and increasing their intakes, meaning that there is a large talent pool from which to recruit.”

What are you seeking from graduates in an era when law and technology often go hand in glove?

“We are looking for things that we have sought for quite a while – strong legal technical skills and good marks, well-rounded people and people who we think will be able to build a rapport with clients and really look after those clients. Sometimes people with the best marks are not necessarily the people who will have the best commercial focus or be able to provide pragmatic responses to clients. In the current legal market, in which in-house counsel are increasingly under cost pressures, you really need people who can provide pragmatic and sensible solutions.”

You attended the recent World Masters of Law Firm Management conference in Sydney, at which British law firm management guru Richard Susskind spoke. Were there any key takeaway messages for you?

“This was a really good conference and it is always good to hear what Professor Susskind is thinking. His observation that clients want more for less is consistent with the change that we see in the market in circumstances where in-house counsel are increasingly under budgetary pressure. This means that we have to find new, more innovative ways to assist our clients within the constraints of their budgets. The unknown, and slightly daunting prospect, is what role technology will play in the legal market in the future; in particular, the extent to which in the future people will be able to rely on technology-based products rather than lawyers for legal advice.”

Ensuring firms become more efficient with work, IT and cost practices was among the themes to emerge at World Masters. What is Maddocks doing in this environment of efficiency?

“As a domestic firm, or what used to be termed the ‘mid-tier’, we have always been very focused on efficiency and cost-benefit analysis. Our view has always been that we ought not do and ought not charge for any work unless it absolutely adds value to our client and the matter at hand. We are very focused on our own cost efficiencies to ensure that we are able to be both nimble and flexible when it comes to pricing work and the way in which we price that work. For example, we outsource various parts of our shared services functions and actively look to pass on savings where we can to clients. We have established relationships with legal process outsourcers in South Africa and, for very large routine types of work, will offer clients the choice in terms of how we resource and perform that work to ensure that it can be done efficiently.”

Do you have any particular management strategies or philosophies that inform the way you lead the firm?

“Given that I came to the CEO role a little unexpectedly and straight from practice, I am not sure that I could say that I have any particular philosophies or strategies. But I am very determined in this role to be authentic, to be true to my beliefs and support those matters that I feel strongly about such as gender equity and diversity in the workplace. My guiding principle to leadership is to think about how people feel about themselves when they are with me. I wish I could say that everyone felt good about themselves when they are with me. It obviously won’t always be the case, but it is certainly an ideal that I strive for.”

You have spoken in the past about the importance of all firm members bringing value to clients and the business. What does that entail?

“Adding value is crucial, regardless of the role or the person. For example, when I am talking to people within the firm about client service, one of the shining lights that I hold up are the people in our mail room. They are extraordinary and a fabulous group of people who will just do whatever needs to be done to help all areas of the firm and make sure that those areas can do what they need to do whether it’s a shared services function, or a lawyer needing to deliver work to a client or get things to court; they’re just an amazing team. My view of client service is that every single person in the firm has to be pulling together to achieve the same end.”

Australian firms are experiencing significant market changes. How do you think they are placed for the future?

“Different firms are placed in different ways. I think the domestic firms who have always played in the domestic market and are focused on relationships are extremely well placed to continue to look after their clients, provided that they keep an eye on maintaining efficiencies. That’s how I feel about Maddocks. I think the large international firms who are focused on cross-border transactions will also be more vulnerable to changes in the global economy so they will need to ensure that their structure can adapt rapidly to economic shifts.”

Many firms are wrestling with their market position, especially following the entry of major multinational firms. Where does Maddocks want to sit in the market?

“We are very proudly a domestic firm and very proudly a firm based on relationships, not just with our clients but also our people. We have a very strong collegiate partnership and that is one of our great strengths. It is also good for our clients because it means that the right people will be doing the right work, rather than what we see with some other firms where they are structured in an ‘eat what you kill’ way in terms of remuneration for partners that lead to behaviours that aren’t collegiate.”

Is it fair to say that the sense of intimidation that some medium-sized firms may have felt from the international firms has started to ease?

“Yes, I think there was some nervousness and there was a sense with some firms – not with us – that you need to get on board or you might get left behind. Like all firms, we look at the market and where you want to position yourself and we’ve always been very proudly an Australian firm and we do a lot of work in a range of sectors – and one of them is government. We’ve always been very strong in that sector and, within that sector, there’s no real benefit to being a player in the international space.”

Female managing partners or CEOs are still few and far between in Australian law firms. Does gender play a role in your work, and what can be done to encourage more female leaders in firms?

“This is an interesting question. I don’t think that gender plays a role in my work in a day-to-day sense save that I am very passionate about gender equity and broader diversity within the firm and I have the advantage of having experienced having children, taking maternity leave and some time off with that and then having to come back into a firm as a senior lawyer and deal with the particular challenges of being a working woman. That said, I am very proud of our firm. We have a fabulous track record – which is improving – around gender equity and a really supportive partnership. Gender was never an issue in terms of my appointment as CEO. My style is very different to that of my two male predecessors and people are very comfortable with that. I was appointed an equity partner when I was pregnant and, in fact, we have just appointed two new female equity partners, both of whom are pregnant, which I am absolutely delighted about. In terms of encouraging more female leaders in the firm, there is still work to be done. Part of it is around the messaging and language that we use. I can recall when I had kids the message that came through from men and women within the partnership was that it is just too hard, but the reality is that now we are prepared as a firm to look at ways of making it work. That just requires a bit of energy and imagination.”

Maddocks has championed pay equity for women. Can you tell us about that process and how difficult it has been?

“The only thing that I find astounding is that there is a need in the community for this to be championed at all and I suspect that in the future we will look back and my kids will be saying, ‘How on earth could that have been the case in 2014-15?’ Within law firms, and if I just look at lawyers for the moment, there is rarely an issue in terms of pay equity among the more junior lawyers, where lawyers tend to be paid by reference to relatively fixed salary bands. Where there is a risk of pay equity issues arising is around rates of promotion – and this is where we have to be particularly attentive. As a management group, we collectively set salaries for senior lawyers to ensure that people at the same level and of the same merit are being paid an amount irrespective of whether they are putting their hand up and asking for more. All the gender studies will tell you that men are more likely to ask for more money than women and our responsibility as a management group is to take a top-down approach to ensure that the person who shouts loudest isn’t the person who gets paid the most. So I don’t actually think it is a difficult process, but one that requires energy and commitment from senior management and it is not an answer to say that women have to push for more.”

How is Maddocks faring with regard to promoting gender diversity in senior ranks?

“There’s been so much focus on this issue and we’ve had a very good partnership and fabulous men in the partnership who have really driven this as well, before I was CEO. They have been very supportive, including a number of our chairmen. If you look at our youngest half of the partners – so partners aged between 35 and 45 – more than half of them are women. That change is really getting traction and our board is made up of more than 50 per cent of women – and that’s probably unheard of in professional services.”

Are there any other messages you have for law firm leaders?

“I think that having been in the role for 18 months it would be a bit cheeky for me to start dishing out advice. I am sure that plenty would have advice for me. On pay equity, I would encourage them to take the top-down approach, and to lead by example on that issue, and that they need to understand that it is not as simple as just making sure that all senior associates are paid a similar amount, but making sure that they are being promoted within the senior associate ranks at the same rate, irrespective of whether they are men or women. And that we all recognise our own unconscious biases when it comes to what leadership looks like.”