Q&A: Tony Symons – "At the end of the day, clients are looking for counsel"

In this Q&A, Clarendon Lawyers managing director Tony Symons discusses his love of a deal, how the entry of multinational players into the Australian market has helped his firm, and why communication is so important for modern law firms.

You juggle the responsibilities of being a managing director with your work as an M&A lawyer. How do you manage both?

“You’ve got to put it in perspective. We’re a small firm – we’ve only got 20 lawyers, so it is not like I am juggling managing a multinational firm with an M&A practice. However, we’re going through a growth phase at the moment, so there’s probably more management involved with setting up structures and the like than would normally be the case. I really like both aspects of the role. I love running a business and always wanted to get involved in that side, but I also love the thrill and excitement of doing a deal. I can’t leave either behind.”

What is it about management that you enjoy?

“At the moment, as we’ve been growing and taking on new partners, we’ve had a lot of sessions looking at the strategy of the firm, our market positioning and how to differentiate in a rapidly changing environment. I like that. It’s time-consuming and it does require some juggling with client commitments, but it’s a really rewarding part of my job.”

Clarendon Lawyers prides itself on being a specialist M&A firm. Do you agree that boutique firms seem – for now at least – to be well placed in a changing legal services market?

“The market is pretty good for us at the moment and that’s probably true for a lot of the NewLaw^# firms – boutique firms and specialist firms. That’s largely driven by the state of flux, or the disruption, caused by the larger mergers as they’ve been bedded down and people have had time to consider how their new world looks in a larger, multinational firm. That disruption has definitely created opportunities for us on the client side because we’ve historically received a lot of international referrals. I worked in Hong Kong for five years, as did director Nick Manuell. We have networks in the US, Asia and the UK and we’re finding that matters that were historically referred to one of the BigLaw participants are often not being referred to those firms because the BigLaw firms are now competitors in the domestic market from where that referral is coming. That’s certainly created more opportunities for us to do more cross-border work, particularly in mid-market M&A.”

By default, therefore, the entry of the multinational firms into Australia has helped you.

“Yes. More recently, as the mergers have settled down and people have worked out if that’s the place for them to continue their careers, it has also created opportunities for us from a recruitment perspective – to build our footprint in areas we want to build. We have no aspirations to be a full-service firm, but there are areas we need to cover off to be a specialist M&A firm. The current disruption in the legal market caused by the international mergers has presented us with an opportunity to pick up really talented people from those larger law firms, mainly for partner and partner-elect positions in our firm. They’re often quite senior and very valuable members of their current teams, but also really driven and ambitious people starved of prospects for advancement in the current environment in those firms.”

In recent times, your hires have included Susie Stone from Allens, Robert Feiner from Herbert Smith Freehills and John Mann from K&L Gates. Does that illustrate your point that leading lawyers are more willing to move to a boutique firm?

“Absolutely. If you take John Mann’s case, he’s an experienced M&A lawyer who was with K&L Gates and their predecessor firms for 28 years. He’s been able to successfully transition his practice across to us. Similarly, Robert Feiner and Susie Stone have each joined us from stellar careers at HSF and Allens, respectively. Those moves wouldn’t have happened 10 years ago when it was all about ‘bigger is better’ and when boutique and specialist firms were not seen in the same light as they are today – as real competitors to much larger firms, both in terms of clients and careers for lawyers. The technical and professional expertise and experience that our recent senior hires have brought to Clarendons is immense, and further strengthens our service offering for clients.”

What about the major law firms? How are they placed?

“There’s obviously a big role for those firms to play and they’ve got smart people running them here and around the globe. They have a clear strategy and that works for them. For us, our focus is on the mid-market and we believe the mid-market M&A transactions don’t necessarily get the attention they deserve at the larger law firms. That’s where we can differentiate our product.”

There is a lot of discussion these days about the culture of laws firms. Tell us about the culture at Clarendon Lawyers.

“We place a lot of value on culture and the appointments we make are as much about the cultural alignment as they are about expertise. Our team is young, motivated and energetic. We have a very flat structure – everyone has a voice, we engage with respect, strive for excellence, have pride in what we do and we all truly care about each other and how we’re all going. It may sound clichéd, but it’s a real team – one firm, with no siloed practice areas. It’s quite different to all other firms that I’ve worked in. We also place a lot of importance on flexibility, but maintain a high-performance culture … With all of the directors having worked at major national and international law firms, we pride ourselves on our commitment to client service. We’re not taking any shortcuts in client service or our expertise, it’s just that we’re doing it in a smaller environment where there’s a distinctive client-lawyer relationship model.”

Accessibility to leaders and directors seems to be a major requirement in modern firms – for employees and clients. Is that correct?

“There is definitely a requirement to be accessible, but more importantly for the right people to be accessible. One of our cornerstones is full director involvement in all matters – not just at the start and the end, but right through the transaction – a hands-on approach to getting things done.”

That must make it difficult sometimes for the firm’s senior leaders.

“It sometimes poses challenges from a financial and management perspective, but we’re confident that the value we deliver ultimately drives the success and profitability of our firm.”

On other culture-related matters, on your website it says that your firm prides itself on being down to earth and encouraging communication. Is it fair to say that such traits have not always been associated with law firms in the past?

“Lawyers are getting better at communicating and, for instance, the days of just racking up enormous fees and then sending out a one-line bill are virtually gone. Clients’ expectations have changed enormously and law firms have responded to that.  Ultimately, clients want to work with people they not only respect professionally, but also like and enjoy working with. I think the fact that our directors are actively involved in all of our matters means that we develop strong relationships with our clients during the course of the matter. For instance, I now count some of my oldest clients as close personal friends. As a relatively new firm, we have for many years had to prove ourselves against the larger law firms who have historically dominated M&A work. It has been necessary to show clients that there’s a good reason for engaging us, and that there’s a point of difference – one of those points of difference is how we engage with our clients and the way we communicate.”

Your experience includes a stint in Hong Kong with Linklaters, and prior to that you were in Herbert Smith Freehills’ M&A team in Melbourne. How has that big-firm experience shaped your career and the approach of Clarendon Lawyers?

“A lot of it comes down to the service levels – commitment to service at the highest level. I got trained very well by a number of people – one of them was John Mann, who has joined us. I learnt a lot at those firms about how to attract clients, how to service them and how to encourage them to come back. I believe that a lot is driven by (service during the deal), being personable and being able to relate to clients and other people on a transaction. Clients want to discuss matters in plain language without legal jargon. They want a commercial bent and they want your view, not a qualified view. At the end of the day clients are looking for counsel.”

As managing director of the firm, what are your key management challenges?

“The biggest challenge at the moment is recruiting staff as our practice grows. Despite my comments earlier, we all have to find ways to attract staff. As the market improves, it becomes harder for all of us to recruit staff. And just like with clients, Clarendon Lawyers is often starting from a few places behind, particularly with younger lawyers because our brand isn’t recognisable to the same degree as larger firms, yet we require the same level of commitment and expertise. So finding the right staff is clearly at the top of my list of priorities and challenges. They’re our biggest assets and will drive our future growth.”

What does the future hold for your firm?

“Everyone is looking for an edge and a way to differentiate themselves. We believe we have found a way to do that – and that’s working at the moment. That’s not to say that it’s going to work next year, or the year after that, or the year after that. We are in a rapidly changing environment and all firms are going to have to constantly re-evaluate their strategy and point of difference to ensure that it remains relevant.”

For more information on Clarendon Lawyers, visit www.clarendonlawyers.com.au.

^# NewLaw refers to the rise of firms that can be substitutes for traditional firms and which typically take a significantly different approach to the creation or provision of legal services than was the norm in the past.