Dispute Resolution | Partner or Special Counsel stepping up

Location: Brisbane
Discipline: partner & special counsel
Job type: Permanent
Salary: 300000 to 1200000
Contact name: Craig Ashton-Sward

Contact email: craig@lawstaff.com.au
Job ref: DRP020224
Published: 11 months ago
  • Resourceful National Law Firm with 25% Growth
  • Large Disputes feeding through from the Commercial Teams
  • Rem Circa $230K (SC), $350K+ Bonuses (SP), to $1.2M++ (EP)
  • Deferred Start Negotiable
THE FIRM 

This is a firm with a deep level of technical capability while also being a relatively young and highly collaborative partnership. 

Our client has a strategic plan of expanding further with the appointment of an additional Partner in their Dispute Resolution Team. The appointment may accommodate a Special Counsel looking to step up to Salaried Partner level on commencement.  
 
THE ROLE
    
The firm is seeking an additional senior lawyer with strong technical skills to join their highly-regarded dispute resolution practice. You will work closely with 3 other Partners in this department, while collaborating with numerous Commercial Partners from other departments. 

The preferred candidate will have a skillset in at 1 or 2 of the following key areas:
  • General Commercial Litigation - disputes under the Corporations Act; breach of contract; consumer protection issues; real property disputes; resources disputes; 
  • Corporate Insolvency - secured recovery; preference claims; oppression actions; shareholder litigation; directors' duties; winding up applications; corporate restructuring and trade-on arrangements; 
  • Planning & Environment Litigation - planning appeals; defence of environment prosecution and enforcement proceedings; Planning and Environment Court litigation; Land Court proceedings; cultural heritage issues; compensation claims.
WHAT YOU NEED

The expectations are genuinely for 10-20 years post-admission experience, in one or a couple of these service lines. A fair portion of that experience must have been recently obtained within Brisbane in a specialist firm, a mid-tier, or a large national practice.

Indicative of your skillset in servicing these demographic clients, you will have existing relationships and a modest yet quantifiable practice at various levels within the commercial arena. 
 
In addition, you will have well-developed team management skills and a high level of commercial acumen and a strong client focus.

WHAT YOU GET
    
This is a lateral appointment into Partnership. For entry level Partners they offer generous salaries, plus bonuses on modest KPI's. For Equity Partners their earnings are well in excess of industry benchmarks without the need to compromise on prestige or resources.
  
While other firms are cost-shedding to maintain their profit pool, this firm maintains an extensive local and national back-office infrastructure that underpins the very success of each partner. 
OUR EXPERIENCE
 
In challenging times, there has been the need for law firms to recalibrate in order to maintain a competitive advantage and a sustainable profit pool for its partners. Those that have managed this have emerged as magnets to other partners looking to transition their clients to a more innovative and profitable platform.

With 30 years as specialist consultants to the legal profession, Law Staff has an impressive history of facilitating discreet moves for partners (and whole teams) to specialist, mid or top tier practices, all while providing critical intelligence on:
  • Individual profitability of the relevant firms;
  • Partnership structures and equity distribution;
  • Strategic growth plans;
  • Intra/Cross practice compatibility;
  • Historical transitions;
  • Performance expectations; as well as
  • Partnership culture and idiosyncrasies (trust us when we say that no one firm is perfect).
In addition, our Senior Client Advisors have assisted hundreds of partners in writing detailed business plans that identify only relevant information including key practice components as well as transitioning requirements, and less of the white noise. We advise you when the appropriate time is to table this information to ensure your commercial interests are preserved. Most importantly, we will only ever confer with the relevant Managing Partner after you have done your research and at a time when you have expressed in writing that you are ready to take that cautious next step. Absolutely everything stays in the vault until that time. A list of partner references can be made available at your request.

THE NEXT STEPS

We offer a meeting over Zoom or FaceTime, as well as offer a contactless meeting in a lounge room setting for a relaxed confidential discussion over coffee/tea, allowing you to comfortably provide us with an understanding of your considerations in that next move. 

For a uncompromisingly confidential discussion, please quote REF: DRP020224 and contact either:
  • Craig Ashton-Sward (Director & Senior Client Advisor) 
  • craig@lawstaff.com.au
  • 0413 743 838 (8:00 am to 8:00 pm 7 days)
or
  • Trudy Reading (Senior Client Advisor)
  • trudy@lawstaff.com.au 
  • 0401 504 203 (8:00 am to 8:00 pm 7 days)
Feel free to maintain your anonymity in the first instance if you choose.
LawStaff | Level 22 HSBC Building | 300 Queen Street | Brisbane