EXCLUSIVE: Firm Spy One-on-One Interview With Retiring Mallesons Chief Executive Partner Robert Milliner

Since our inception many moons ago we have tended, rightly or wrongly, to single out the figureheads, or Chief Executive Partners, of the various firms about which we write.  The Spy takes the view that, in the first instance, the buck stops with executive management, followed in the second instance by the partnership. Market leading firms cop it hardest, for fairly obvious reasons.  In this regard, soon-to-retire Mallesons CEP Robert Milliner has come under some particularly trenchant criticism from the FS editorial team from time-to-time.

We appreciate that it can be difficult for CEPs to respond fully in the context of a single article – it might not be relevant, might be misinterpreted or just risk blowing the issue out of proportion.  So, before it’s too late, we wanted to give Mr Milliner a chance to share his thoughts with our readers, and we invited him to respond in an email interview. To his credit (and our considerable surprise), he agreed.

With cap in hand, everyone on the FS team would like to extend a very big and very sincere thank you to Mr Milliner for taking the time to respond to us and our readers.  Read on for the full interview.

(1) FS: Many of your firm’s own lawyers probably don’t realise the amount of time you have invested in the push toward creating a nationally regulated profession. How successful do you think that project has been and do you think national regulation can be achieved any time soon?

Robert Milliner:

First, I want to thank you for thinking to ask me to respond to what are some insightful and relevant questions for the Australian legal industry.

National regulation is about making the legal profession more efficient and hopefully more accessible and less costly. In a small way it is also part of the wider reform agenda to try and make the Australian economy work better and be more productive. It is intended to provide a streamlined, seamless and integrated legal system across the country which, when implemented, will ensure consistency and clarity. Integrating the legal system, much like integrating major infrastructure projects or other parts of the economy won’t happen overnight and it requires the Federal Government and all states and territories to be committed to long term effort on integration, which is not easy.

The Large Law Firm Group has made its views clear, and will continue to make a case for national regulation on the basis that, unless there is a single scheme, it will confuse businesses, add to compliance costs and generally frustrate the ability for Australian and international organisations to do business seamlessly in more than one state. This is not just for the benefit of large law firms but the profession and our clients. We now have a platform in the draft legislation which, although not perfect in all respects, should form the backbone of hopefully a new national system. It will take 18 months to put in place with the jurisdictions who are supporting it. For this to be fully effective it requires the Federal Government and the states to commit to establish and push for a single scheme – anything short of this will negate the full benefits of the scheme to consumers, clients and the profession.

(2) FS: It must be difficult to juggle the commitment as head of the Australian Large Law Firm Group with your role as CEP – has this been the case? Have you struck a good work/life balance over the last few years as CEP?

Robert Milliner:

I haven’t found it difficult to juggle these commitments. I see my role at Mallesons having multiple focuses – both internal around our people, our clients, our strategic priorities and governance, and external. This is similar for my contemporaries in other firms. The Large Law Firm Group is really part of my internal role. This group is committed to coordinating the involvement of the nine firms that employ nationally the largest number of lawyers, to support the establishment of the Law Council of Australia as the peak body for Australian lawyers and, in that role, its various activities as well as promoting the efficient and effective regulation of the legal profession.

I also sit on the Board of the Business Council of Australia, chair the Business Reform Taskforce and am a member of the Global Engagement Taskforce. In addition, I am a board member of Asialink/Asia Society and a member of the Attorney General’s International Legal Services Advisory Council and chair the China Working Group. All of these activities are, in my view, important for the profession, my firm and me personally to make a contribution to policy development and the role of the profession in it. As well I participate in a number of community focussed activities as deputy chair of our Mallesons in the Community program, as a board member of the Australian Charities Fund (which sponsors workplace giving) and Australian Business and Community Networks (which engages business in supporting public schools in disadvantaged areas of Australia).

In terms of a good work-life balance I think that I’ve always tried to have this but I appreciate that people have different views on what “good” is. A number of my external activities are, for me, part of that balance. My family is a key priority for me and I relish every moment I have with them but they have busy schedules too! It can get complicated sometimes and in our business (as with other walks of life) there will be moments when you have to put the hours in to get the results you want. My family appreciates and supports me in doing that. We have just got used to working around it!

(3) FS: Do you think it is worthwhile agreeing nationalised targets on what is an acceptable/safe number of hours an individual lawyer can work in a given week, and relief such as time-in-lieu for overtime in excess of that target?

Robert Milliner:

Ours is a profession that will demand tough work hours from time to time driven by responding to our clients’ business needs. The globalised world and technology have no doubt contributed significantly to increasing speed and compression of timetables. In recent times global volatility has added another dimension. The necessary check is to ensure that this isn’t something that is consistent and regular for any individual. I don’t see a case for a nationalised target for the ‘safe’ number of hours a lawyer can work in a given timeframe – it’s too broad a brush and not practical. The issue is one of both firm and individual responsibility. Team leaders and supervising partners need to be highly aware of the workloads of their teams and actively manage them in a transparent and collaborative manner.

We also need to be more flexible and agile in sharing and moving resources. Individual lawyers need to be part of the solution both in terms of workload management and flexibility to help others out. I am a firm believer in providing the necessary support to lawyers who, because of the matter they are involved in, may have to work extended hours. This includes more discussions of how to share and manage the work, technology to enable remote working, time off in lieu and rewards and recognition. It may not be perceived this way it but I believe all law firms are acutely aware of the importance of retaining and attracting the best people.

Providing opportunities to do exciting and challenging work is a positive; the negative is often the schedules and time commitments driven by the factors I mentioned above. We continue to work on ways to effectively manage workloads and individual needs.

(4) FS: We realise that the role of CEP requires you to make difficult judgment calls between appeasing (and retaining) talented partners, and attracting (and retaining) the very best junior talent. Do you have any comments you can share about the search for the right balance?

Robert Milliner:

Our Mallesons 2015 strategy is made up of three clear priorities which are around our 3 core ‘brand’ promises: to our people, our clients and our firm and this has been committed to by our partners. For our people – we want them to thrive in a collaborative team environment and be challenged to innovate. We are focussed on learning and evolving in the way we design and manage our lawyers and staff career paths and our approach to talent development and retention.

We have established a specific Talent Council and a Diversity Council to explore and challenge our thinking on these issues. Like any people business there will be times when the implementation of our strategies don’t achieve the results we want or as quickly as our lawyers and staff would desire. But largely, we endeavour to create a workplace where like-minded people can work together in a high performance environment so they can make a difference to our clients and our communities.

(5) FS: We thoroughly enjoyed your opinion piece in The Australian a few months ago (available here), in particular your views on the rise of Asia, and we noted that it was informed by the 12th five-year-plan for China. A couple of weeks ago, HSBC released the Chinese Purchasing Managers’ Index which showed, for the 3rd successive month, that Chinese manufacturing had declined. This news precipitated a huge sell-off in domestic mineral stocks (BHP’s share price has plummetted by nearly 30% since the start of the decline) and a broader ASX slump. When we see such volatility generated by an arguably benign market indicator, do you think the business case for Australian lawyers in China remains strong? Given recent hindsight, can we have any faith in predictions about the future of the world legal economy?

Robert Milliner:

Firstly thank you – I feel strongly about the need for the Australian profession to engage in the continued and rapid evolution of the global legal market and evolve our role, particularly in Asia, as part of that.

As you know, the global economy remains under intense pressure and continuing volatility. The GFC has shown us how economically interconnected the world is. Therefore any significant volatility, particularly any further downturn in the Eurozone or the US, will have an impact on China and the Asian region. Everything from political instability to a Eurozone sovereign debt default will have an impact on most economies around the world. But, what remains clear is that the rise of China and the Asian region will provide businesses – and law firms are no exception – with opportunities.

China’s share of world GDP was 4% in 1990 – and is predicted to be 24% in 2030. The appetite for China to participate in M&A activity for example is expected to grow from $1 to $2 trillion in the next ten years. You’re right to ask about the validity of these predictions and the stability of China growth. Can we ever be sure? The answer is perhaps in the overwhelming evidence that China is a robust and relentless economy which is well managed and determined to succeed.

(6) FS: Swift technological advances are affecting both the provision of legal services and the management of those legal services providers. On the latter, do you think technological advances are affecting in the ability of firm management to control the dissemination of information/outcomes/decisions to media? If so, do you think the increasing lack of control is affecting the outcomes/decisions themselves?

Robert Milliner:

Organisations, including law firms, are becoming more transparent and increasingly open about the information they share with their own people, clients and with the media. It’s perhaps been more challenging for law firms which historically have been seen as private partnerships with a different sense of ownership and hence confidentiality of information than for publicly owned bodies. This is changing as a result of both internal and external forces. Social media and changing generational attitudes are leading the charge here. I don’t think this has a material affect on the outcomes or the decisions made – these are based on other criteria such as our strategy, and our values. But, once made, appropriate and transparent communication of the decisions to all stakeholders is critical.

(7) FS: Prior to the GFC, Mallesons had a substantial securitisation practise and was reputed in banking and finance circles for its specialisation in the structuring of synthetic derivatives (CDSs, etc). From your ringside-seat during one of the most important periods in Australia’s corporate and economic history, how much responsibility for the GFC would you place at the feet of banking lawyers and law firms?

Robert Milliner:

The role of leveraged financed instruments and the leverage bubble of 2005-2008 was missed by virtually everyone – governments, regulators, experts alike. In hindsight the global community has sought to allocate responsibility as you would expect in response to a significant market failure. However it is only in hindsight that for many the “whole picture” can be seen.

No doubt banking lawyers and law firms were instrumental in documenting the leveraged asset cycle but rarely did we have any appreciation of the overall scale and significance of it. It is clear that lawyers have a role in reminding business of appropriate risk issues but it is difficult to see any firm or group of firms having the capacity to pre-empt the circumstances which crystallised in 2008. On the other hand many firms have done great work in assisting clients, governments and markets to respond to the crisis. For example, our lawyers were responsible for drafting legislation which formed the backbone of the Government Guarantee Scheme which prevented Australia’s banking industry from failure.

(8) FS: In departing Mallesons, you leave a firm in formidable shape. With the job now almost “done”, what are you most looking forward to? After a well-earned break, what do you see as your next project?

Robert Milliner:

At the risk of correcting you, I think anyone in my position that has the opportunity to play a significant role in an outstanding firm of great people, understands that their contribution has merely built on the legacy of others. I have no doubt our new leaders will do likewise. For me I haven’t formally committed to a new role yet but will pursue a role as an executive in a multi-national corporate. In the near term I aim to spend some quality time with my family over Christmas and January before pursuing my next steps.

We wish Mr Milliner the best of luck for the future.

Robert Milliner:

Thank you FS. Over the years you and your editorial team have challenged and entertained us. Because of you I am now fondly called Gandalf the Grey internally here at Mallesons. Unfortunately, although the grey bit is correct – the wisdom and magical qualities of Gandalf have escaped me.

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EXCLUSIVE: Firm Spy One-on-One Interview With Retiring Mallesons Chief Executive Partner Robert Milliner, 4.8 out of 5 based on 12 ratings