Podcast S4 Ep4: David Kearney on building tomorrow's legal business model

My guest on the latest Performance Leader podcast series is David Kearney. David is co-founder and managing partner of Wotton Kearney, Australia's leading insurance law firm. Starting with six lawyers in 2002, WK has grown to 70 partners and 850 staff across 11 offices through strategic focus, clear values and an ambitious vision. It's a remarkable story. David is the first to point out it's been a collective effort, but the vision, principles and energy in David tells the story of this firm.

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In this podcast David and I discuss how the firm grew from its early days, and more recently transformed from partnership to private equity-backed corporate structure, implementing strengths-based performance management, emphasising "legal business" innovation, maintaining values-driven collaborative growth strategy and staying focussed on client value all the while.

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(01:50) Formation and growth of Wotton Kearney

• What led to formation and early ambitions
• Insights on recruiting and retaining talent during rapid growth

(04:22) Strategic vision and culture

• Importance of having a powerful strategic vision for recruitment
• Role of values and culture in building the firm

(05:35) Private equity investment

• What prompted the move to private equity investment
• Managing tensions between different stakeholders

(05:35) Private equity investment

• How PE changes the managing partner role
• Impact on client-facing partners' day-to-day work

(15:40) New language and communication

• New terminology around share price, EBITDA, and enterprise value
• How business language circulates at partnership level

(16:58) Talent management

• How PE facilitates partner entry and exit processes
• Equity participation for non-legal employees

(18:50) Strengths-based partner contribution management model

• Moving from prescriptive to empowered planning
• "One size fits one" approach to partner contribution
• Collaborative financial targets and balanced scorecards
• Non-legal staff equity participation

(24:02) Future of legal services

• How AI and automation change professional advisory roles
• What "Future WK" means as a performance criterion

(26:48) David's leadership journey

• David's own growth and development as a leader
• Is David a lawyer or businessman?

(29:47) Looking back, looking forward

• Key insights from 20+ years of leading partner growth
• What excites him about the next five years ("Trailblazing to 2030")