Article · Professional Services

A bonsai does not become remarkable quickly

Fifty placements into one firm’s BD, marketing and client team over fifteen years. The number is not the point. What followed each appointment is.

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A bonsai tree on a stone plinth in a bright marble lobby

A bonsai does not become remarkable quickly. Its beauty comes from strong roots, patient care and an environment in which it is given every opportunity to flourish. That feels like a fitting image for a milestone that passed quietly this year.

One of Australia’s leading law firms recently welcomed the fiftieth person I have had the privilege of placing into its business development, marketing and client team over the past fifteen years. Yet what deserves to be celebrated is not the number. It is what followed each appointment.

Across those placements, the average tenure is the longest in the market. There has not been a single probationary dropout. Those figures tell the story of a firm people choose to join, stay with and, very importantly, grow in. The career stories that have come out of that team over fifteen years have been a pleasure to watch and to hear.

The firm understands that enduring success is rooted in the value placed on people, clients and trusted suppliers. The dignity and respect it extends to those who support it speaks volumes about the care it brings to those it serves. Clients sit at the heart of everything it does, and the BD and marketing team is treated as part of how the firm wins, not as a cost to be managed.

There is a lesson in that for any firm thinking about its own team. Tenure is not an accident and it is not bought with pay alone. It comes from hiring carefully, giving people room to grow, and treating the function as central to the firm’s growth. Fifty people over fifteen years, almost all of them still in the market and many still at the firm, is what that looks like.

The firm has provided a foundation for their growth and, quietly, has also been the foundation of mine. This is not something to announce. It is an opportunity to say thank you, and to recognise an exceptional team and firm that I have been both fortunate and very proud to have supported in some small way.

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