Makinson & d'Apice Lawyers has recruited former Maurice Blackburn  general manager of knowledge management Tony Bleasdale as its new CEO.

The firm had become acquainted with Bleasdale through papers and presentations he had prepared and he admits that the initial approach came as a surprise.

“I didn’t even know they were looking, my name came up; they’d seen some of the papers and presentations I’d been doing and they invited me to come in,” he explained. “I actually met the IT manager at a conference; he came over and introduced himself. You don’t really put things together until later on. They’d obviously read a number of things I’d done and spoken to a number of people whom I’d worked with and the feedback was very good and they were keen.”

In addition to his knowledge management background, Bleasdale also has experience in broader business optimization and strategy and it was perhaps this aspect that also attracted the firm.  “They wanted someone who would have a five year vision;  not the same old stuff that everyone was doing – we will establish a differentiator between us and the competitor and look at the business fresh,” said Bleasdale.

This appointment caps a noteworthy rise for Bleasdale, who left school early. “I actually have no formal education – I left school at year ten and have been grafting my way since then,” he said. “I’ve always gone and attended courses and established myself and my ethos was always to assign myself to great mentors and I’ve been fortunate to work with people who have been great strategists over the years.”

“I went on a Mt Eliza [executive education] course a few years ago; a leadership development programme and it was really interesting to see the different mix in people; there were quite a few engineers; I really hold that strong as one of my biggest development periods because you got to work with people who [work in regimented professions such as engineering]. Being able to work with those sorts of people and working through things – I’ve always had a kind of ‘on the job’ development in my career.”

Tony Bleasdale was one of a panel of IT experts who participated in the recent ALB Technology Roundtable to discuss emerging trends in law firm IT. You can view extracts of this event on the ALB TV portal on the ALB homepage and full coverage is available in the features section. Part two of the Roundtable will be released shortly.