Managing partner of Squire Sanders Australia, John Poulsen, has predicted that the remaining national firms in the market will be looking carefully at the latest global mergers and whether it is in their best interest to make a similar move. “The world does not stand still: Why are they doing it? For the same reasons we did,” said Poulsen of the two latest international arrivals Ashurst and King & Wood Mallesons. “The question is, what will the rest of the national firms do?”

Poulsen and a majority of partners from the former Minter Ellison Perth firm have been with Squire Sanders for four months now, and are reaping the rewards of their gamble. “We are getting lots of interesting work in from the network that is not restricted to Perth or Australian work,” said Poulsen.
While things could have gone badly for him and the firm, Poulsen says that having come out the other side of an international merger he is glad that they were at the front of the pack and in control of their destiny. “We are creating our own future. Sometimes you make mistakes and sometimes you get things right,” he said. “If you were a partner in a major national law firm in Australia right now, there is more uncertainty about future than there has been for the past five to 10 years… it’s a turbulent time for the legal profession.”

While going global undoubtedly brings in international ‘high end’ work, Poulsen says a key element of the Squire Sanders model is to maintain strong domestic practices as well. “Because some of those clients will do things internationally, if you ignore the domestic practice, you ignore it at your peril,” he said.

Poulsen also warns fellow Australian lawyers now part of a global legal network that the move is not without a few challenges as well as opportunities. “The first challenge for us is getting to grips with the breadth and depth of the firm we have joined,” he said. “The second challenge is that as a global firm its 24 hours a day.”Lastly, he says that as a global firm the opportunities can sometimes be overwhelming. “Deciding which collaborative piece of work to work on is the final challenge, as you only have so many hours in a day,” he said.

In the months ahead, Poulsen is set to add a new challenge to the list, that of a new domestic office in Sydney. “We are certainly very much thinking about it. There will be movement. Ideally it would be in the beginning of the new financial year,” he stated.