Over in New Zealand, there’s an interesting new venture taking place which may be of interest to partners pondering their next career move. Dermot Ross has spent almost 28 years as a top flight partner with Buddle Findlay and Chapman Tripp. At 57, he’s not ready to retire yet – but he’s decided he needs a new challenge. He’s probably not alone.
“I think many of my generation have reached the stage where they would like to leave the big firms,” Ross told ALB. “You just start to feel that you might enjoy a different environment and it’s easy to get out of touch with some of the younger partners. I remember when I was made a partner many years ago I thought one or two of the older partners were starting to lose touch with the younger guys and who knows, perhaps they have been saying the same about me now! So I’ve decided to set up my own practice. I’ve got a good name in the market, and I'm keen to see where it will take me.”
A banking and finance specialist, Ross will continue to pursue practice principally in that area. “It’s not likely I’ll see much work from banks – obviously they prefer panels and the big firms, but perhaps there will be conflict work and second opinion work and so on,” he said. “I already do some work in the corporate sector for decent sized companies on the borrowing side and I’m hoping one or two of those clients will continue with me.”
Attracting a client base will be the first task for the fledgling firm, but Ross has every confidence of making a success of it. "I'm told that when someone in my position leaves one of the big firms, work comes in from unexpected places. Often it is said that sometimes the work comes in because you are no longer part of the big firm,” says Ross. "So perhaps there will be referrals from old clients of the firm whom you haven’t seen in years, clients from other firms who you might have impressed in previous years, and so on.”
The firm, which will operate under the name Dermot Ross & Co, will be promoting itself as a lower cost alternative to the large firms and has informal referral arrangements with other firms to facilitate the sharing of work. Ross said that relations with Chapman Tripp remain “excellent” and expects that there will be cross-referrals of work and collaboration with his old firm on a number of client matters.