Industry shifts, talent retention and evolving client expectations: National Managing Partner Troy Lewis speaks with Capital Brief

Holding Redlich National Managing Partner, Troy Lewis, recently spoke to Capital Brief's Laurel Henning about industry shifts, the fight to retain mid-career lawyers, evolving client expectations and why location is no issue when it comes to leadership.

The evolving client-advisor relationship

In the interview, Troy says he has observed a change in the client-advisor relationship in the past 5 years and expects it will only gather momentum.

“More and more, we see clients don’t just want answers to their legal problems, but they want to be able to have conversations about the industry as a whole, where it's going, and opportunities for them moving forward,” he told Capital Brief.

Clients want to work more closely with advisors who ensure they not only fully understand a client’s business but can also add value.

The challenge of retaining mid-career lawyers

The legal industry is grappling with mid-career lawyer retention and Holding Redlich is focused on several key factors to address this challenge. Troy highlighted flexible working arrangements, longer-term strategies, a gender pay gap that is below industry benchmarks and early career-growth opportunities as essential to retention efforts.

“It’s also about recognising that not everyone wants to be on a pathway to partnership,” Troy told Capital Brief, while ensuring those “who do have longer-term career aspirations to be a partner or general counsel, can see the pathway and the opportunities to do that and to grow within the firm.”

Holding Redlich’s increase in partner numbers reflects a clear growth strategy. “We have a very clear vision of where we want to be in 2027-28 and beyond,” Troy said. “Our long-term focus on our core areas of strength has led to our increase in partner numbers over the past 18 months, and is where we will continue to focus over the coming years.”

The importance of sector expertise

Troy also discussed Holding Redlich’s approach to supporting junior and mid-tier lawyers in developing industry expertise early. “We encourage them to ensure they're networking with people within their industry at a very early stage. We actively ensure that they're in attendance at meetings with clients and actively participating in events we do for clients, on a broad scale, and with individual clients,” he told Capital Brief.

“The feedback we get is that it’s different to the approach taken in a number of other firms, and lawyers particularly appreciate and enjoy that.”

Click here to read the full article in Capital Brief.

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