Lander & Rogers ventures into the world of consulting

Lander & Rogers, a law firm with offices in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, has ventured into the world of management consulting.

Launched a few weeks ago, the new division will provide management and legal consulting services to general counsel and in-house lawyers. The move comes shortly after Lander & Rogers, which has a headcount of around 500 professionals, expanded its services in Brisbane with a family law practice. 

The launch of the new consulting wing comes at a time of growing change for general counsel and in-house lawyers. The rise of digital disruption, internationalisation of products & goods and mounting regulatory scrutiny means that companies are increasingly turning to their legal functions for the legally compliant way forward. 

“In today's shifting business and regulatory environment, the challenges faced by our clients are often felt most keenly by their general counsel and in-house lawyers,” said Genevieve Collins, Chief Executive Partner at Lander & Rogers.

Meanwhile, legal functions are facing change themselves, with companies increasingly introducing technology to curb their legal spending while at the same time demanding more strategic and value adding support. As Anthony Kearns, head of Lander & Rogers Consulting, put it, “The work of in-house legal teams has never been more important to organisations.” 

He added that he “looks forward” to helping clients enhance the “effectiveness, impact and value” of their legal teams, by providing them with strategic advice on how their in-house legal function can quickly respond to change and best meet the needs of their business.

Kearns brings over two decades of experience to the firm. He joins Lander & Rogers from rival Herbert Smith Freehills, where he latterly was Global Head of Business Development and Client Experience. In the role, he helped the global law firm boost the profitability of its corporate client base, and build  consulting practice from scratch.

Drawing on his extensive experience across organisational development, leadership development, management consulting, risk management and legal services, he will now look to repeat this success at Melbourne-headquartered Lander & Rogers.

In related moves internationally, in 2018 UK-based global law firm HFW launched a consulting business and Allen & Gledhill, one of Singapore’s largest law firms, launched a compliance and risk & regulatory consulting arm. Similarly, magic circle player Allen & Overy also recently pushed into the regulatory consultancy landscape.