Fast Movers 2008
Issue No. 47 - June/ july
Wallmans’ individual effort
Fast Mover, Wallmans’ Lawyers, is another proudly South Australian firm which is avoiding economic stagnation through imaginative application of the skills within the firm.
The practice provides a broad range of corporate and personal legal services and grows through the initiative of individual partners attracting new business.
“We are currently emphasizing areas of practice that are recession proof, such as local government(particularly property and infrastructure), medical and our personal services areas,” says Wallmans GM, Catherine Schultz.
“Areas impacted by the May 2009 budget, for example superannuation and tax and estate planning, will also become a focus going forward.”
Wallmans’ financial growth in 2007-08 was 18%, following a growth of 20% the previous year. Staff numbers grew 17% in 2008, with 60% growth in four years. As well as making the Fast Movers elite, Wallmans has been a finalist, for two years running, for the prestigious ALB Law Awards (Adelaide Law Firm of the Year) alongside several top-tier Adelaide firms.
“There are two key strategies that have driven our fast growth,” Catherine says.
“Lateral partner recruits who have built teams around them have been a key driver. Our corporate and commercial team and our local government team have more than doubled over the past three years.
“We have also made an effort to increase our profile rather remain the ‘quiet achiever’. In 2008 and 2009 two of the firm’s lawyers were named in the prestigious Australian Financial Review ‘Best Lawyers Australia List’ for their work in the medical and heath law sector.
“In 2008 and 2009 only a handful of solicitors in total were named from SA, out of a list of 690 lawyers mainly from larger national firms.
“We celebrated our 100th anniversary in 2008 and used this opportunity to promote ourselves in the media via advertising and in targeted firm functions.
“Our incre...
