A hundred year old national firm has abandoned the partnership structure in favour of an incorporated model.
Colin Biggers & Paisley has switched to an incorporated model after over a hundred years operating as a partnership.
The firm has undergone five years of rapid growth, which saw it merge with Brisbane firm Hemming+Hart back in 2013. As a result of that merger, the firm wound up with a hybrid structure: a partnership model in New South Wales and Victoria but an incorporated model in Queensland.
“Converting to an incorporated model in all three states made sense not just because we are achieving uniformity, but because it will create operational efficiencies,” said managing partner Dustan de Souza.
“By incorporating, we are also setting our sights on the future. We are following an ambitious blueprint for continued growth and the new structure will make it easier for us to attract new people in the areas where we are expanding.”
De Souza said in making the switch, the 60 partner firm focussed on improving efficiencies without changing the culture of the firm.
“We’ve tried our best not to change anything,” he said. “Whilst the structure may be different, we are trying not to impact on how we manage ourselves and our clients in terms of how we interact and how we communicate.”
The decision to change the structure gained overwhelming support from the staff and partners.
“The thing that people are most interested in is the culture of the place, how we do things in other words,” said de Souza. “For me, it’s no different to the firm I ran previously.”
