Andrew Henshaw shares the two major gaps in the profession the firm sought to addres
Velocity Legal managing director Andrew Henshaw discusses how the firm fills gaps in the legal profession, and the refinement of the firm’s central values since 2016.
Kylie Speer 00:00:07 Hello and welcome to Australasian Lawyer TV. I'm Kylie Speer, and joining me today is Andrew Henshaw, Managing Director at Velocity legal. Velocity Legal has been named one of Australasian Lawyers, Top Boutique Firms for 2024 Welcome to you, Andrew, congratulations and thank you so much for joining us today.
Andrew Henshaw 00:00:30 Thanks so much, Kylie, thanks for having us on as part of the show. I'm glad to be here. Well, firstly,
Kylie Speer 00:00:38 Andrew, what gaps did you see in the legal profession in 2016 that led to the birth of Velocity Legal?
Andrew Henshaw 00:00:47 We saw a number of gaps in the market when Velocity Legal was first founded, when velocity legal was first founded, in 2016 there was myself and three other founders. Our expertise was in tax law and commercial law, and the gap that we saw in the market is that there are other law firms that provided tax law and there are other law firms that provided commercial law. But what wasn't was firms that provided integrated solution to clients that is the combination of tax law and commercial law in a way that doesn't feel like you're speaking to two separate teams that could be two separate law firms. So the gap that we really saw was firstly, to provide an integrated solution to clients for tax and commercial law, and the second gap that we saw is that law is quite an antiquated profession. There's a general slow moving adoption of technology, and on top of that, we are not the greatest communicators, not the greatest in terms of keeping clients informed of things like being transparent with costs and updating people with costs and providing deadlines and very clear recommendations. Law is very complicated, and if we can distill the complex down into a way that's digestible, particularly for a busy business owner, then the gap is really providing that business advice in a way that's really digestible and easy to understand, and for the client can take action for that.
Kylie Speer 00:02:23 In the years since its inception. How have the firm's goals and objectives changed, and what led to those changes?
Andrew Henshaw 00:02:31 So we started in 2016 and were four lawyers doing tax and commercial law. Fast forward to 2024 we're a team of over 40, and we practice in seven different areas of law, and they are tax, commercial property, employment, trusts and estates, litigation and family law. That's seven different practice groups. Now the reason that those exist is because in every step on our journey, we ask the question, What services do we need to provide to business owners and family groups and individuals? Well, okay, they may have a tax and a commercial problem, but one day they may have a leasing issue, they may be involved in litigation, the business owner may unfortunately suffer a divorce, there may be an inheritance coming through the family. So the idea and the mantra with the addition of those services over time is really to cater to what private clients need. And we feel now that we've covered all of those services, and we have done so in a way that is very conscious of avoiding the different silo approach, where you feel like you're getting a different service from different teams.
Kylie Speer 00:03:52 What drove the firm to cater to this specific market of private businesses, business owners and family groups?
Andrew Henshaw 00:04:01 Yeah. So that was, I guess, the genesis of that was that that was really the market that myself and the three other founders were providing services in to start with. So we can't provide services in a market that we know nothing about, and in the legal sector, you have your big corporates, the listed entities, the international players, and they face very different legal issues to your mum and dads, your small business owners, your family groups. And the issues are completely different because they play in a very different space, so that, that is why that those individuals need a service that is paid into private businesses, family groups, our net wealth individuals. So that's what's led us down that path. I personally find it's a really fascinating and enjoyable path, because. Right? You don't have to deal with bureaucracy. You don't have to deal with multiple decision makers. You generally will be providing legal services directly to the person who's paying the bills and footing the bills and also who's making the decisions. And while that can be daunting and scary, because, you know, there's a lot of pressure, it's very rewarding as well, because you can see the impact that your your your job makes on their life and their business.
Kylie Speer 00:05:31 Why focus on excellence, connection and trust as the firm's central values?
Andrew Henshaw 00:05:38 So we've we've refined our values over time. And as you mentioned, the three values are excellence, connection and trust. And this is something that we've worked on over the years, and we've always asked, we've always revisited the question of whether these are the appropriate values or not. And we keep coming back to yes, that they are, in some sense, they may sound very generic and very well, you know, all businesses need to have those things, but we kind of like to keep it simple, excellence. Yes, you should assume that your lawyer is competent in being able to do a good job. But there are variations to that. There are coming up with different solutions, challenging the status quo, being the best, getting the best outcomes for clients, then there is connection so that essentially embodies working together with the client. Clear communication. Can it be understood? Is there clear recommendations? Have we communicated deadlines. Are we sort of in the same boat together or not? And and trust really comes to the ethical side of things. Sometimes lawyers can get a bad rap. You know, jokes about lawyers, things like that. And I mean, the reason that those jokes existed because there is an element of truth too, though, of course. So trust is really going back to, are we acting ethically? Are we? Are we trusted? Essentially, that's the question. And we we live those values. And something that we do, for example, is we, we do sort of monthly acknowledgments of where someone's embodied, one of those values through and reward internally for those so they are front of mind to us, and they're really important in delivering our legal services.
Kylie Speer 00:07:26 And finally, Andrew, the firm, operates within highly specialized teams that don't get involved in areas in which they're not experts. What was the impetus behind this structure?
Andrew Henshaw 00:07:39 So the impetus behind this structure is you can, you can see there are, there, there are some smaller law firms. You're perhaps a sole practitioner or or quite a small firm that would offer that we do commercial law, and we do wills and estates, and if you have a litigation matter, we'll handle it, and maybe we'll do some family law too. But the trouble that those and what we see is the trouble with those sort of things is, if someone's not an expert in all of those areas, and it's almost impossible to be across that much, it leads to worse outcomes for clients. It leads to cost blowouts because someone's the client's paying you to learn. Essentially, it leads to a potential over reliance on external sources, such as a barrister, for example, and it doesn't lead to the best solutions, because if someone isn't cutting edge or at the top of the game in that area, they're going to miss things, because every different area of law is has its own challenges and its own quirks. So we really took the mindset of we're going to provide services to private businesses, family groups, high net wealth individuals, but we're going to make sure that they are experts in their fields, and we're also going to make sure that it feels like a single firm it doesn't feel like you get seven different experiences over seven different practice areas. So that's, that's, that's how we've gotten here.
Kylie Speer 00:09:09 Well, congratulations, and thank you so much once again for your time today, Andrew, it was so lovely speaking with you.
Andrew Henshaw 00:09:18 Thanks so much, Kylie, I'm really honored to be part of this, and really honored that velocity legal has been selected. Thanks once again
Kylie Speer 00:09:27 And thank you, of course, to our viewers for watching the latest episode of Australasian Lawyer TV. We look forward to seeing you again soon.
