Peter Murdoch will officially step up on 1 July
A new chair is set to lead Barry Nilsson (BN), with insurance and health law principal Peter Murdoch taking the mantle.
Murdoch takes over from Rhett Kennedy, who steps down from the role after a total of four years as chair. Murdoch’s term begins on 1 July and will last for two years.
Murdoch confirmed that in his new role, he would continue to implement the firm’ strategic plan and maintain sustainable growth.
“In our diamond jubilee year last year, we made a deliberate strategic decision to grow the firm’s capacity and capabilities to support the evolving needs of our clients in insurance and family law”, he said. “To achieve this, our priority is to continue upholding our track record of excellent client service, which goes hand in hand with an internal focus on staff engagement, and identifying, attracting and developing our next generation of leaders”.
Murdoch added that BN was “on track” to achieve an “ambitious” revenue target set in the strategy. The target had a 2025 timeframe.
Both Murdoch and Kennedy confirmed that the latter would continue to work with BN.
“I depart the role of chairperson at the end of June confident that we have excellent leadership continuity and I look forward to being part of the continuing Barry Nilsson success story”, Kennedy said. “We’ve achieved a great deal, including substantial national growth, the launch of a refreshed brand, setting a renewed strategic direction for the firm, and recently launching our 2026 D&I strategy”.
Murdoch first joined BN in 2001. He has worked with local authorities, sporting organisations, mining, small-to-medium sized enterprises, and the engineering sector.
