He also discloses the most important thing he learned about leadership from Frazer Barton
In recent weeks, Dentons partner David Campbell has been sharing with NZ Lawyer his thoughts on becoming president of the New Zealand Law Society | Te Kāhui Ture o Aotearoa and why the organization’s subscription model has been so important to the New Zealand legal profession. In the final part of this interview, Campbell discusses key qualities he admires about predecessor Frazer Barton and the kind of legacy he wants to leave himself as a leader of the Law Society.
As president, what do you see as your top priorities?
I think my focus is going to be on maintaining good governance. We've been well led by Frazer – I admire him and I admire his contributions. And I don't want to lose any of that.
What I'd like to see us continue doing is sticking to the plan and fulfilling the representative and regulatory strategies. They're well thought out strategies that were done on the basis of consultation with the profession; they involve regulatory best practice and external advice. They're working so I don't want to do anything radical; what I want is a board that operates well, that governs the Law Society well and empowers and enables what is a very good executive leadership team and a really good workforce to just get on and do their jobs without distraction. So that's probably the primary thing.
I'm keen, as are those in the executive leadership team, on developing the offering in relation to sections, to see the introduction of new sections over time. We've got a really well functioning property law section, family law section and ILANZ. They all really contribute and have got high levels of engagement from the members, and they're very financially sound. I think the reason for that is they're delivering in their specialist areas and that's what people are looking for – they're looking for education that's tailored to them, they're looking for networking and relationships which meet their needs.
And I think it's important that the Law Society develop its offering in relation to sections so that there's a home for everyone. It's not a David Campbell priority – it's a Law Society priority that I happen to agree with and that I'm keen to make sure happens.
In the time that you've been working with Frazer, what would you say is the most important thing that you've learned about him as a leader?
I've been thinking hard about his approach to leadership in stepping into this role, and what I've observed is that he's always calm, he's always thoughtful, he's reasonable, he's measured. All of those qualities enhance his ability to deliver on the things he's determined to deliver on.
I'm just hoping that some of those good qualities have rubbed off on me. I'll be my own person, but those are certainly attributes that I think are valuable and work well in an environment where we've got 17,000 lawyers and lots of different views.
What legacy do you hope to leave as a leader of the Law Society?
It's a little bit prosaic, but what I'm keen to sort of be able to look back on at the end of three years is that we've still got good people. We've got good people and good roles, which is something we enjoy presently. We've got a strong executive leadership team, the board’s working well together, and I'm keen for that to continue to be the position so that the good work that's being done can just continue to be done.
I don't think there's any burning platform – I think the Law Society is in a good place. I acknowledge that there's always room for improvement and there's always work to be done. In fact, there's an overwhelming number of things that we'd like to do, and there's prioritisation that needs to be done. But I'm keen to just keep on improving, stick to the plan, and just leave the Law Society in an even better place than when I stepped into the role.
