After a transformative six-year tenure, Genevieve Collins will step down as Chief Executive Partner of Lander & Rogers on 31 December 2024.
Ms Collins' leadership marks an extraordinary period of growth, innovation, and progressive policy reform, positioning Lander & Rogers as a leader in its areas of practice, corporate culture, workplace inclusivity, and legal innovation and technology.
Ms Collins will step down after serving two consecutive three-year terms as Chief Executive Partner ─ the maximum tenure in this role at Lander & Rogers. During her career at Lander & Rogers, Ms Collins has also served as practice group lead of Compensation Law from 2005-2018 and Chair of the firm's Board from 2014-2018.
Ms Collins said: "It has been a privilege to lead Lander & Rogers for the last six years. I have worked with so many talented lawyers and legal professionals during this time, and I'm grateful and proud of what we have achieved together."
Ms Collins has driven Lander & Rogers' innovation agenda, establishing the firm's in-house legal operations and business transformation function, iHub; launching the LawTech Hub, an Australian-first accelerator program for startups and scaleups, currently supporting its seventh cohort of legal tech innovators; and the AI Lab, which leads the implementation and roll-out of generative AI across the firm and explores new AI use cases within legal practice.
In 2024, Lander & Rogers was named as one of the most innovative Asia-Pacific-headquartered law firms by the UK's Financial Times, and Ms Collins was personally named winner by the Financial Times of the prestigious Intrapreneur Asia-Pacific Award 2024.
In September 2023, Lander & Rogers was the first of Australia's largest commercial law firms to achieve a gender-equal partnership ─ the result of targeted initiatives and policies introduced by Ms Collins to progress more women into leadership roles, with a focus on developing talent, inclusive leadership, flexible work practices, and pay equity.
In 2020, following serious allegations of misconduct against high-profile members of Australia's judiciary and revelations of widespread harassment and discrimination in the legal profession, Ms Collins introduced a groundbreaking mandatory reporting policy for sexual harassment and a complementary policy on consensual workplace relationships where there is an actual, perceived or potential conflict of interest. The move reinforced Lander & Rogers' zero-tolerance of harassment and set the benchmark for proactively addressing gender-based discrimination in law firms, and in workplaces more generally.
Recognising that law firms should lead by example in setting sustainable business practices, Ms Collins has also spearheaded Lander & Rogers' climate response, leading the firm in achieving carbon neutral certification in 2022 and committing to net zero emissions by 2030 using the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) Net-Zero Standard ─ the first Australian firm to do so.
Her dedication to community impact was also marked by the 2017 launch of the South Sudanese Business Response, a program that provides career opportunities for young South Sudanese Australians by leveraging the firm's community and client networks.
Ms Collins' commitment to wellness in the workplace led to her establishing the firm's first Wellness Committee. Under her leadership, Lander & Rogers became the first Australian law firm to be awarded the highest Platinum level of WELL certification and the first law firm to achieve Mental Health First Aid Australia Advanced-level skilled workplace status, the highest level of recognition, based on the percentage of the firm's staff who have achieved accreditation.
This year, Lander & Rogers was recognised among the top 10 most popular law employers in Australia as part of the Australian Financial Review's 2024 Top 100 Graduate Employers, and placed #2 law firm nationally.
Lander & Rogers partner Daniel Proietto, who currently leads the firm's national Workplace Relations & Safety practice, will commence as Chief Executive Partner on 1 January 2025.
"Lander & Rogers has thrived under Genevieve's assured leadership," said Mr Proietto. "Her commitment to delivering the best Australian law firm experience for the firm's people, clients and community will leave an enduring legacy. Stepping into the role of Chief Executive Partner, I look forward to building on this legacy and advancing the firm in its next phase of innovation and growth."
