Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Lawyers Associated Worldwide newly appointed Board Chair Leon Loganathan says he’s the first Aussie to fill the role, putting Darwin in the international spotlight

Transcript

Lawyers Associated Worldwide newly appointed Board Chair Leon Loganathan says he’s the first Aussie to fill the role, putting Darwin in the international spotlight · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Leon Logan Nathan. He's the partner of the territory's oldest
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: and largest lord law firm, Ward Keller. He's recently been
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  Speaker 1: elected as the chair of the global body Lawyers Associated
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  Speaker 1: Worldwide at the UN headquarters in New York. It is
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  Speaker 1: truly a proud time, I think for Territori and so
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  Speaker 1: I don't know that's any Territorian has ever been appointed
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  Speaker 1: to this role. And Leon Logan Nathan joins me on
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  Speaker 1: the line right now. Good morning to you, Leon, Hi Katie,
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  Speaker 1: how are you very good? A big congratulations to you, mate.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you very much, thank you. It's a great honor.
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  Speaker 2: And not only has no Territorian been elected to that position,
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  Speaker 2: no Australian been elected to that position. Wow.
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  Speaker 1: Hey, how are you feeling, you know after being appointed
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  Speaker 1: right here from little old Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 2: I know, it's a bit it's a bit like that. Actually. Look,
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  Speaker 2: I've been working with that organization now for the best
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  Speaker 2: part of fourteen years and absolutely love being involved with
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  Speaker 2: that organization. And yeah, it just just worked hard and
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  Speaker 2: the members, you know, recognize that there was some ability
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  Speaker 2: there to lead the organization and so they asked me
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  Speaker 2: to do it.
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  Speaker 1: Good on you now what exactly is the Lawyers Associated Worldwide?
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  Speaker 2: Okay, So for a law firm like ours in the
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  Speaker 2: Northern Territory, I mean, we don't have a great reach
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  Speaker 2: outside of the MT, you know, so if we have
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  Speaker 2: clients with issues outside the NT, we have to pull
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  Speaker 2: out a phone book or you don't do that anymore.
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  Speaker 2: You google these days and try and find a law
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  Speaker 2: firm and hopefully they'll help you, and you don't know
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  Speaker 2: who they are. So this organization was set up back
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  Speaker 2: in the late eighties to help firms like ours connect
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  Speaker 2: our clients and the wider community with lawyers or law
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  Speaker 2: firms around the world where our clients may have issues
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  Speaker 2: and vice versa eleon.
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  Speaker 1: How are you feeling about this appointment? It must be
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  Speaker 1: you know, it must be a bit surreal for you.
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  Speaker 1: As I said, from the territory, no one from the
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  Speaker 1: territory ever appointed to this role before, but as you
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  Speaker 1: pointed out, nobody from Australia.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, it's great. I feel proud as a Territorian
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  Speaker 2: to be doing this. I mean most of these guys
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  Speaker 2: had never heard of Darwin until we joined the organization
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  Speaker 2: back in nineteen sore. Back in twenty eight and so
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  Speaker 2: over the course of this time, everybody there now knows Darwin.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, when I was in New York last month,
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  Speaker 2: you know, they know about us, they know about the crocodiles,
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  Speaker 2: and they love us, they really love us. So it's wonderful.
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  Speaker 1: Now I understand that you're also preparing to head overseas
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  Speaker 1: for the first meeting as the chair. Where's that going
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  Speaker 1: to be held and how's that all going to work
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  Speaker 1: from your perspective?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah? Right, So next next week I be in Hamburg
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  Speaker 2: for the first Executive Committee's retreat. So once a year
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  Speaker 2: the Executive Committee gets together somewhere in the world, and
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  Speaker 2: in fact we actually held that meeting in daw in
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  Speaker 2: pre Covid in twenty nineteen, but this year it's going
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  Speaker 2: to be in Hamburg. It'll be it'll be my first
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  Speaker 2: meeting as chair, and so I've got to organize their
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  Speaker 2: agenda and run a meeting for the Executives Committee, who
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  Speaker 2: you know, we have members from all over the world,
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  Speaker 2: from Scotland, from Mexico, from South Africa, the US, Canada.
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  Speaker 2: So yeah, it'll be interesting, a bit daunting, I have
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  Speaker 2: to say, but I'll look forward to the challenge.
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  Speaker 1: Cap is it difficult then to organize that agenda. You know,
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  Speaker 1: when I'm assuming that the issues that we've got in
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  Speaker 1: the territory, and you know, the different concerns that you
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  Speaker 1: might have would be really different to some of what
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  Speaker 1: you know, what the others are experiencing from other countries.
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  Speaker 2: You'll be so surprised, Katie to hear this. But when
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  Speaker 2: it comes to law firms, what I've learned over the
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  Speaker 2: time being involved in law is that all firms, no
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  Speaker 2: matter where they are, have the same issue that we do,
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  Speaker 2: things like staff retention, you know, business development, all those
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  Speaker 2: sort of issues. So you know, the conversations are quite
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  Speaker 2: quite similar, actually quite common.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I think good on you. I think it's a
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  Speaker 1: wonderful thing. And I always love seeing territorians do great stuff,
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  Speaker 1: you know, whatever industry they're working in or whatever industry
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  Speaker 1: they represent. Leon you know, from your perspective, how much
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  Speaker 1: of a coup is this for the Northern Territory to
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  Speaker 1: be represented at this level. And I know you're not
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  Speaker 1: one to you know, to sort of blow your own
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  Speaker 1: your own trumpet, but you know, how important is this.
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  Speaker 2: This is a really really important thing for the territory.
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  Speaker 2: And I would encourage anyone that's listening to your program,
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  Speaker 2: who is looking at you know, who is in manufacturing
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  Speaker 2: or anything that or any type of activity that they
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  Speaker 2: need to look outside the territory, whether it's interstate or
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  Speaker 2: whether it's overseas, and they want connections, including government for
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  Speaker 2: that matter. You know, I'm here to help. And I'll
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  Speaker 2: give you an example. A few years ago Rex not
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  Speaker 2: Rex school Mester, Ad Jason Schoolmester, who's the truth, he's
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  Speaker 2: the Trade Commissioner now. He came to me and he said, look,
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  Speaker 2: you know, we're ramping up here with US defense spending,
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  Speaker 2: but the local guys, local contractors don't understand the tender
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  Speaker 2: process here because it's all based on US documentation. And
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  Speaker 2: I reached out to Bill Savarino, who is a lawyer
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  Speaker 2: in the Washington d C. Firm who specializes in US
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  Speaker 2: defense contracting work, and he came out to Darwin and
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  Speaker 2: he educated the local people on how to read those contracts.
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  Speaker 2: That's the power of this network.
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  Speaker 1: Good stuff. Well, Leon, good on you, and you know,
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  Speaker 1: like I say, I love hearing about territorians doing great things.
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  Speaker 1: And I think it's wonderful that you've been appointed to
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  Speaker 1: this role. I'm sure that so many around the territory
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  Speaker 1: will be really pleased to hear that you've done this.
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  Speaker 1: And how long does the does that term sort of last? Yeah?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so it's it's two terms of two years, so
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  Speaker 2: if I do a good job in two years time,
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  Speaker 2: they'll re elect me. So four years for territorians to
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  Speaker 2: take maximum advantage of what we've got here.
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  Speaker 1: Good on you, Leon, lovely to chat with you this morning,
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  Speaker 1: and a big congratulations.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you Katie, thank you