Charmian Holmes’ path from co-founder of law firm The Fold, to Partner and Head of Funds and Financial Services at Hamilton Locke, is a story of entrepreneurial spirit and transformation. Here, Charmian opens up about the life-affirming power of pro bono work, the big trends in financial services this year, and why it’s essential to stay curious.
You were co-founder of the female-led law firm The Fold, which you grew into a successful business and merged with Hamilton Locke in 2022. Tell us about that process of building a brand, and why you chose to move in a new direction.
I set up the business with two other female founders in 2003. It was a law firm and a compliance consulting practice, and when we rebranded as The Fold in 2012, the business grew intensively. We went from three lawyers to a firm of 19 employees.
Culturally, The Fold was very much like a startup. We became well known in our industry, working with entrepreneurial businesses and clients with dynamic and agile businesses. However we eventually reached a point where one of our partners wanted to take a step back from the practice, so we had to decide what to do next with the firm.
That’s when we came across Hamilton Locke. For us, the Hamilton Locke decision was a fantastic one, because the culture is very similar to the culture that we had at The Fold. Hamilton Locke is also committed to diversity and inclusion, and since The Fold was a female-led business with a team drawn from different cultures and backgrounds, it was really important for us to find a place where our people could continue to thrive personally and professionally.
We were also excited about the vision that Nick Humphrey, Hal Lloyd and Peter Dixon have for HPX Group, and we were fascinated by the fact that they were very committed to a model that included allied risk, compliance, legal and consulting services through Source. This model, which has now grown to include Helios Salinger and Materra, aligns strongly with the needs of SMEs and high-growth businesses, so we knew early on it would be a good fit for our clients.
We’ve been with Hamilton Locke for more than three years now, and every day absolutely validates our decision. It’s been a wonderful journey, and we’re excited for what comes next.
You currently chair one of Hamilton Locke’s diversity and inclusion committees. Why did you decide to lead this committee?
Diversity and inclusion are really important to me because I work closely with a lot of women and people who were born outside Australia with different cultural backgrounds. They need to be able to bring their authentic self to work.
I feel it’s important to be involved in diversity and inclusion committees, so that people looking for an inclusive work environment know that we are committed at all levels to having a progressive workplace, and it’s also the partners who are invested in creating that.
I was born overseas, and both my parents come from South Africa. We immigrated when I was young, and my family had to work hard to help me have the education and opportunities that I’ve had in my life.
I’m interested in people’s unique stories about their lives and backgrounds, and I think they bring something really interesting to our workplace – often a different way of thinking and problem-solving. Also, the more we can reflect the community that we serve and the very diverse clients that we have, the more successful our business will be.
Early in your career you did pro bono work for the Fred Hollows Foundation, and you’ve been actively involved in pro bono ever since. How does this shape your work?
Yes at the very beginning of my career, I did pro bono legal work for the Fred Hollows Foundation, and I’m still really passionate about that organisation and the change that it can deliver for communities around Australia and the world in terms of restoring people’s sight.
The other pro bono work that we do is for industry associations in areas like fintech, insurtech and blockchain, which are all emerging technological innovations in the financial services sector.
We give our time pro bono to those organisations to help with policy submissions, so we’re not just giving sponsorship dollars, we’re also giving the investment of time.
For example, we recently sponsored the pitch completion at Australia’s InsurtechLIVE event, where five Insurtech businesses showcased their technology. We are invested in helping emerging tech business get traction so they can help to revolutionise financial services. We want to help the Insurtech ecosystem as much as possible, so we sponsor, mentor, help with judging, and encourage our network to be participants by taking up membership. Also this year, the winner will attend our leadership summit.
I think giving back is really important. When you’re a younger lawyer, you might not have much experience, but if you’ve got enthusiasm and excitement about a particular space, it’s great to get in there and start making connections with people, learn about their businesses, and the challenges they face.
When you’re a more experienced lawyer, you can offer more strategic advice alongside technical legal advice. Being willing and generous to give that to people at no charge is a really important thing, because you’re giving back to an industry that supports you. I think it’s a two-way thing, and for me it’s all about maintaining your curiosity.
Do you think lawyers could be doing more to give back to communities?
I think lawyers are good at doing charitable work, like helping out a soup kitchen or a community garden. Those are lovely things to do, but there are more impactful ways of giving back to communities.
For example, there are a lot of challenges that we’re now facing around climate change and sustainability. For younger lawyers who are trying to work out their passions, my advice is to just be curious and work out what you think are some of the most important things to your generation and to the world. Go out and seek opportunities to work with organisations that you believe can make a difference.
Sometimes lawyers think a bit transactionally. They’re thinking about their billable hours and how to be a successful lawyer. It’s good to take a step back and actually look at communities in terms of your engagement and just give generously without the expectation that you’ll get anything back in return.
You have your finger on the pulse of the financial services industry. What do you think are going to be the biggest industry trends for 2025?
The impact of the Australian and global economy on the financial services sector is always on our radar. Of course Donald Trump’s US Presidency is going to have a big impact on the financial services markets, and we’re already starting to see that reverberate through the stock market, and also digital assets/cryptocurrencies.
In 2025 we’re also going to see some major reforms around how Australia is going to regulate the digital assets sector, including cryptocurrency. We’re also going to see reforms on payments, because that has become an important and growing segment within the financial services industry in Australia.
We don’t use much cash in Australia anymore, and people are looking for alternative ways of paying. What we’re finding is there are lots of different payment solutions coming into the market – and that’s an area that’s ripe for reform and improved regulation, because the laws are very clunky in that space.
Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing are going to be an important area this year as an expanded range of people will need to comply within the laws.
We will see a continued focus on transparency about fees, charges and relationships between financial services companies. Even after the Royal Commission, there are still concerns about customers understanding the fees they pay for financial services and whether financial firms are managing conflicts of interest. Understanding whether a financial services provider has a bias towards giving advice on a particular product or provider is going to continue to be under the spotlight this year. We are going to see more regulator activity and legal actions brought by ASIC.
What advice would you give to a lawyer just starting out in the field?
When you’re starting your career, sometimes it can be an accident as to where you end up in terms of your practice area or specialisation. That was what happened in my career. I accidentally got into financial services – I didn’t choose it. Today lawyers can be a lot more deliberate about their choices in terms of the areas that they’re interested in.
I think it’s good to experiment and try a few different things while you can as a junior lawyer. If you don’t like the area that you’re practicing in law, you’ve probably got a very long and boring career ahead of you.
Start looking for things that you find really interesting. Also keep up your curiosity and experiment. If you have to move around because you’re not getting exposure to the sorts of things that you think you need, then make that decision.
The lawyers in our team can choose their own adventure within the breadth of our financial services practice. They don’t have to work in one area or for one particular partner or team, they can get a taste of all the different types of financial services work we do, and this variety is what keeps it really interesting for them.
To lawyers who are starting out, I would just say experiment. Be curious, be deliberate about the choices you make, and then hopefully you can settle on an area that you will be passionate about and that you’ll love to practice for many, many years.
One thing we know about lawyers is that they always have interesting hobbies. What are yours?
I enjoy traveling, so when I have the privilege of being able to go overseas, that makes my heart sing. When I’m at home, I love long-distance running and also hiking. There’s nothing better than immersing yourself in nature. It gives you perspective about your place in the world.
I also love music and collecting vinyl. I have a large record collection that includes everything from the Beatles and David Bowie right through to electronic music and hip hop. I can play records all weekend, from the moment I finish work on Friday night, to the moment I go to work on Monday. I don’t know if my children realise that they’re going to inherit an amazing record collection one day. They’ll probably just sell them all. In the meantime, I’m going to enjoy them as much as possible!
Learn more about Charmian Holmes, Partner, Head of Funds and Financial Services.
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