HERE WE ARE NOW, ENTERTAIN US - In-person client entertainment has returned in Australia after two years of severe COVID-19 lockdowns. But, as Law.com International’s Christopher Niesche reports, the days of schmoozing with clients on the golf course or at a sporting event are gone. For example, Australian insurance law firm Wotton + Kearney’s clients are more likely to be invited to a cooking class, a visit to the theater or a game of lawn bowls, where clients enjoy a day in the sunshine and compete to roll unevenly weighted balls closest to a smaller ball known as a “jack.” Similarly, in Melbourne, DLA Piper recently hosted more than 40 clients at a “Hamilton”-themed cocktail party and took them to a performance of the hit musical. In Sydney, the firm takes clients to private viewings of the popular Archibald Prize for portraiture, arguably the most prestigious portrait prize in Australia. “Not all clients are the same and people naturally have different interests, so we try to offer a range of different entertainment depending on the client,” said Amber Matthews, DLA Piper’s Australian managing partner.

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