Experience

View Legal

• Australia
• Legal Services
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Matthew Burgess - Director - Public Speaker - Author

  • Aug 2014 - Present

  Australia In 2014 I co-founded specialist law firm View, having been a lawyer and partner of one of Australia’s leading independent law firms for over 17 years. My passion is helping clients successfully achieve their goals by creating the type of law firm that is 'for friends'. That is a firm that my friends would actively select as their preferred solution provider. To do this I have a focus on effective results, always assisting on an agreed scope of work and upfront guaranteed… Show more In 2014 I co-founded specialist law firm View, having been a lawyer and partner of one of Australia’s leading independent law firms for over 17 years. My passion is helping clients successfully achieve their goals by creating the type of law firm that is 'for friends'. That is a firm that my friends would actively select as their preferred solution provider. To do this I have a focus on effective results, always assisting on an agreed scope of work and upfront guaranteed pricing. In other words - the triple play of faster delivery, better qaulity (sic!) and higher value. Technology - as is the case in all industries - has been a significant influence on helping deliver on my vision. Indeed, as an enabler, technology has been the catalyst to allow me to "do more with less". On a daily basis I am grateful for the opportunities given to me to make a significant contribution to helping advisers create solutions for their clients. Show less



VeraSage Institute

• Business Consulting and Services
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Matthew Burgess - Friend and Fellow

  • Nov 2007 - Present

  Groucho Marx was famous for claiming that he would never belong to a club that would accept him as a member. Unfortunately for Groucho Marx he was around before the existence of the VeraSage Fellows. In late 2017 in Allen Texas, at the VeraSage Symposium I was honoured to be admitted as a Fellow. This is one of the most significant events in my career. The VeraSage community is responsible for opening to my mind to a model other than flogging chargeable… Show more Groucho Marx was famous for claiming that he would never belong to a club that would accept him as a member. Unfortunately for Groucho Marx he was around before the existence of the VeraSage Fellows. In late 2017 in Allen Texas, at the VeraSage Symposium I was honoured to be admitted as a Fellow. This is one of the most significant events in my career. The VeraSage community is responsible for opening to my mind to a model other than flogging chargeable units. Educating me in value pricing didn’t simply change my business life permanently for the better of all customers I have helped; it saved my personal life. Learn more about how VeraSage is relentlessly working to permanently bury the billable hour and trash all timesheets at the website linked below. Show less



elawyer pty ltd

• Matthew Burgess - Director - Public Speaker - Author

  • Mar 2010 - Apr 2014

  web based In 2010, I founded what is widely recognised as Australia's first virtual law firm - 'elawyer'. With particular support at the time from a core group of people at McCullough Robertson (the owner of elawyer) we were able to successfully launch an adviser focused platform. There were mistakes made on a daily (indeed often hourly) basis in founding and running elawyer, however with adviser support it quickly moved past start up phase and became a sustainable business. In 2014 I… Show more In 2010, I founded what is widely recognised as Australia's first virtual law firm - 'elawyer'. With particular support at the time from a core group of people at McCullough Robertson (the owner of elawyer) we were able to successfully launch an adviser focused platform. There were mistakes made on a daily (indeed often hourly) basis in founding and running elawyer, however with adviser support it quickly moved past start up phase and became a sustainable business. In 2014 I retired from the board elawyer at the same time as retiring from McCullough Robertson to establish specialist firm View Legal. Thankfully, elawyer continued to (as I understand from advisers) serve the adviser community successfully. Unfortunately, in 2016 the decision was made by the owners of elawyer to wind it up. A sad day for me on many levels, however more relevantly, a sad day I believe for the adviser industry and community as a whole. This said, the underlying spirit of elawyer I believe lives on with View, partly because we are lucky to have all of the key members of the elawyer team as part of the View team. Critically however, View has the ability to fail fast and constantly iterate our model - luxuries elawyer was never afforded due to its existence inside a traditional heritage law firm. Check out Clayton Christensen's work around 'The Innovator's Dilemma' if you need more context in this regard. Indeed, View's vision in a sentence - think about what the traditional law firm would do; and simply do the opposite ... it has been working like a charm to date. Show less



McCullough Robertson

• Australia
• Law Practice
• 200 - 300 Employee

• Matthew Burgess - Partner - Public Speaker - Author

  • Jan 1997 - Jan 2014

  On the Thursday before Easter in 1996 (the final year of my double degree at QUT) I got home earlier than usual from mowing lawns & picked up a call from the HR manager at McCullough Robertson offering me articles if I accepted immediately. Little did she know that including that offer the total number of job offers from law firms I had received was 1. My only concern in accepting was that in the interview I had said to the staff partner (now a District Court Judge) in response to his… Show more On the Thursday before Easter in 1996 (the final year of my double degree at QUT) I got home earlier than usual from mowing lawns & picked up a call from the HR manager at McCullough Robertson offering me articles if I accepted immediately. Little did she know that including that offer the total number of job offers from law firms I had received was 1. My only concern in accepting was that in the interview I had said to the staff partner (now a District Court Judge) in response to his question of whether I could mow his lawns that I would do it with scissors if he offered me a grad position. My lawn mowing business featured heavily on my CV, a cunning plan to distract attention from my GPA that hovered around (& more often than not, below) 5. So began a journey that mainly meant being involved with what was for many years one of the country's fastest growing and most innovative independent law firms. Lucky to be mentored by many amazing people, I was appointed in 2002 as a partner (one of the youngest ever) I specialised in tax, estate & succession planning & related areas. By 2008 I was lucky to be appointed (and re-elected in 2010) to the firm's executive board, charged with implementing the strategic vision for the firm. During this time I also conceptualised, founded and launched (as a stand-alone investment for the firm) virtual legal tech firm 'elawyer'. Looking back in late 2013 on my career to that point, it dawned on me that essentially none of my ideas for iterating the 'BigLaw' business model were of interest to the firm and that in reality my main skill set had become filling in a timesheet - not cool for the advisers and clients I was striving to serve, my family or me. Thus the decision, made with a heavy heart, to resign from McR in January 2014, burn all timesheets & launch specialist firm View in July 2014. During my gardening leave: a bucket list item ticked off by publishing my first business book 'The Dream Enabler' (see link below). Show less



MYER

• Australia
• Retail
• 700 & Above Employee

• Matthew Burgess - Sales Assistant

  • Nov 1991 - Dec 1999

  Brisbane, Australia and Logan Hyperdome What better way to pay your way through uni than a sales assistant role at Myer ... while working on a building site (near the 'Gabba at East Brisbane) and running 'Superior Lawn Care' - my one man band lawn mowing business. Myer was the centrepiece however, delivering a 60 hour plus fortnight of work month after month during uni (and beyond; for couple of years Sunday shifts helped to soften the 30% pay cut I took to become an articled clerk in 1997 ...). Many lessons learnt in… Show more What better way to pay your way through uni than a sales assistant role at Myer ... while working on a building site (near the 'Gabba at East Brisbane) and running 'Superior Lawn Care' - my one man band lawn mowing business. Myer was the centrepiece however, delivering a 60 hour plus fortnight of work month after month during uni (and beyond; for couple of years Sunday shifts helped to soften the 30% pay cut I took to become an articled clerk in 1997 ...). Many lessons learnt in all 3 roles ... some of which are shared in my 'Words from Daddy's Mouth' kids book series - see links in the media section below to: 1. 'The Dead Lawn Incident'; and 2. 'Undercover Cop'. The image in the media section of me climbing into a smashed up Holden Gemini that was the 'company car' for 'Superior Lawn Care' formed the basis of the other book featured in the media section 'Crashing into a Police Car' ... Show less