2:15 PM – 3:00 PM | Session 2: Client Influence: Turning relationships into resul

Facilitator: 

Deborah Macrae

Client Relationship Program Lead, HWLE

Deborah has built a career in professional services business development, holding senior roles with leading law firms across Oceania (Herbert Smith Freehills, MinterEllison, Russell McVeagh), London, and New York (Clifford Chance).

Recognised as a sought-after mentor and subject matter expert, she has also lectured for the New Zealand Law Society, sharing her expertise with the next generation of partners and those leaving private practise to become sole practitioners.

Deborah is passionate about creating genuine value for firms and clients through strong relationships – underpinned by client listening, thoughtful engagement, and meaningful follow-through.

Beyond her in-house roles, she has consulted to law, finance, and engineering firms and co-led a commercial property advisory business with her husband.

She has now returned to the legal sector with HWLE, where she leads the establishment and growth of the firm’s key client relationship management program.

Panelists:

Natasha Elliot - Associate Pursuit Leader, Major Projects and Disputes

KPMG

I’m a Business Development and Pursuits Leader with 20 years' experience across professional consultancy services both in Australia and the UK. My professional history includes Client Relationship & Growth roles for companies such as KPMG, Norton Rose Fulbright and AECOM. I’m passionate about building client relationships, utilising human-design thinking and Miller-Heiman sales methodologies and tools to drive winning client strategies for the top ASX listed companies through to start-up companies. I have extensive experience driving people-leadership programs. Most recently I have led winning strategies for complex transformation and technology opportunities across the Public Sector and Energy & Mining Sectors nationally. 

Kirsty Rewell
Lawyer

With over 20 years’ experience in marketing and business development across top-tier law firms, and as a practicing Lawyer admitted to the Supreme Court of Western Australia, Kristy Rewell brings a unique blend of commercial insight and legal expertise. Her career spans strategic client management and legal advisory, offering a practical, holistic approach to building and growing high-value relationships.

3:00 PM – 3:30 PM | Refresh & Recharge

Afternoon tea.

3:30 PM – 4:15 PM | Session 3: Pricing for Impact: Balancing value and commercial success 

Libby Maynard - Partner and Pricing Lead

Beaton Research & Consulting

Libby Maynard is a Partner at Beaton Research & Consulting, where she helps professional service firms achieve sustainable growth through evidence-based pricing strategies. Drawing on over 30 years of experience in professional services, Libby has worked as a lawyer and led business development, marketing, pricing, and legal project management functions at two major Australian law firms. She has also consulted to dozens of firms across Australia and New Zealand.

Libby is known for helping firms win competitive bids, design and implement major marketing and pricing initiatives, and improve client service outcomes. One client described pricing as “a dark, difficult, and frustrating art, but at the core of the business of law”—a challenge Libby embraces. She supports firms in tackling pricing governance, enhancing analytics, exploring pricing models, quantifying and managing scope creep, and building confidence in pricing conversations.

Her approach is grounded in research, analysis, and practical application. Libby is an Accredited Legal Pricing Professional (ALPP) and Accredited Legal Project Manager (ALPM) through the True Value Partnering Institute.

4:15 PM – 5:00 PM | Session 4: Evidence of Influence: Making BDMC results impossible to ignore 

5:00 PM – 5:15 PM

Closing Remarks and wrap-up takeaways from the ICON President.

5:30 PM – 7:30 PM | Unwind. Connect. No Slides Required.