Veteran lawyer and company director Bruno Camarri says he is just starting the fourth quarter of his career.
LOOKING out from the Freehills office on the 36th floor of the QV1 building, the lights of Perth’s suburban sprawl shine before Bruno Camarri, reflecting his stellar career.
The man who started out as an article clerk at Muir Williams Nicholson & Co in 1969 – working from a desk where the back of the office beer fridge substituted a view – now stands at the top of his game, recognised the world over for his expertise in mining law.
While he insists he is only just beginning the fourth quarter in his career, with the game yet to be won, this month holds a significant milestone for Mr Camarri with his departure from his 16 year-long role as deputy chairman on ASX-listed UGL’s board.
Mr Camarri’s board member career is one of what he calls his three-pronged career with law and his personal business investments making up the other two.
As far as his legal career is concerned, Mr Camarri flags the timing of his foray from law school into the world of practice as what spurred him into his expertise in mining.
Since the time he was 11 he wanted to be a litigator but after recognising the longevity of litigation cases, he decided the great fight in his career would be best suited to the mining game.
“1969 was really a turning point for Western Australia, it was before the mining boom, things started to happen. It was pretty exciting for a young man of 32,” he says.
Mr Camarri says while his studies in litigation allowed him to become a well-rounded lawyer, it wasn’t by way of lectures he learnt his mining expertise, but by way of experience.
“You don’t learn mining law out of a text book, client’s teach you, in fact clients teach you how to practice law,” he says.
For 30 years he was a partner at Freehills, a period that ended in 2003 when he stood down to make way for a new generation of lawyers.
“It wasn’t a big decision, I have always been of a mind the firm is only as good as its young people and we (Freehills) have very aggressively recruited the best people,” he says.
“I often joke to the young kids and say, ‘I haven’t seen someone as good as you since I joined the firm’, [but] they don’t always appreciate the humour.
“There was one young guy in our section, and I thought to myself, ‘It’s better to have him in the partnership than with a competitor’, so the decision for me was easy. As far as I am concerned I still behave as a partner.”
Getting to this point has meant long hours, a can-do commitment to UGL and an adoration for his diverse workload that has kept Mr Camarri interested in his role.
“I have two boasts I suppose: one is I have never turned up to the office and thought, ‘I have got nothing to do’; and secondly I have never been bored. If anything, you ask my wife and she says you have too much to do and you are too happy,” he says.
“I have often given myself new challenges; I have moved into five areas: I have done a lot of property work, mining work, energy work, construction work, advised governments on native title … all these things keep you young, healthy and interested.”
And while he says his career path has been a frolic with opportunities presenting themselves, his challenge has always been in balancing home with his passion for his career.
“It’s finding the time to devote to everything, and how to get the balance, getting the work and family balance right.
“You are in this very strange situation, I don’t regret a moment of it, but I wish I could have done it a bit differently. It is one of those conundrums.
“The next challenge is to stay young and fit and healthy and relevant … to continue to do all those things that have helped me to achieve the little success I have.”
For Mr Camarri, looking over his expansive and not-yet-finished career, the view is sweet.
“You look at the surroundings now and it has really been quite stunning. It’s much better than the back of a fridge.”
How have you managed your
legal career?
“I have always run my practice on the basis that I get a whole bunch of clients, settle them in and then move them on for someone else to look after. I have had these cycles of coming in and having no clients and going out and finding some, I suppose that has been one of my strengths.
What title do you carry at Freehills?
They call me a consultant but I never even bothered to tell people I was a partner. It’s a bit like Ricky Ponting, he doesn’t have to tell people he is a batsman, you can see it from the way he works.
What are your plans for the future?
If someone came in and said, “Bruno, it’s time to go pack up your bags”, that’s fine. I have three standing offers from others to go and join them. I suppose I have a fourth standing offer, from my wife who says, ‘Why don’t you stay home with me?’.
