Jim Marsden last night praised his late brother John for building the successful business culture at Marsdens Law Group, one of the biggest legal firms in Sydney.
Making the traditional senior partner’s speech at the firm’s annual Christmas party at the Campbelltown arts centre, Mr Marsden reminded guests that it had been 10 years since his older brother had passed away.
“He would be pleased to see that the culture he built at Marsdens is still there and we are working to make it even better,’’ Mr Marsden said.
He revealed that he had initially turned down an offer to join the firm started by his brother with John Fahey, who later went on to become NSW premier and a federal finance minister in the Howard government.
“I told my wife Marianne about it and she said, ‘no way’.
“But eventually I received a good offer and accepted,’’ Jim Marsden told guests.
Being much younger than John they did not have a great brotherly relationship, but Jim joining the firm also resulted in them becoming much closer over the ensuing years.
Mr Marsden recited figures showing how the firm had continued to grow since John’s passing, with the number of employees and the number of partners and associates all rising sharply.
“We have done well and we want to keep working at it, thanks to your support, our valued clients,’’ he said.
Mr Marsden also told a story of how he pushed for the firm to open an office at Oran Park Town and there was some resistance to it among the partners.
“Why would you go there and open office, they told me,’’ Mr Marsden said.
“Well, I told them this place would be huge, with thousands of people moving in around where the office would be in Oran Park Town.
[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]“Then I told them we should open the office also because Tony Perich had asked us to, and that clinched it,’’ he said to laughter among the guests.[/social_quote]
The Perich family are behind the development of Oran Park Town as well as having major dairy holdings.
They are currently building a giant milk processing plant in Ingleburn, the third in their dairy empire.
They have been clients of Marsdens for many years and Mr Tony Perich was present at last night’s function.
And if John Marsden’s spirit happened to be hovering somewhere in the art gallery he would have certainly loved what his younger brother said in his speech.
