This Month
It was a boom year for law firms. But signs of a slowdown have emerged
Law firms held their gains in the second half of 2024, but some leaders are wary of rising pressures on price and profit margins.
- Maxim Shanahan
Explore: Law Partnership Survey results for second-half of 2024
The latest results show law firms continue to perform strongly, boosted by big-ticket deals, litigation assignments, and the steady flow of fees from insolvencies and disputes.
- Maxim Shanahan and Edmund Tadros
- Exclusive
- Partnership
Wave of partner exits unsettles Clyde & Co amid turnaround struggles
The London-headquartered law firm’s entire local cybersecurity practice is leaving, taking to one-third the number of senior departures over the last 12 months.
- Maxim Shanahan
MinterEllison raids PwC, KPMG to build up consulting arm
Consultants now make up almost 10 per cent of fee-earners at the firm, as clients prove increasingly willing to seek non-legal advice from law firms.
- Edmund Tadros
July
Rapid growth puts pressure on law partnership structures
Almost two-thirds of new legal partners are now on a part-salary arrangement as rapid growth puts pressure on equity allocations.
- Maxim Shanahan
More law firms hit gender targets as partnership gap narrows
A record number of law firms now have more than 40 per cent female partnerships, but part-owner gender ratios contrast sharply with the engine room.
- Maxim Shanahan
June
What the fastest-growing law firms are doing differently
Rapidly expanding law firms say the traditional partnership model is outdated and ineffective, as they look towards outside investment.
- Updated
- Maxim Shanahan
Top 50 law firms add a record 806 new senior associates
Law firms have promoted a record number of senior associates, as demand for work remains high and staff turnover is slowing.
- Maxim Shanahan
Energy transition lights a rocket under law firms
Law firms are streaking ahead of the broader economy, adding partners as deals return and the energy transition offers decades of lucrative work.
- Maxim Shanahan
Challenger firms increase pay in fight for top-tier legal talent
Clients, social positions and work-life balance are among the factors in-demand graduates are looking for in a firm – but high rates of pay don’t hurt.
- Maxim Shanahan
December 2023
Young lawyers want to holiday, not work, in New York
Flat demand and apprehensiveness about an intense overseas working culture are spelling an end to the post-pandemic exodus of Australian lawyers.
- Maxim Shanahan
Two law firms hit gender parity – and credit WFH
Lander & Rogers and Hicksons are leading the trend of more female partners, but firms including Arnold Bloch Leibler and Thomson Geer are behind the curve.
- Maxim Shanahan
November 2023
Law firms spy an opportunity in their own cyber vulnerability
Law firms are eying cybersecurity as a new growth area, and say they can use their own experience as targets of cyberattacks to help clients.
- Maxim Shanahan
Australia’s largest law firms slow partner appointments
The second-half Financial Review Law Partnership Survey shows partner numbers are up only slightly, as a flat legal market begins to take hold across the sector.
- Maxim Shanahan
Law firms hit pause on expanding partnerships amid slow market
Fewer than half of Australia’s largest legal partnerships have grown in the last six months, as a flat legal market begins to take hold across the sector.
- Maxim Shanahan
September 2023
Law firms hire graduates at near-record levels
Law firms maintained near-record graduate hiring levels in 2023, despite a slowing legal market.
- Maxim Shanahan
July 2023
‘About time’: women rule at top law firms
Four of the nation’s traditional big six law firms now have female chief executives, and the other two have boards that are chaired by women.
- Michael Pelly
Non-binary lawyers making their mark
There is an emerging cohort in the gender divisions of The Australian Financial Review Law Partnership Survey. Plus prizes for AI ideas, pay disparities and a Minters cull. It’s all survey Hearsay.
- Michael Pelly
War for legal talent fires up in the ‘engine room’
There is a strong crop of new senior associates, but some firms told The Australian Financial Review Law Partnership Survey they can’t get enough staff.
- Michael Pelly and Edmund Tadros
Female partners surge at top law firms (to one third)
Women now comprise more than 33 per cent of law firm partners, and parity looms by 2030, the latest Law Partnership survey reveals.
- Michael Pelly and Edmund Tadros
