The country’s biggest law firms are trimming the number of staff for the first time in almost five years after a long period of frenzied hiring and as demand for top-tier lawyers begins to moderate.

But senior partners at the major firms say the fall in the number of fee-earners – a key finding of The Australian Financial Review Law Partnership Survey this year – for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic is a normalisation, as “crazy” incentives and pay deals are wound back.