This Month
The hidden ways top law firms pick graduates (and what they now pay)
From small talk to receptionist feedback, firms have developed subtle ways to judge candidates before they enter the formal interview.
Raise a glass to $2b Australian Venue Co; new PE investor incoming
The price that CVC is expected to pay values the business at an enterprise value of about $2.1 billion, the sources said.
‘Generational challenge’: Energy transition powers legal sector
Ashurst partner Aylin Cunsolo says Australia is at a critical point where ageing fossil fuel generators are being retired and need to be replaced.
Firms brace for AI to come for the prized six-minute billable unit
Despite a desire for fixed-fee arrangements and a shift in attitude among law firm leaders, the traditional method remains the charging tool of choice.
Explore the Law Partnership Survey results for the first half of 2025
Firms are performing strongly, thanks to demand for advice around corporate disputes, energy transition and infrastructure deals.
Revealed: The law firms that have grown (and shrunk) the most
Strong demand for corporate dispute, energy transition and infrastructure legal advice has created a two-speed legal market.
June
Law firms take more graduates even as AI does the grunt work
Using generative AI for junior-level work is now standard across the country’s largest law firms, but the overriding need for accuracy in legal work means graduates remain in high demand.
Danny Gilbert and KWM chief Wang Junfeng’s unlikely vineyard venture
The founding partner of King & Wood was certainly busy shoring up his Australian interests in 2012.
KWM says global structure has ‘flexibility’ to adapt
The law firm’s Australian partnership was compensated for supporting the financially separate Hong Kong arm in the early days of the Sino-Australian merger.
‘The Great Wall of China’: Can the KWM experiment last?
This week on The Fin podcast: professional services reporter Maxim Shanahan on why King & Wood Mallesons is struggling to manage risk and conflicts across its jurisdictions.
Calls for tougher rules amid KWM drama
The senators who led the inquiry into the PwC tax leaks scandal say King & Wood Mallesons’ troubles expose flaws in the governance of top law firms.
‘We didn’t have a hope in hell’: KWM’s cautionary China tale
A corrupt wind farm deal in Montenegro, a controversial Russian legal conference and the financial problems of one of its most senior executives have thrown the spotlight on the Sino-Australian law firm.
Why lawyers are overworked and (relatively) underpaid
Lawyers are employed to work 38 hours a week, but that is a fantasy at most of Australia’s top-tier law firms.
Waislitz and Pratt drama is running out of lawyers
Billionaire Alex Waislitz may have lost Arnold Bloch Leibler’s services, but he’s got plenty of other lawyers on his books.
April
King & Wood Mallesons goes cold on having a global chief executive
The firm’s Australian head says a “lot has changed” since 2012, when Mallesons merged with China’s King & Wood, but the combination isn’t drifting.
What legal jargon taught this solicitor about translating literature
Stephanie Smee left corporate law to become a translator, where she says the ‘discipline of thought’ from her legal training remains influential.
February
Tech bros share the riches (with their lawyers)
Lawyers are cashing in on the legal scandals rocking the start-up world, but it’s tougher for those footing the bill on the other side to the founders.
December 2024
Top-tier firms are cutting lawyer numbers for the first time in years
The country’s most prominent legal practices have reduced the number of lawyers they employ in the past six months. But their mid-tier rivals are hiring.
Another Corrs partner follows rebel group to KWM
Corrs property partner Lizzie Knight will follow seven Corrs partners to King & Wood Mallesons, becoming the latest to move between the two major firms.
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.