Competition for talent begins well before lawyers make partner

How firms stay in the hunt for promising legal talent and potential future partners who know they are in demand.

Young lawyers have plenty of options in a prosperous market where firms are keen to hire.

Has there ever been a better time to be a young lawyer building a career? Not only are there dozens of firms to target — top tier and niche, international and domestic firms – it is a seller’s market.

Legal services is a mature industry, where overall growth in the labour force is flat: the weighted average growth of full time equivalent partners was 0.11 per cent over 12 months to 1 July, fee-earner growth was 0.23 per cent and graduate growth was 2.47 per cent. Firms know they have to pile on the incentives to drum up interest, no mean feat in a post-Covid crisis world where borders are open at last.

“With the recent increase in people heading overseas, we have needed to heighten our focus,” Gilbert + Tobin chief operating officer Sam Nickless told The Australian Legal Partnership Survey. “We have found that the market for quality people is increasingly more competitive, so salaries and bonuses are important for new joiners and our existing employees.

“The incentives we have added are as much about retaining our talent as attracting new people – such as enhanced parental leave. We have run several campaigns with double referral rewards for our existing staff helping to bring in new people.”

Norton Rose Fulbright chief executive partner Alison Deitz said in the second half of 2021 and into this year there had been an “aggressive market for legal and operations talent across the profession”. “This market trend has been exacerbated by offshore firms, in the US and UK in particular, that have been targeting Australian lawyers,” Ms Deitz said. “It is also clear that the experience of Covid lockdowns and disruptions has caused some in the profession to rethink what is important to them in their careers and be more open to change.”

Maddocks chief executive officer David Newman said the most challenging roles to fill across the firm were for lawyers at mid-level because they were “in the highest demand across the legal market in Australia and it is also the level which is being attracted to move for overseas opportunities”.

Ashurst global CEO Paul Jenkins attributed “a highly competitive recruitment market in transactional practice areas, such as mergers and acquisitions” to “strong global demand and the relative ease with which lawyers can transfer to other jurisdictions. “The Australian offices of a global firm like Ashurst must compete for talent against firms in New York, London and Hong Kong. Competitive remuneration will always be a key part of attracting and retaining the best lawyers but it is only one part of the equation.”

Thomson Geer reported “aggressive attacks from rivals and from overseas for our lawyers, which led to a lot of doubt and wages pressure”. “We responded with very strong special increases across the firm to meet the market,” chief executive partner Adrian Tembel said.

Firms like Johnson, Winter & Slattery noted that size was not everything and played to their strengths in a tight recruitment market, “Lawyers are often attracted to our firm because they are looking for an alternative to a large firm but still want to be involved in high end work,” managing partner Jeremy Davis said.

KPMG Law national leader Kate Marshall.

Graduate programs are another lure. HWL Ebsworth improved its ratio of graduates to partners to almost 1:2. Hall & Wilcox brought in a record national graduate lawyer cohort of 48 this year. “We have also hired many early career lawyers to add capacity to our teams and provide a pipeline of future talent,” managing partner Tony Macvean said.

They were supporting their new lawyers “to develop crucial foundational legal and practice skills, as well as offering lots of on the job and structured development opportunities”.

Moray & Agnew’s enhancements included “increased mentoring, coaching and development opportunities”, national managing partner Geoffrey Connellan said.

All other things being equal – interesting, possibly prestigious work, a decent salary, and an obvious path of advancement – the attraction of the workplace has to be culture, flexibility and inclusiveness.

“We have fantastic clients and a friendly and flexible workplace culture that attracts and retains talent,” said Kate Haddock, co-founder of 10-partner boutique firm Banki Haddock Fiora. “We (also) have an office dog who is very popular. A total charmer, but she definitely plays favourites.”

Not every firm offers the lure of a pet, but they are offering parental leave to men as well as women and allowing lawyers to work public holidays and take the time in lieu as annual leave. There are wellbeing days, birthdays off, and office social gatherings, the last of increasing importance given the new world of hybrid working.

KPMG Law national leader Kate Marshall said the shift had been “empowering for our people – to be able to decide what works for them whether more permanently or on a day-to-day basis”.

“There is no obvious pattern around who is working from where on any particular day – it really comes down to the individual, the client and the team,” Ms Marshall said. “We have seen a strong desire for the personal connection yet that doesn’t mean we have to be in the office each day or even all day. I am so glad to see the openness that now exists – people who are in the office being open about wanting to miss peak hour or needing to pick up the kids from school. Allowing us to show the human side.”

Tomorrow: New Jobs, New Directions